Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - A Study in Drowning

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

87 reviews

gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is about a lot of things, but all woven together seamlessly to creat a tapestry of feminist storytelling.

this is a dark academia tale of a young woman dealing with misogyny, being barred from the college she desperately wants to be a part of. this is also about the legacy of an author she loved, tying into this author’s mysterious home that is drowning on a cliff by the sea. She is driven to enter a contest to help redesign the estate, but she bites off way more she can chew.

There is also though, the threat of a faerie king who may or may not exist only in the edge of reality in this sea soaked world.

I was very moved by this story of the legacy of stories, who wrote them, who gets attributed to them, who gets believed.

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nadiajohnsonbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful tense 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

4.75

This book would have meant the world to me in high school and college, and I suspect that a lot of women (or nonbinary folks or queer folks or anyone who has ever been on the weaker side of a power imbalance) will relate

Effy is the only woman in her university's architecture program and the subject of cruel rumors that she might be sleeping her way to the top

She gets the chance to prove herself, winning the opportunity to redesign the manor of her literary hero. When she gets there, she meets Preston, a literature student who believes her hero was a fraud

Preston is a grump and a pedant who reminds me very much of a younger version of my husband, so naturally I loved him and the rivals-to-lovers romance that builds between him and Effy as they investigate the author's legacy

Some dark secrets are unearthed in the process

The story draws on the deep mythology of fairies as tricksters and child thieves, both in the "book within a book" and in the world as Effy knows it

This novel deals with some dark themes: exploitation, abuse, prejudice, neglect, trauma. But it does so thoughtfully, with beautiful imagery and impeccable gothic/dark academic atmosphere

If you have ever been told that you should be grateful for unwanted attention, this book is for you

If you've ever had someone take credit for or belittle your achievement, this book is for you

If you've ever been taken advantage of, this book is for you

This book was definitely for me

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milenanoelm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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xvicesx's review against another edition

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I didn't enjoy a single minute of going through this. There's no obvious plot, the characters are either unlikable or bland as cardboard.

Ultimately, there is nothing in here to actually care about. Effy Is not a driven woman with goals and strong will, okay, she's traumatised, but there are plenty of people who are traumatized and still set a role model example. Also, her consistently weird xenophobia joint with the obsessive jealousy over Preston got tiring real quick.

I have no clue what other people are praising about this book, because I can't possibly be reading the same thing. Mercies.

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chelbawamba's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

2.75

This is my second attempt with this author and sadly I don’t think I can be convinced to try again. Ava Reid relies heavily on simile and metaphor, to a point of excessiveness, does a lot of telling instead of showing, and everything happens to this main character “suddenly” or “for some reason.” Even when the reason was obvious to me as a reader, it happened “for some reason.”

Overall, the concept of the story was interesting, but the way it was executed was extremely predictable. I knew early on what most of the reveals at the end were going to be. In my opinion, there is a fine line between good foreshadowing and offering too much too early on.

A personal pet peeve of mine is when characters speak about each other as if they’ve known each other for a long time when it’s only been a few days, for example: saying things like “he’s always been kind to me,” or “I had never seen him this flustered” when the character only knew the other person for maybe a collective three hours. This happened frequently in the first half of the book.

I didn’t not enjoy it, but I also didn’t enjoy it. Would not necessarily recommend it, but it had its moments and kept me engaged through the end.

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abbief's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I enjoyed this book greatly and immensely. In the midst of exams this book got me to finish it within a day (do not try this on your own, please evaluate the risk yourself.) Once I've picked it up, I simply could not put it down until it was 3 am in the morning and I really need to go shower and clean myself and be a responsible adult. The highlight in this book is definitely the depiction and discussion on institutional sexism in academia or in general, on sexual consent and how Effy who is the female main character navigates herself in such a female-unfriendly world. Effy had gone through many traumas, so much that in the middle of the book I started to suspect if all those were really necessary-- but in the end it all came around and made sense. I really like the mystery element in this book, the journey following Effy to uncover the truth of her favourite character was intriguing, intense, and the final reveal was definitely worth the journey. The author gave clues and foreshadows for the plot twists, which all of the questions raised were answered at the end. However, I think that some of the things did not need to be spelt out to the readers for us to explicitly understand that "this sentence corresponds to this thing." It would be much more fun if something was left to our interpretation.

I really like Effy though I would understand why some people wouldn't. But to me she is really neurodivergent-coded. She struggled with understanding the social norms, the unwritten rules. She took everything very literally. She had sensory issues and would be easily overwhelmed. All this on top of being a woman made her feel like she was drowning all the time. As someone who also has quite a lot of neurodivergent traits, this felt very valid to my experience. As for the male main character, he is your textbook fictional boyfriend. He is cold and frigid on the outside, but he saw Effy as who she was, not her pretty appearence or not as "just a girl." He respected her when the whole university did not, and he stood by her side all the time. However the secondary characters were less memorable. Some of them only appeared once and never mentioned again. The villains were interesting though. They represented how certain men would exploit women, manipulate them, put them in a helpless position and have all the glory and wealth to themselves.

However, I wish there would be more to the fantasy element. It was largely explained by folklore and superstitions. Also, the Drowning was a big thing for people in that world, but except for knowing that it was a big flood, we knew almost nothing about it. Also the setting where two countries were at war didn't do much except to set up Effy and the MMC as somewhat enemies-to-lovers. But yeat this was just a few nitpicking of mine. I still very much enjoyed reading this book and if any of these things that I mentioned appealed to you, I am pretty confident that you won't be disappointed!

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