A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, a gothic fantasy

Title: A Study in Drowning
Author: Ava Reid
Publication: HarperCollins, hardcover, 2023
Genre: YA Fantasy

Description: All her life, Effy Sayre has been obsessed with her country’s epic work, Angharad, written by the recently deceased Emrys Myrrden about an intrepid heroine who falls in love with the Fairy King and then destroys him. Not permitted to study Literature, Effy is the only young woman in the Architecture program at the university where she faces sexism and abuse from her advisor as well as classmates. She gets no support at home where her mother is contemptuous of Effy’s panic attacks. Then Effy gets a chance to impress her critics and learn more about her favorite author – she is chosen to design a new building for the Myrrden estate. She travels to the decaying Hiraeth Manor and meets the author’s menacing son, Ianto, and an annoying student, Preston Héloury, whom she’s encountered back at school. When Effy realizes Preston is there to investigate whether Myrrden is the true author of Angharad, she is appalled by the implied criticism of her beloved author but is also curious. She agrees to work with Preston to discover the truth, a quest that may be more dangerous than either anticipates.

My Impression: This dark fairy tale romance is also a coming of age for a heroine who is as alone as any orphan, despite having a mother and grandparents. As Effy explains to Preston, she is considered a changeling, which in this culture allows a mother to abandon her child for the fairies to take back:

“There’s a river that runs through Draefen,” Effy said after a moment. “That’s where my mother left me. I remember it was the middle of winter. All the trees were bare. I know she thought some sad and childless woman would come pick me up. She didn’t mean to expose me, to let me die–”

Effy explains that the Fairy King came for her as a child, and while she was rescued, he took part of her finger and said he would be back for the rest. No one believes what she saw and a doctor prescribed pills for her visions. As a result, she has no self-confidence and is an easy target for misogyny in the academic community and elsewhere.

Effy’s seeming ditziness obscures a literary expertise that Preston needs to uncover the secret of Angharad’s authorship. Although Effy feels betrayed that a work that she loved and felt empowered by might not have been written by Myrrden, she becomes willing to help Preston and their collaboration turns these antagonists into lovers. As they begin to realize Hiraeth Manor is possessed, not to mention falling apart, they want to escape but it may be too late.

The reviews for this gothic fantasy were positive and I liked Effy and Preston but I felt it did not fully deliver, despite a good concept. Although the reader assumes Effy is not unbalanced, she collapses into trembling terror whenever challenged until the very end (better late than never). Not only is this tedious, but her only sign of growth is when she starts telling Preston her history instead of being passive. The book starts very slowly and much of the backstory is not explained; for instance, the rivalry between Preston’s country Argant and Effy’s Llyr or why was Effy’s mother so hostile toward her daughter – is it simply that she is embarrassed by being a single parent of a difficult child? There is no reason for the sexual harassment and spiteful gossip Effy experiences at university but as that still happens perhaps no explanation is necessary!  

Source: Library