My expectations were high, as A Study in Drowning has been one of my favorite books in recent years. And my expectations were met. The writing is lush as ever, with the depictions of mental illness being woven into fairytales so expertly as to be seamless. Somehow, even though this book takes place far from the ocean, it still managed to saturate the pages. (Both books should come pre-waterlogged, in my opinion.) And I love the conclusion that still left enough questions as to be satisfying and not tidy enough as to be stifling. 

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advanced copy in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Effy knew it would not always be so simple. She would need one pill or another. She would hear the siren song of an oblivious, dreamless slumber. She would need books and fairy tales to build a seawall around her, to hold against the vicious, rising tide. And she would need a hand, a voice, a promise— something from the outside to pull her from the darkness.

If you know me, I am a believer of "the right book will find you at the right time" and this duology truly did. Didn't think I'd cry reading this book, but here I am, crying at almost 11pm on a saturday night (who am I kidding, every single book that I finished in 2025 made me cry at some point). From now on, this duology will have a special place in my heart and will definitely be one of my comfort read. I found comfort seeing pieces of myself in Effy as someone who found strength to navigate the real life through fiction. My heart hurts reading this book seeing how out of place Effy feels now that Angharad is "tainted", add to that the harrassment she receives as an aftermath from ASID's ending. I just want to wrap her in a big hug and tell her that she is not a burden to the people who love her.

Effy and Preston's dynamic in this book reminds me so much of the quote "I'll take care of you"/ "It's rotten work"/ "Not to me. Not if it's you." which has been one of my favorite quote since a certain movie changed the trajectory of my life back in November 2021. I've been looking everywhere for the same dynamic and I found it in EffyPreston. Throughout the story, you can see how much Preston wanted to help Effy, but if she doesn't want that help and would rather hid it because she doesn't want to burden him, he wouldn't be able to. In this book, we see Preston's struggle just like Effy did in the first book to make sense of his "new ability" as it was established from the first book that he didn't believe in these kinds of stuff. Oh how the table has turned....

I wished that there's a chapter or two before the epilogue just for Effy and Preston to talk about their respective experience because they really really need to talk about it. I hope there will be more works from this universe because I simply demand to see more EffyPreston. More of them communicating, more of them living their hard earned happily ever after. Please with a cherry on top?

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins and NetGalley for this gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC provided by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much!

I honestly wasn't expecting A Study in Drowning to have a sequel but Ava Reid absolutely knocked it out of the park with A Theory of Dreaming. This successor resolved all the issues I had from the previous book like pacing and character development — a very worthy sequel. It was nice to be revisit this world with Preston and Effy once more as they face the aftermath of the events that happened in book one.

I will say; however, that this book didn't feel necessary for me personally to close out this story. This was more of a fan service. Additionally, it felt like the plot at times didn't exactly have much direction but I didn't mind much considering I took this to be more of a character study between Preston and Effy as they took care of their internal conflicts and trauma.

Despite my critiques, I do believe this was a major improvement from her first book. Reid's strength lies in her atmospheric writing and story-telling and I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

 I hate it here so I will go to secret gardens in my mind...

This was a sequel that I didn't think we'd get, nor did I originally think was necessary but I am so thrilled we have. If A Study in Drowning spoke to something in your soul, if Effy in some parts feels like looking in a mirror, and you know that wounds don't just disappear because the big battle is won, I think you should continue this story with some caution that it is heavy. Put down your bows and sheath your swords because there's still strength in your softness.

Effy & Preston return to the University with the secrets they have uncovered and questions about the legitimacy of everything they've been taught but neither comes back from Hiraeth Manor without ghosts. While both characters get POVs, this is definitely Preston's story and somewhere about halfway in Effy does start to kind of fade into the background. Even so, Effy continued to have a profound hold on me. The very accurate depiction of self-loathing, depression, of feeling like a burden and failure, and eventually...the wish to simply exist in dreams to escape reality until the call of not wanting to be anywhere at all becomes too loud to ignore...
Who do you blame for your demons when the monster lurking in the dark has been defeated? How do you keep your head up and fight for your place to belong when you are so very tired.

Preston struggles with identity, especially as the war ramps up. This time, he's the one who thinks he's losing his marbles and doesn't want to burden Effy with more worries. If you're expecting people with cracks in their foundation to come together as their best selves, you won't find that in AToD but maybe it's more realistic this way. Neither of them handles things in their relationship or in their academic life well. They keep things from each other. Neither feels worthy of the other...This book is full of heavy sorrow.

Back in the city as the war is unfolding, you find people clinging desperately to tales of magic and lore. Nationalism built on Fairy tales and tradition and looking to the past instead of progress ahead. How does the story get to benefit the narrative of the one that tells it? Who gets to separate fact from fiction?

I found it interesting that in this world it was the school of arts that held such esteem, the ministry of culture that had such power. What are the arts and humanities without science and what are the sciences without arts and humanities? What do you have faith in when the curtain is pulled to reveal the false magician?

This felt like a story that while not completely necessary to conclude ASiD, it was something Ava needed to tell, especially in the current state of our world. Some things could have been fleshed out more, especially at the university, the war, and sometimes with Effy. Our characters while together, felt so far apart but that seemed intentional. There were some new characters (Lotto! 💜) and we got to see more of some we had already met. Some parts might feel repetitive but is it so hard to believe that history hasn't repeated itself?

The writing was as beautiful as I would expect from Reid and the atmosphere was lush and immersive. There were so many quotes I just needed to screenshot and highlight to keep with me. Effy and Preston forever!

If you're currently lost in escaping to your dreams and struggling with the call of the void, I would go into this with some caution, okay? Take care of yourself! You are worthy and loved!

Big thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the eARC. A Theory of Dreaming is out August 5th, 2025! 

LOOK, if I could separate out the last 20% of this book and give it 4 stars (maybe even 5stars!), I would. But, I'm not gonna lie, the middle 50-70% was really dragging for me.

A Theory of Dreaming continues Effy and Preston's story, picking up a little after ASID ends. We're now seeing them return to school and contend with the public's reaction to the story they broke about Myrrdin. They have new challenges to face at school, with their peers, with their mentors, and quite possibly with their world as a whole.

Now, onto why this book didn't really work for me: I love Effy and Preston - but they were so disconnected throughout most of this book that it was hard to understand how they would end up

engaged at the end. I mean, they never really talked about what the other was feeling? And that took me out of their love story a bit.

Again, the middle of this book felt like it dragged on, repeating things until it felt like getting hit over the head with foreshadowing. Despite the focus being on Preston's story, I never felt that his world, the dreaming, or the magic was explained in a way that made sense. What's worse is that I didn't feel any real connection to what he was doing or searching for. It seemed way too convenient that

he (and Gosse) would be able to fall into the dream sleep almost IMMEDIATELY. The supposed ritual Master Gosse does was just, what, closing your eyes and thinking about magic? I really tried to suspend my disbelief but please give me something to work with!!!

The journey he went on was not enough for me to believe that it was that simple for all to end well.

All that being said, I really loved the discovery part of this book where Effy, Preston, and Rhia all are unlocking certain pieces of the fairytale puzzle - I think Reid does that kind of writing well. But unfortunately it just didn't hit the same as ASID did for me.
 
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 stars

I was so excited but also so dreading reading this book, just because A Study in Drowning was possibly my favorite book of last year. I absolutely adored Effy and Preston and was so excited to return to their world and see how their relationship develops. However, I have been burned by sequels before and it would have just broken my heart if this one did the same. While I can admit that this book was maybe unnecessary to the overall story, I was definitely glad I was able to return to this world. Reid is an amazing writer and she proves it once again in this book. The prose is beautiful, the atmosphere and world she creates is so vivid, and the characters are so complex. I enjoyed how we saw much more of Preston’s motivations and was able to see why he is the way he is. We also see how complicated healing can be and how Effy struggles so hard with it, even when she has so much support from her friends. It was also very interesting to see how much Reid was connecting this world’s political struggles to our (specifically the USA’s) real life struggles. Sometimes I think she hit the nail on the head a little too much, but I do enjoy seeing real life struggles in fantasy books because it gives me hope that if these characters can figure out how to fight against their oppressors, than maybe we can too.

However, as I mentioned before, this book was completely unnecessary. There were threads of a bigger plot, but ultimately it turned into nothing. This book was really just about Effy and Preston dealing with the personal aftermath of the first book and there really wasn’t much of a story or plot. It was very interesting seeing the politics of the this world and its complicated history, but it was kind of just surface-level and I really wish we got more of it. This could have easily been a very fleshed out, complicated story, if Reid had just made this book just a little longer, or made the ending more open. Instead she decided to tie it up into almost too neat of a bow. As it stands now, this seems like a complete series, but that’s also what I thought after reading A Study in Drowning, so who knows. If she’s not continuing this story, I don’t know why she just didn’t make this a little novella.

Overall, if you enjoyed A Study in Drowning, this is definitely a must read and of course Reid knocks it out of the park with her writing, but if you’re looking for a complete fantastical adventure like the first one, you might be a bit underwhelmed.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I love these characters and this world. I am so happy to be back with them all. I think a lot of people felt the political portion was underdeveloped and confusing in the first book. Based on the forward, this book set to remedy that but I personally found it just as if not more confusing than it was in book one since it was a bigger element of this book with no more explanation than the first book. That said, if you liked the first one and want more Preston, you’ll love this one. 

Romance: 5💕 incredible. I adore Effy and Preston's love story.

Spice: 1🫑/🌶️ not sure if it would qualify as closed door. 
 

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.