Reviews with content warning for Classism - A Study in Drowning

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

49 reviews

kylosten's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

confessionsofabibliophile's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is my first Ava Reid story, and it probably won't be the last! This book was not like others I had read, they mixing fantasy, paranormal, as well as hinting on psychological, with a tad of romance. It did start of very slow, and the time period I had questioned due to the rules and systems within the university. As I went through reading, you are made uncertain if it is fantasy/paranormal or mental health. The main character, Effy, has had it rough! I won't go into detail, but I felt bad for her throughout the book. I wanted to scoop her up and give her the biggest cuddle. She ironically reminded me of another character by the same name, from a UK TV show called Skins. With everything going on, how men and boys made her feel. How she thought of herself in a man's world. The psychological stuff behind the main character. When looking at Ava Reid's IG, she did a character map of who she pulled inspo from for her Effy, and there she was in all her smeared eye-liner glory, Effy Stonem from Skins. It felt good to know my brain wasn't just imagining the parallels.

The story takes place in thesouthernn part of Llyr. The difference between the North and South is like night and day. It follows along similar stereotypes as in today's times, the North, wealthy, educated, and experienced. The south, poor, illiterate, and believe in myths and lore and superstitions, like a characte, The Faery King. Effy finds herself in the bottom hundred after the death of her favourite writer. She is entrusted to rebuild his estate, while the entrance of another main character, Henry, whom I knew right away who he was; is there to disprove or prove the dead writers'
authorship.

They go on this journey uncovering the mystery the old manor has had locked way for years. When the path is finally discovered, I was semi surprised. I had a feeling the stuff that was uncovered was a thing. I just didn't realise a few things. Sorry for the extreme vagueness. I am trying very hard to keep this spoiler free.

Romance does spark, but it also talks about forced romance, my take from it, sort of grooming, but both girls are 18, but the men are DRASTICALLY older 30s+. Sexualising of women is a huge running theme. I found myself wanting to punch a couple of male characters in the face. The theme is that women are either weak and only good for the home life or that we are harlots and temptresses which hook and ensnare men in a trap, with just one look. Really had me flabbergasted, but the end is what made me realise why these themes were used.

Come the last two chapters, it had left me wanting a bit more of the story, the aftermath, I wanted that. The build-up was great, a bit slow, the climax hit, and then I was left wanting to know more and seeing where it all took them. Which is why it isn't a 5☆.

Content Warnings

mythicsage's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

booksalacarte's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

A Study in Drowning- 2.5⭐️ 2.75🌶️

YA Fantasy

Magical realism

Mid century ambiance

Coming of age

College setting

Underdog FMC

Visions

Ptsd

Paranormal

War

One bed

A Study in Drowning is a gothic coming of age story where the lines of fairytale and reality are blurred beyond recognition. It deals with the ideas of trauma, misogyny, prejudice, survivalism, and love.

The setting of a moldy, crumbling manor on the very edge of the sea was so vivid and a character in and of itself. I really liked the romanticism of how it was crumbling into the sea and the presented problem of what could save it. I wish there had been a little more background and world building. While it seemed to play such a prominent part in the story… everything was just vague enough that I was left disappointed. I would have preferred over-explaining.

I was captured by the ptsd and trauma that crafted the FMC’s journey, sharpening her as she went through opening herself up and telling her story. I love the idea that survival is brave…

The MMC wasn’t your typical overbearing alpha whose only purpose is to save the day. But I was as annoyed with his explained intellectualism that ended up being his only personality trait.

The chemistry between the two main characters wasn’t as palpable as possible. I think that there wasn’t enough tension to make the chemistry believable. I didn’t feel the irritable pull that comes with the bickering that happened throughout. Instead it felt like the FMC was too distracted by her perceptions of reality and her trauma to understand what what’s genuine attraction or not… In the end, while the romance wasn’t the main focus of the book, it took up way more space than it needed to… or maybe not enough?

I didn’t enjoy the prejudice and bigotry that was represented in the FMC and played off as falling in love with someone who your society is against. It was so frequently brought up and used as an excuse for witty banter when she was really just disparaging the MMC for his race/ethicist…

I liked this book, but I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings

kris386's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

2.5

Content Warnings

ashlynldavis1's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

soniajoy98's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

mjscooke's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Effy has grown up turning to her favorite novel to get her through the dark moments that persist despite the naysayers in her life. When she gets the opportunity to design the house belonging to it's author she find herself in another unforgiving environment with secrets that threaten to unravel her comfort mechanism of escaping into the aforementioned literature. Ava Reid's writing crashes over you so thoroughly you can almost taste the sea salt and feel the dampness in the air. This deeply atmospheric novel is a tale of resilience at its heart with undercurrents of a deeply troubling past - please do read content warnings beforehand if you have any trigger points.

Content Warnings

kays_reading_journal's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A Study in Drowning is the YA Fantasy child of Emily Wildes Encyclopedia of Faeries and Divine Rivals. This novel is a stand-alone and is 3rd person pov. It takes place in a fictional world similar to the 1930-50s time period.

I really did have a fun time reading this and didn’t want to put it down towards the end, but I also had some problems with it. The synopsis sounded like way too much going on, but I actually think it was all tied together nicely in the end.

Writing Style: I’ll be honest, the first 50 pages was painful to get through and I don’t know why it felt so different from the rest of the novel. In the first fifty pages, the writing style is choppy, it’s telling and not showing, and I couldn’t figure out the setting. But I didn’t have any of those problems in the rest of the novel.

Characters: Effy’s prejudice to Argantians was incredibly annoying and I didn’t like the way it was handled. (For background, Argantian is the neighboring country that is at war with Effy’s country, and it’s where the LI is from). Effy said just absolutely disgusting things to the LI, barely apologized, and never really checked her prejudice as a whole. It was more of a “oh I met this one Argantian who isn’t that bad, oops” but her thoughts towards the nation as a whole are never held accountable.

Romance: I also felt that their relationship could’ve been developed more, or that the pacing could’ve been better. This was described as rivals to lovers but the rival part is very one sided and is just rooted in Effy’s prejudice. This story is also not romance focused.

Plot: As for the plot, it was fun to read and I wasn’t sure till the end if it was going to be happy or sad or a cliffhanger, but I did have the plot twist figured out at 60% so I wish it had been a little bit more held back from the reader.

As far as diversity/ rep goes, I believe everyone in this novel was white? There wasn’t anything that led me to believe otherwise, unless I missed some description. There is one sapphic side couple, that gets maybe three pages of time.

Overall, despite the issues, I still enjoyed this book and the gothic setting was definitely there. I was reading this with the light on because something about the depiction of the Fairy King really got to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperTeen for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

More...