Hello Court,
Today we enter a world imbued with superstition, Faerie lore and academic vibes. Today, we can finally walk through the doors of Hiraeth Manor –A Study in Drowning is out!
If you follow me on Instagram (as you should), you might know that I read Ava Reid’s newest novel last month and I finished it in less than a week, which coming from me is saying… A LOT. So please, allow me a moment to thank HarperCollins for the incredible chance they gave me to pore over one of my most anticipated books in advance.
But before “diving” into my review, here is some information that might be useful if you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.
Title: A Study in Drowning
Author: Ava Reid
Publication Date: September 19, 2023
Publishing House: HarperCollins
Page Count: 376
ISBN: 978-0063211506
Target: Young-adult
Genre: romantic fantasy, literary mistery
Plot:
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 fells 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.
MY REVIEW:
I’ll say one thing before starting this review: there are books that focus on the plot, books that focus on world-building… And there are books like this one. And this is all about the message.
This book is far from perfect. Since the beginning, I had this feeling that the world-building was not clear enough, that I couldn’t place which year it was set in, or if we were in our world but with fantasy elements or in a fantasy world with elements from our world. And the way the characters talked and acted made it feel like it was inspired by our 1800s-1900s, but I also sensed some modern references (?). It all remained unclear, almost incomplete until the end. I felt disoriented, wishing there was more explanation, especially during the first chapters.
The first scenes in the urban/college setting also tended to be upsetting to me due to the writing style: though rich and fitting the dark academia vibes, it tended to be overly dramatic and packed with metaphors and similes that weren’t always that necessary. Or at least not yet.
But things change as we arrive at Hiraeth Manor, where A Study in Drowning reveals itself to be an achingly beautiful Gothic novel, Sublime and Romantic in the sense these words were conceived in the first place. The sea-based rhetorical figures achieve their greatest sense and purpose in this setting (even though I still think there are too many throughout the novel), because in this context the story is finally at its highest potential. The vibes are haunting and fabled, the characters come alive, a “Shakespearean” kind of mystery unfolds, it enchants and chains the reader to the pages.
I read this book in three days and I am not a fast reader. Despite having long chapters, ASID proves to be impossible to put down. And even when you begin to understand where the story is going, you’ll still feel bewitched by it, unable to stop reading.
For the story to go where it meant to, now and then I had the impression that some solutions and major plot points were either rushed/given for granted or needed more clarification. I even spotted a tiny bit of lazy writing, as in things that happened against ANY logic just for the plot to go on. I feel sad about it, because I’m sure that all this could’ve been perfected if only the book had some more pages. This is strangely one of the cases in which I wouldn’t have complained to read some more. I suppose the ending could also be thought of as predictable, but I didn’t mind, because it managed to be perfectly coherent and captivating all the same, and I found that was the most logical way to end the story.
Anyway, the romance was to SWOON over. I was not aware that I needed a Preston in my life! I loved him as a character, btw. And the ship managed to have peak nerd banter while also delivering the MOST TENDER romance ever. I want what these two have. And I loved how Preston was important in Effy’s story while never ever eclipsing her. They actually grew so much both individually and as a couple thanks to the other, and that’s so wholesome. I might have expected some more from Ianto, though, because among the three of them, he came out to be the flatter one. He *is* a complex and interesting character, but I feel like he probably needed more space on the page.
Effy was hard to digest at the beginning, what with her whiny and desperate voice.
(❗ minor spoilers about the themes ahead)
But as I said, it all comes back to the themes* and the final message, and oh, what a journey I went through with her. It all comes down to superstition and mythology VS truth and reality, to fantasy, faith and the stories we cling to, but especially to survival. It all comes down to reclaiming what life stole from you as a woman, and I found all this extremely coherent with Effy’s voice and narrative, but also deeply powerful and moving. How proud of her I was at the end.
In some way, her story reminded me of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
(❗end of minor spoilers about the themes)
I believe this book could also appeal to fans of Piranesi and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries.
In conclusion… Just wow. No imperfection could stop me from reading, from feeling what the characters were experiencing on my own skin. And that’s magic, to me.
Also: THE AMOUNT OF QUOTES I UNDERLINED!
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*as a HSP, I did not find it disturbing, but this book /is/ dark. I suggest you read the trigger warnings in case you might feel that it could be too much for you.
Here we are, at the end of yet another #ARCadventure. And let me tell you: it’s always a pleasure to enter such hauntingly addictive books. I hope you enjoyed reading my review, and don’t forget to check my Instagram posts and stories for more!
Faerie greetings!
Your Debs💖
Debs' Court Of Dreams 