Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Gripping, myth-driven gothic fantasy explores misogyny.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In A STUDY IN DROWNING, Effy is just six months into her studies as an architecture student and it's going horribly. She's failing classes and her advisor is making advances that have started rumors all over school. She'd much rather be in the literature college studying her favorite recently deceased author, Emrys Myrddin, but they don't accept women. So when she sees a contest to redesign Myrddin's family estate on the remote southern coast, she enters. The escape isn't quite what she'd hoped when she discovers the cliffside house is a moldy, waterlogged abomination inhabited by the author's recluse and mercurial son and his bed-ridden widow. Worse than that, an egotistical literature student has taken up residence in Myrddin's study poring over old papers for a his thesis. And even worse than that, this dreary remote manor is intensifying Effy's regular hallucinations of a cruel fairy king who longs to claim her.
Is It Any Good?
This gripping, smart gothic fantasy explores the magic of mythology and story and makes readers think about the many facets of sexual harassment and assault and how deeply it affects the victims. This ambitious tale takes some getting into -- way too much needs explaining while Effy is at university -- but when she lands at the moldy manor there's no putting the book down. The setting is fantastically creepy and brings out all the worst of Effy's night terrors about the fairy king even during the day.
There are so many mysteries to solve, about what's real and imagined, about why the author's son Ianto is so erratic and secretive about his father's published works, about what's submerged in the flooded basement, about whether Ianto's mother really is hiding somewhere upstairs. As Effy gets closer to Preston, the literature student she at first despises, Ianto becomes even more unhinged. Can Effy and Preston make it out of there alive, and with the closure about the author they came for? Here's a story that demands revisiting both for its deep understanding of Effy's trauma journey and for the sheer joy of delving into this darkly superstitious and folklore-rich world constantly in danger of being reclaimed by the sea.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about consent in A Study in Drowning. Why is Effy both confused and horrified by the advances of Master Corbenic, her college advisor? How does what others in the college and in society think of women make it harder for her to realize his actions were wrong? What other characters in the story had similar experiences?
Ianto says that women are one of two goddesses in their country's folklore: Patroness of seduction or patroness of submission. In our own cultures, are women put into harmful categories such as these, or is it a thing of the past? What purpose does putting women into stereotypical categories serve? Do men experience any similar types of categorizations?
Effy finds extreme comfort in a book that speaks to her experiences of misogyny and trauma. Are there any books you turn to for comfort after a hard day or after an experience that leaves you upset and confused?
Effy experiences a transformation in this book. What character strengths does Effy show that make her growth possible? How is she courageous? What helps her persevere? What about her integrity?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic , Fairy Tales )
- Character Strengths : Communication , Compassion , Courage , Curiosity , Empathy , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : HarperTeen
- Publication date : September 19, 2023
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 17
- Number of pages : 384
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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