Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

After being disappointed by Lady Macbeth last year I was a bit nervous to reenter the world of ASID, but luckily my fears were misplaced. 
Overall this was a wonderful addition to the story, especially getting so much from Preston’s POV. I am always struck by how well Ava Reid handles mental illness and its effects on romantic relationships. It feels very true to life, and is very important and refreshing to see represented. The tone was also enthralling, and kept me turning the pages. 

My one critique is that since the Sleepers lore still feels a little undefined, the ending was slightly confusing. The line between so much information that you ruin the mysticism and so little information that you don’t know what’s happening is a really hard one to toe, but it was just missed by a bit here. Not so bad that it ruined the whole experience, just enough to pull me out slightly.

But once again, this was a great conclusion! ASID and ATOD are definitely in line to be one of my favorite series.

I was really excited to hear A Study in Drowning was getting a sequel. The premise of Effy learning to navigate the literature college and explore another forgotten female author, along with Preston taking a more significant role, sounded fantastic.
The reality is less exciting. Effy’s story starts out really intriguing but she quickly reverts back to the scared little girl she was at the start of ASiD and spends most of the book lying in bed asleep and depressed. Preston’s storyline was really interesting and kept me wondering what would happen next but I couldn’t help but wonder why he actually cared for Effy. They had none of the chemistry they shared in the first book because they kept lying to each other and withholding information.
I liked the addition of new characters and that friends/teachers/advisers were more involved. It helped make the world seem larger. The political and war storyline was much more prominent and also kept the story interesting. 
There are a couple significant trigger warnings I would recommend the publisher warn for, as one of them is casually mentioned multiple times in journal entries.
Overall, I’d probably give this book 3.5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

if they don't love me like preston loves effy, i don't want it!!!!

this was the sequel we needed: what happens to effy and preston when they return to university from hiraeth manor with their controversial thesis? they must face their colleagues, superiors, and the whole of llyr; effy, as the only woman in the literature college, preston as an argantian on the precipice of a full-out argantian-llyrian war.

preston fans rejoice, bc we get a whole lot more of him in this one! dual (3rd person) POV yayayayay!

while i missed some of ASID's etherealness, this one felt more raw and real. there is still much room for magic, but it deals it more as a method of escapism. we also learn more about llyr and argantia both and the fables of the sleepers. nationalism/xenophobia is a large theme in this one and feels quite on par w current times.

there were a few things that i wanted more precisely wrapped up, but overall this felt like the right conclusion to effy and preston's story 💙