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A review by abbief
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid
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!
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia