Well I wasn't expecting this at all. A morbid fairy tale that almost puts you in a vivid trance just like Effie appears to be in the story. I could almost smell the rotted floors and the decay if the sea...could almost imagine I caught a glimpse of the fabled Fairy King, lurking in a corner & dripping water over the floor. The prose, the vibes were just so evocative and moody. Most of the time I couldn't tell if the main character, Effie was actually sane or we were submerged so deep into her imagination that everyone else appeared to be insane. The mystery of the Fairy King kept me turning the pages & at it's core, the injustices women perpetually face spoke to me and kept me rooting for Effie.

Special thanks to Random House UK and Netgalley for proving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

"I will love you to ruination"

Set in a secondary mid-20th Century world based on some form of Wales and England, Ava Reid brings her trademark liquid prose to Welsh mythology and writes the dark academia, angry feminist survivor story that sings to my soul.
Couched in Welsh mythology and the Oxfordian hypothesis (what if Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare) we follow Effy angrily doing architecture because women are considered too week and feeble of mind for so stimulating a topic as Literature 🙄, as she tries to get over being assaulted by her professor and escapes by entering and managing to win a competition to design a new house for the foundation of her favourite (recently deceased) author.
She meets Preston a smug scholar, the very odd son of her hero and as she gets to know them, especially Preston, begins to unravel secrets that could change how a very nation views itself.

This is a very tender story even in its wild untamed moments of mythological fantasy this is always Effy's story and the story of how she comes together with Preston and the incredible respectful and yet passionate love they develop - I almost forgot I was in my hospital bed and instead thought I was on the ceredigion coast. The world building as with all of Ava Reid's books is second to none and the liquid, golden prose is achingly beautiful and I'm so very jealous on a craft level.

The growth of Effy through the story is beautiful as she goes from trying to escape to being assertive and willing to take up her own space in the world.

This is a story that will stand being reread so many times.

Thank you Netgalley for gifting me a copy of this book.

It was my first Ava Reid book and I wasn't disappointed. I enjoyed the story and the main characters. The general mindset was rather backwards so it was rather frustrating sometimes, but it's at the heart of the book and serves its purpose.

There were some moments when I felt unease and disgust (if you read this book, you'll see what I'm talking about), but it's part of the book and of Effy's story.

I didn't give it five stars but rather 4.5 stars because it was great but sometimes a bit long (the chapters are very long, I don't know if it's the ebook format but it felt heavy).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

A Study in Drowning was probably my most anticipated release of the year (at least after Amina & ADOFN were out) and it was everything I wanted it to be and more 🥹

It was that feeling of reading a book that was just written for me, everything about it resonated with me so deeply.

Effy is such a soul character for me, she’s vulnerable, soft, overwhelmed, finds herself in stories and despite being a dreamer, she’s still strong and resilient, even if she doesn’t want to be. I love badass FMCs in fantasy, but it’s even nicer to find one who is just a normal girl who’s struggling and who often has the urge to cry, especially when she’s so well-written as Effy.

At its core, this was a story of resilience.
Resilience after childhood trauma, abuse, resilience in the face of being an outsider, of a world conspiring against you, resilience when something you relied on and believed in all your life to be false, when the hero you looked up to turns out to be a villain.

It’s a story of obsession, addiction, fairytales and myths, literary ownership, patriarchy, confinement and liberation.

The book was also incredibly atmospheric. I would love to re-read it in the fall, ideally at night when there’s a storm raging outside while I’m cozy in bed with a candle burning.

I love Welsh mythology and I loved how it was represented here. The setting was also perfectly chosen, a secondary fantasy version of 1950s Wales with technology slowly on the rise.

Overall, this book just spoke to my soul, it was Dark Academia perfection and has once again proven to me why Ava Reid is one of my favorite authors. Highly recommend!

After “Juniper and Thorn” one of my favourite books from 2022, I couldn’t wait to read “A Study in Drowning”. Guess what? Incredible.

We follow Effy & Preston in a tale about myths, superstition, writers and and madness.

All through the book it felt I was drowning too. Set in the decrepit Hiraeth Manor, a character in itself, the story is engaging, enraging and frustrating at times. - the good kind, the one where you still relate to the choices taken. It’s a book that will make you feel.

Can’t recommend enough, would make a note for people to check trigger warnings first.

Among some of the best quotes:

“ The silence was a span of time before inevitable disaster”

“ ‘Everything ancient must decay.’ I think it’s about the sea taking and taking, eating away at you slowly, the way that water, say, rots the wood of your sailboat. The last thing the sea takes from you is your life.”

Please, come and drown too!


** Thank you Penguin Random House for the eARC via NetGalley **

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for approving this arc. I've loved all of Ava's works and was immensely thrilled to be able to read this one pre release date. I've been highly anticipating it since last year!
a study in drowning is a magically dark fable of magic, self acceptance and mystery. All sprinkled with a fabulous gothic atmosphere and faerie lore
Full review on my goodreads

"A STUDY IN DROWNING" by Ava Reid is an exciting mystery novel that revolves around Effy, an architecture student who lands an awesome job redesigning the house of her favorite author, Angharad. However, upon arriving at the estate, Effy realizes that there's more to the story than meets the eye. She teams up with a literature student to uncover the truth behind Angharad's book, leading them on a mind-blowing journey of discovery.

Reid's writing style is absolutely amazing, creating a captivating and immersive experience for readers. The book touches on important themes like the exploitation of women in academia, and Effy's character development throughout the story is deeply satisfying.

While the book is primarily a mystery, the focus is more on the characters' personal growth and the transformative journey they undertake. The relationship between Effy and Preston is full of sparks and banter, making it a delightful element of the story.

With its intriguing motifs adding an extra layer of depth, "A STUDY IN DROWNING" is a must-read for older teens and anyone who enjoys a thrilling and character-driven mystery.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy. This book was not what I was expecting, and is quite different to the other book I have read from this author. I found the pacing a little slow to begin with, but beyond that I read through in a single session. The writing is very atmospheric and I enjoyed the darker themes that the book explores, although these might be too heavy for some YA readers (they include institutional misogyny, mental health, sexual assault and parental neglect ). The main character was well written and is not a special 'chosen one', rather someone who is lacking in confidence and who has been failed by those around her. Overall a good read which I would recommend for those that like dark academia and atmospheric gothic settings.

This was an okay read for me, I really liked the writing and that was what kept me going but I struggled a bit with other parts of the story. It was very slow, the atmosphere wasn't strong enough for me especially because a huge part of the plot relied on that magical, haunting gothic atmosphere but it just wasn't present enough for me. The story itself also wasn't interesting enough to keep me hooked to the end, but I liked the interactions between the characters and the worldbuilding was well thought out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A Study in Drowning is a beautifully haunting story. I was engrossed from the start. Reading about Effys painfully brave journey that leads to the truth was a truly enjoyable experience. Preston was a delight to be introduced to. I am reminded of VE Schwabs gothic storytelling; ‘never pray to the gods that answer after dark’.

But didn't all drownings begin with a harmless dribble of water?

Thank you to Harper Collins for sending me an arc in exchange for a review!

Did I devour this book, or did it devour me?

When the only female architecture student Effy Sayre is chosen to design her favorite author's family manor, she travels to a remote, crumbling estate filled with disturbing secrets. Working with a rival student from an enemy land, they are drawn into an old mystery, struggling against dark forces, both human and magical, conspiring against them. The truth may bring them both to ruination.

The books she had found had been spitefully shelved under Fiction.
But Effy believed them. She believed them all: the rote academic accounts, the superstitious Southern folklore, the epic poetry that warned against the wiles of the Fairy King. If only she could have studied literature, she would have written her own ferocious treatises in support of her belief.

This book is full of Reid’s familiar feminine rage and riling against misogyny. If you take the dark twistedness of My Dark Vanessa and the elusive, watery horror of Our Wives Under the Sea and give it some of T Kingfisher’s terrible fright, you’ll have an idea of this masterpiece.

”How come all the spiders are men?"
"Because then it feels more satisfying to squish them.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the academic rivals tension, and the careful way Reid handles the differences in the character’s cultures, beliefs, and pursuits. What happens when you mix certainty in magic with a steadfast trust in truth?

Like always, Reid makes you think of larger problems than those presented in the book including sexism, sexual assault, mental health, abandonment, the role of literature and authors, role models, and warring countries.

”I was a woman when it was convenient to blame me, and a girl when they wanted to use me.”

Deep. Dark. Enthralling.
I drown in Ava Reid’s words.

If you like T Kingfisher, you’ll feel right at home in this fairytale horror-filled world!

(Please check the trigger warnings!)