Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Handsome scrapbook tribute to A Study in Drowning series.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
In AN ARCHIVE OF ROMANCE: A STUDY IN DROWNING NOVELLA, a scrapbook includes Preston's diary entries, excerpts from Llyrian literature and Argantian folklore; excerpts from papers of literary criticism; sketches of people, places, and messy desks; maps of the university, Lyria, and Argant; newspaper articles about major events in the A Study in Drowning duology; invitations and bar tabs; letters of correspondence from many sources; and portraits of characters beginning with Effy opposite the Fairy King and ending with Effy and Preston together on their wedding day.
Is It Any Good?
Fans of the A Study in Drowning duology will certainly fawn over this heavily illustrated, exceedingly handsome companion novella, but it offers little new content. It's strange considering the series is so thought-provoking about literature, misogyny, and scholarship. Most of the new content in the novella concerning the main characters comes from Preston's early journals. He tries to resist Effy's bossy charms, and while this is sweet, it's not novel or surprising. The lead-up to the wedding at the finale is also sweet, but not surprising. Just one curious twist would have been welcome.
Still, you have to give author Ava Reid so many kudos for the world-building that includes not just two warring kingdoms but their most famous literary works and folklore as well. And not just that, a world of scholars at a stodgy university debating these literary works and their significance. Excerpts of criticism are folded into the scrapbook framework almost as often as excerpts from literary works the author has imagined. Ample space is created in this eclectic artistic format to contemplate why literature and love endure, which is not the curious twist the story needed but a lovely gift all the same.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why An Archive of Romance was written? Does it add to the enjoyment of the series?
Whose perspective does the novella mostly follow? How does Preston learn to communicate his feelings with Effy?
What makes for a good romance? Does romance make for great literature, or does it need to include tragedy, like many of the great works of Llyrian literature that Effy and Preston study?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Activism ( Gender equality ) , Book Characters , Fantasy ( Fairies , Fairy Tales ) , Royalty ( Kings ) , School ( College & Graduate School )
- Character Strengths : Communication , Curiosity
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date : December 9, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 240
- Available on : Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : December 16, 2025
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