Reviews with content warning for Grief - A Study in Drowning

Mi problema principal con este libro es el worldbuilding. Siento que en muchos aspectos se le ven las costuras, y que los recursos que emplea la autora para dirigir la historia son demasiado evidentes. ¿Por qué podrían estudiar arquitectura las mujeres (aunque no haya muchas) y no literatura? Yo diría que es más coherente que se les permita estudiar una filología bajo el pretexto de que se “entretengan con sus cositas” mientras buscan marido (tipo La sonrisa de Mona Lisa). Arquitectura me parece que requiere tanto creatividad como saber científico como para que acepten alumnas antes. Por otro lado, me sacaba de la narración que hiciera referencias a libros de la vida real (mujeres encerradas en áticos, ¿hola Jane Eyre?, princesas que han de irse antes de medianoche…), ¿se supone que tengo que creer que otros escritores han llegado exactamente a las mismas historias en este mundo imaginario?

Por otro lado… el conflicto bélico. Absurdamente innecesario. Habría sido mejor que la guerra ya hubiera pasado y que nos dieran un poco de contexto sobre el por qué del enfrentamiento entre las dos naciones, pero es tan obvio que solo era para preparar el terreno para el “””enemies””” to lovers que en fin. Tampoco hay un resolución real de los prejuicios de Effy contra los otros, porque es algo que en cuanto se enamoran ya queda totalmente de fondo. Habría tenido más sentido que fueran países con cierta “enemistad” como España/Francia o algo así, en plan que te puede dar rabia si eres una chiquita de 18 que un francés quiera ser experto en Lorca, yo que sé (luego creces y se te pasa).

A pesar de todo esto, he de decir que me entretuvo y me mantuvo en tensión, sí que consigue crear una atmósfera decrépita y asfixiante cuando están en Hiraeth, pero tiene muchísimas fisuras.

Content Warnings

librarymouse's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A Study in Drowning is an alternate world folkloric story about misogyny in academia and the systemic penchant for not believing women and girls. It's beautifully written and hard to put down, blending fantastical elements into Effy not trusting her own mind, and dark academic suspicion and intrigue.
Effy's anti-Argantian sentiments early on in the book are very off putting, but she's reformed her opinions by the end of the novel. Massive content warning for sexually abusive men in positions of power, and locker room mentalities as normalized behavior in the world in which the novel is set.

Content Warnings

edilyaaang's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Reading this book felt like a rollercoaster ride.

Got really confused about everything at first especially because there were lots of gaps in the beginning. There were times that that I rolled my eyes hard at some parts but in the end I felt like those things married the story together in a way that gave it more depth.

But whew, I did not expect the story to turn that way. Though I have already guessed some parts of the story, the plots twists blew my mind off.

Especially how the Fairy King was real. I did not see that one coming. And that bed scene came out of nowhere LMFAO.

Content Warnings

ceruleanheather's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

"I wish I had fought..."
"Oh no, Effy. That's not what I meant at all. You don't have to take up a sword. Survival is bravery too."

Effy is a smart, pretty architectural student who is probably Emrys Myrddin's biggest fan. So when she gets the chance to redesign Myrddin's home it seems like a dream come true. However Effy has to share this dream with a smug literature student named Preston, who is bent on proving that Effy's idol is not deserving of the praise he receives.

This sounds like a rom com at first glance, but there are sinister secrets everywhere. Old magic, curses and sacrifices, and a journey of healing and self discovery. It is tough to get through at times, just like any real grief and healing journey.

In the end I absolutely adored this book, but it took me time to get there. I really struggled to sit down and read it. At first I thought it was because I couldn't connect to the characters and the story. However as the story continued, I realized that I in fact connected too much with Effy. And that is the beauty of this book. Just like Angharad was a lighthouse for Effy, A Study in Drowning is a lighthouse for any girl or woman (or any person for that matter) who has been through something and had no one believe them. Yet the story is told in such a way that you don't realize it is helping you heal until you battle through it.

Effy's journey from a lost, self-doubting, girl who thinks she isn't capable of being loved to the girl who survives and uses the strength she found along the way to make a stand is just beautiful.

Also a side note: I picked this book as the last one in my Taylor Swift Eras reading challenge, to go with the Tortured Poets Department. It ended up fitting pretty well. Who's Afraid of Little Old Me? You should be.

*************

Some of my favorite lines/parts:

"Love is a fire that cannot burn alone."

"My apologies if it wasn't clear to you, Mr. Marlowe." (It makes sense in context!)

"Miserably, and against her will, Effy realized that she was in a Romance after all."

"Are you scared?"
"Of drowning? Of the dark? Yes. Those are very reasonable things to be scared of."

"And everyone thinks that I started it but I didn't. I never got anything from him..."
"...I believe you." ❤️❤️❤️

"One must know before loving."

"The only reason anything matters is because it ends."

"The Fairy King was all of them...every wanting man..."

"I wanted just one girl, only one, to read my book and feel that she was understood, and I would be understood in return." ❤️❤️❤️

"If you can learn to love that which despises you, that which terrifies you, you can dance on the shore and play in the waves again like you did when you were young. Before the ocean is friend or foe, it simply is. And so are you."

"Survival is bravery too."

Content Warnings