Our Thoughts Precisely: A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Title: A Study in Drowning

Series: n/a
Author: Ava Reid
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Young Adult; Gothic; Romance; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: HarperTeen; September 19, 2023

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Synopsis from Goodreads...

Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. She’s had no choice. Since childhood, she’s been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad - author Emrys Myrddin’s beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, and then destroys him. Effy’s tattered, dog-eared copy is all that’s keeping her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to design the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny. But Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task: a musty, decrepit estate on the brink of crumbling into a hungry sea. And when Effy arrives, she finds she isn’t the only one who’s made a temporary home there. Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar, is studying Myrddin’s papers and is determined to prove her favorite author is a fraud. As the two rival students investigate the reclusive author’s legacy, piecing together clues through his letters, books, and diaries, they discover that the house’s foundation isn’t the only thing that can’t be trusted. There are dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspiring against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin.

A Study in Drowning is my first Ava Reid novel, and, for me, it was probably the best place to start. When I heard it was going to be a gothic novel with mythology and academic rivals in a fantasy setting—a.k.a. some of the story aspects I’ve been enjoying the most this year—I was pretty much sold on it. And, in the end, I loved the story so much.

A Study in Drowning is a dark novel that’s definitely on the upper end of YA. The characters are college aged or just adults in general. And, while it wasn’t quite to the level of what was in Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic, this book still leaned quite heavily into many elements that are hallmarks of gothic fiction. There was this sense of dread and isolation, particularly with the strangeness that popped up once the setting transitioned away from the college. I always like a good house story—or those where the setting has as much character as the main cast—and Reid crafted one strange house. It was vividly described—imposing, suffocating, decrepit, and damp (and just outright waterlogged). It was a place that held a lot of secrets. It was the decay of splendor, which was also something featured in Mexican Gothic.

Literature was a big aspect, especially Effy’s hero worship of Myrddin. There were frequent quotes, which I enjoyed. In particular it offered an insight into the fictional society, the myths within the story, and helped with understanding Effy as well. Myrddin, especially, cast a large shadow over the story. Even though he wasn’t alive in the present time of the story, he was still the subject at the center of the book’s pivotal mysteries originated.

Effy’s journey, however, was still the focus of the story. Since it’s told from her point of view, the narration was informed by her trauma. And with it being so intrinsically linked to that, often the lines between what was real and what wasn’t was blurred. In general, I liked her character, as well as Preston’s. Their verbal sparring was a lot of fun to read, and there was a lot I liked about the way Reid ultimately handled their character growth through the myriad of obstacles and increasingly frightening circumstances.

All that to say, A Study in Drowning was a story as much about monsters—ordinary people and those that are magic—as it was about lost voices and silenced stories, and what it took to reclaim them. It’s only the first book I’ve read by Ava Reid, and it likely won’t be the last.

About the author....

Ava Reid is the author of critically acclaimed and bestselling adult fantasies Juniper & Thorn and The Wolf and the Woodsman, as well as the forthcoming A Study in Drowning, her young adult debut. After obtaining her degree in political science from Barnard College, she moved to Palo Alto, where she continues to haunt university libraries.

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