A review by kays_reading_journal
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

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. 
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