I’m sad to say I think a study in drowning should have stayed a stand alone. I originally thought a study in drowning was missing something but I was wrong. Having read it again and now the sequel… I think some of the ambiguity in the first was there for a reason. Ava Reid has said she didn’t originally plan to write a sequel and I think she should have followed her initial gut feeling. This doesn’t feel the same and I find it incredibly irritating when an established relationship is ruined by miscommunication and backtracking on all of the growth they made in a previous book. The characters don’t even feel like the same people. I’m sad to say I DNF’d this one.

E-ARC generously provided by HarperCollins Children’s Books in exchange for an honest review! Thank you so much

4 stars. Hypnotic and dreamlike in its prose and clever in its examination of subjects like nationalism through a speculative lens, A Theory of Dreaming is an excellent follow-up to A Study in Drowning that was utterly romantic and difficult to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC!

I’m a huge fan of Ava’s writing and I loved A Study In Drowning. This was such an amazing sequel and I really enjoyed reading it. Preston and Effy are some of my favorite characters and we got to see returning characters from the first book!

I can’t wait to read whatever Ava writes next!

Melancholy and drenched in moody dark academia, A Theory of Dreaming wades into the dangers of escapism and folding into yourself. After Effy conquers the Fairy King she’s left alone with her own personal demons and struggles to face them. Preston is a man in love and learning to navigate the emotions that come with it- including the feeling of helplessness when it comes to Effy. Both struggle with their situations at the collage. The rumors and prejudices swirling around them become suffocating. Why fight when drowning is much more tempting? Why not just escape.
I loved the ethereal quality and that reading this felt like a waking dream. Everything is real yet nothing is, and somehow both worlds intertwine into this captivating story. Its slow pace was nice to pick up and read here and there, while slowly sifting through my thoughts about it.
This is a great read for dark academia lovers or someone looking for a moody Fall story to pick up.

I adored "A Study in Drowning" and getting the chance to dive back into this dark and eerie world was all that I could want. Ava Reid's prose is the perfect mix of ethereal and dark, with a poetic nature to tie it all together. I loved the academic elements that were present. They helped guide the story while balancing Effy and Preston's characters. The pacing was slower than I expected for a sequel, but I do not think it hindered the story, rather it helped elevated the atmospheric nature and allowed for the tiny details to shine. I do wish there would have been more of a focus on Preston than Effy, but I am still glad we got to see the struggles he was dealing with.

As someone that was absolutely OBSESSED with A Study in Drowning, I was elated to see that Reid decided to bless us with more of Preston and Effy...and then to receive the eARC!

This has the same romantic, ethereal, dark, magical prose and story, but is grounded more in reality and the need to, often, escape it. Effy is still a fragile, beautiful soul and Preston is still a gentle, loving, reminder that she is worthy of love and acceptance, just as she is. I love them both so.

While this doesn't have all of the magic that the first book had, I still loved the way it dealt with depression, being an outsider, and wanting to escape a too-hard world. It was beautiful.
4.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eArc in exchange for an honest review!

First, thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ava Reid writes beautifully every time, almost with a poetical nature to it. It's something I adore about each of her books. It's not all at face value (though it can be read as that for those that don't want to read too far into things) and I love that I get to analyze her wording and discover the deeper meanings to the book.

I felt that this book started less slow than A Study in Drowning did for me but I was still expecting a bit more speed to the start as it is a sequel. But Reid has a way of writing that keeps you intrigued no matter the speed. It's moving and beautiful.

I love that we got to see the aftermath of book 1. I feel like with a lot of books, once the monster is slain we don't get to see a lot of what would happen next. With a lot of sequels and series, I feel that they jump right into a new problem to solve. While there was definitely another problem in this book, we also got to see the effects of book 1 on the characters. My heart ached for Effy and Preston.

I loved the academic elements (just as I did for book 1). There's something to soothing to me about the act of studying and as we follow Effy trying to unravel this story she is reading for class, it feels as though I was there with her, analyzing the same data she is taking in and trying to uncover the truth.

There are some good themes here and some good triumphs from our characters. I love the theme of reality/dreams/magic throughout it. It was nice to get some more of Preston's side of things here and seeing him work through his problems.

I feel like this is the type of book you could reread and reread and every time you would still pick up something new and beautiful to gleam from it. I'm really content with the ending of this book. I'm excited for the novella but I am very happy with this series and would recommend you check it out.

This was a beautiful continuation of A Study in Drowning, watching how the characters have coped and are dealing with and processing the heavy events from book 1 and how it continues to affect them and the world around them was a wonder to follow. Ava Reid's storytelling never fails to amaze, Effy and Preston held my heart through this sequel.

What didn’t work for me:
- The pace. The first half was extremely slow. It was lacking in suspense, with the author repeatedly telling us ‘There’s something happening! But the clues aren’t coming together yet!’ It wasn’t clear what we were building to. The ending, on the other hand, felt rushed and too convenient. The sensitive themes so carefully explored during the book didn’t receive a proper conclusion.
- Adjacent to the pacing issue, our characters refuse to communicate honestly for farrrrr too long. This made the relationships feel somewhat shallow.
- Lack of closure about the magical elements of the story. The magical elements were much more convoluted (and less interesting) than the first book.
- Beating me over the head with its themes. This book suffered from telling not showing.

What I liked!
- The author’s prose is beautiful! I enjoy reading her writing a lot.
- I also enjoyed getting to know our side characters and, more generally, the exploration of Effy and Preston’s social context. We learn a lot about them by how they navigate the bigotry and power struggles they face in school.
- The general anti-war/anti-imperialist sentiment.

Overall, I was glad to see what the future held for Effy and Preston. But this book was not a very satisfying conclusion.

Unfortunately, this book did not live up to the first one, A Study in Drowning, which was atmospheric and felt like it was making an important point. This one is more muddled and unfocused. The perspectives are divided between Effy and Preston, and I appreciated learning more about Preston. He and Effy have returned to their university, where they have to deal with the aftermath of their discoveries at Hiraeth, the trauma of what happened there, and Effy's becoming the first female student in the literature college. 

Speaking of the college, it's an important backdrop because several elements serve a purpose to the novel, but it seemed like the author forgot to fill in some of the details. Effy only seems to be taking one course, and Preston is TA-ing a course but doesn't seem to be taking any. Adding in some of that texture might have helped because for so much of the book it felt like nothing was happening, and there was a lot of repetition. While I was usually fairly engaged while reading, I didn't actually feel compelled to pick up the book until it got closer to the end.

While this is certainly not a bad book, it suffers in comparison to A Study in Drowning and doesn't seem to offer as much. In addition to enjoying getting more of Preston's POV, I did like that the fallout from events of book one seems realistic, and I also particularly liked the introduction/expansion on a couple of characters, particularly Effy's and Preston's roommates. However, the repetition, a frustrating lack of communication between Effy and Preston (even considering that it's for understandable reasons), and a limited, slow-moving plot kept this from being a standout novel.

I am just going to call this Preston's book because we basically follow him around the whole time. I wish we had more Effy time because she was going through some very real stuff, and we weren't really eased into it, we were smacked with a crate of fish while trying to surface for water because of the freaking trauma. That being said, if you wish to read this book, please check the content warnings first. This touches on a topic that can be very hard to read, and for me, it hit very close to home that when I read it, I was not okay for a hot minute.

This book has a lot of miscommunication because Preston and Effy are both going through different things, but neither is discussing it with the other. Book one, they established themself in a relationship, but it was hard to see that connection here at times. Though Preston did show up when it counted the most.

A Theory in Dreaming follows Effy and Preston (mostly Preston) and what happens after the fairy king is defeated. Effy is dealing with a lot of really heavy stuff, and it's like the world is against her because everyone is so anti-Effy that she's really not getting the help she needs. Meanwhile, Preston begins having dreams while working alongside Gosse, which leads to...some interesting discoveries.

I don’t know if “A Study in Drowning” needed a sequel, but I’m glad it has one. The first novel in this universe is so perfect. It has unique world-building, an investable narrative, and easy-to-love characters. Not to mention, the story felt very full-circle, I didn’t really find myself wanting to know what happened next. That being said, I’m really glad Ava Reid chose to write and publish “A Theory of Dreaming”. I think it is a great addition to the first book because it expands the world our author has painted for us while also allowing us to become closer with our characters. For some people, this might not be enough and the lackluster narrative may leave them unsatisfied, but I don’t think that’s the intention of this work. I think this novel in particular wasn’t written to compete with the first, but rather to be its opposite. It isn’t a novel of great adventure and a happy ending. It is a novel of what happens to those after the happy ending, the day after the wedding so to speak. We get to see Preston and Effy face the consequences of their actions and the harsh realities of life, and thankfully, we get to see them face these things together. Like I said previously, this premise may not be for everyone. But me personally, I loved every second of it and I am incredibly thankful Ava Reid took the time to give us this sequel.

Ava Reid's control over prose is masterful as ever, but as a sequel, this throws one too many ideas into the air to catch them all with the same thematic amount of grace.

This is a strong sequel to A Study in Drowning and the perfect conclusion to the duology. We see much more of Preston’s POV in this, which I really enjoyed. He and Effy are on parallel mental health journeys in this one. It’s a heartbreaking snapshot of how two people can be drowning together and separately at the same time.

Ava Reid creates such atmospheric settings and lush mythology to mirror the struggles of her characters in this duology. It’s truly masterful. And her writing is absolutely delectable. I definitely plan to read more from her.

My only critique is that this duology has so few moments of levity. I suppose that wouldn’t match the characters’ emotional experiences, but it made it harder to get through. The depths of anxiety and depression are very dark places indeed, but I wanted to see more rays of sunshine to break in.

After the society-shattering events of A Study In Drowning, Effy and Preston return to their university to continue their studies and face the repercussions of their discovery. While Effy struggles being the only female literature student and the political machinations that come with it, Preston begins having strange dreams of an underwater palace that sometimes seems more real than not. With the war between their countries escalating and the stress of their studies and peers, they have to work together to steady themselves and forge their path forward.

Ava Reid is one of my favorite authors and I loved A Study In Drowning, but unfortunately this was a bit of a miss for me. Preston is just not a strong enough character to be an interesting protagonist and it feels like very little happens for most of the book. Effy loses the spark that made her so compelling in the first book and becomes a wet napkin of a filler character here. The writing is gorgeous and has the authors signature otherworldly/fae style, but it’s not enough to make up for a lackluster plot, tiny cast of characters, and stale romance.

Huge thanks to NatGalley, the author, and the publisher for this Advance Reader Copy! All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

Jump back into the world of the Study of Drowning as the aftermath of Effy and Preston’s discovery takes them on another adventure between what is real or imagined. Once they return back to University, Effy becomes the first woman admitted into the literature college. Like many women who are the first to do things, it seems everyone is waiting for her to fail.

Effy realizes defeating the Fairy King stopped her visions, but it also stopped her from having a place to escape to, and she leans more heavily on her sleeping pills to be able to sleep. The stress of university, the on-going war, her past at the university and Preston being distracted enhances Effy’s depression and she loses her excitement to be a part of society. Preston starts dreaming of an underwater palace where he controls the outcome, but then realizes that the visions follow him into the waking world.

I love the way Ava Reid writes, and the immersive world that she creates with her words. Real life issues are touched in including misogyny, nationalism, racism, depression, and self-worth. I appreciated the continuation of Effy and Preston’s love story, and enjoyed seeing the world through Preston’s eyes as well as Effy’s. Both characters grow in themselves, and in their relationship, and how to ask for help when they may need it.


Thank you to HarperCollins Children’s Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars

This did not live up to its predecessor unfortunately.

Right off the bat, this story starts with both characters, now together after the first book, experiencing some issues individually and both deciding to keep them from the other. Not much I hate more than that when dealing with a now established couple.

Also, what happened to Effy? She just got pushed aside in this book and essentially does nothing. She is going through some very real and emotional problems, but even that didn't really get the a attention it should have been due, so all of her chapters just felt like unnecessary filler.

All of Preston's chapters were entertaining though there were some frustrating bits there too. But at least I was looking forward to something...

Overall, I found myself skimming a lot and just not enjoying myself ☹️

A Theory in Dreaming was one of my most anticipated books of the year after reading A Study in Drowning and loving it. I recently did read that book again to prep for when I eventually read this book. In doing so I fell in love with ASID even more, but it also made me hesitant to read the sequel knowing how it could hinder my views of the first title in the series. In all honesty, I must say I do think ASID is the better book, but I also think ATID is a very good book and is worth reading for anyone who enjoyed ASID.

While, the pacing in a Study in Drowning is slower it does eventually pick up and you start to understand the goal that the plot is aiming for at the end of the book. ATID is much more character driven and made the aim of the plot unclear throughout most of the book, which made the pacing seem even slower. I also think the way the themes are conveyed in this book are not as strong as the previous book. While themes of nationalism, false idols, and surviving past trauma is valid, I think the way some of those themes were communicated made the impact of those ideas pack less weight.

I do think there’s something to cherish when reading the relationship between Effy and Preston. The chemistry in the relationship and the yearning were some of the highlights for me when reading. Although I do wish they communicated better and actually told each other their problems, I feel like a lot of the book would not exist if they actually communicated. I also think the portrayal of depression and trauma was very accurate in this book and would say it may be triggering for some, so keep that in mind when reading.

So final thoughts, I would say that this sequel is worth picking up but don’t set expectations for it to be as good as its predecessor.

3.25⭐ as I'm feeling generous. Thank you NetGalley & HarperCollins for the ARC.

I really liked A Study in Drowning . Similar to its predecessor, I was able to appreciate A Theory of Dreaming with its atmospheric prose and an intriguing overall plot that gripped me. This sequel is very much Preston's story the way Effy was the protagonist in ASID. Given how much I enjoyed Preston as a character and that we lacked his POV during the first book, this was a welcomed switch up. Effy does have POV chapters too, just not as many as Preston.

ATOD deals with incredibly heavy issues—dare I say even more so as compared to ASID. The theme of men abusing their positions of power and women (not just Effy and Angharad) being silenced continues. And here, unlike the first book, Effy & Preston are dealing with misogyny and xenophobia respectively UP FRONT; they constantly suffer verbal and emotional assaults from their university peers and don't have the safety of being away from such a hostile learning environment like back when they were in Myrddin's house. If you thought ASID was putting you through an emotional wringer, ATOD really said that was an appetiser for what's to come.

The biggest detriment to my overall rating of this sequel is that it lacks what made ASID enjoyable to me in the first place: Effy & Preston working together. Unlike the first book where they're essentially teaming up to dig into the mystery of Myrddin, they have separate (though loosely connected) arcs here. Their researching and digging into their respective conspiracies don't overlap much, and they don't really assist each other. It also doesn't help that I was sooooooooooooooo frustrated over how much they don't communicate despite being in a romantic relationship. To Ava Reid's credit, I get that this was part of their development; a character flaw in which both individuals felt they were "burdening" the other with their problems, that neither "deserved" the other. There's nothing inherently wrong with this kind of plot point; I just find it grating to read about a couple who doesn't freaking talk to each other and keeps secrets on the misguided basis that it's "for the other's own good".

No seriously, if there was more communication and a stronger intertwining of their arcs, this would be a sequel that lived up to the first. I've mentioned above how Effy & Preston are going through an extremely rough time in their university through their respective marginalisations, and what could've solidified them as one of my favorite book couples of all time was sadly a missed opportunity. Instead of being each other's rock and emotional support when both were being socially ostracised, Preston failed to notice his girlfriend's rapidly deteriorating mental health while Effy grew too depressed* to consider her boyfriend's wellbeing as a foreigner in an increasingly nationalistic time. He was being hatecrimed practically every other day.

*(Much like in ASID, I have patience and empathy for Effy given her mental illness. The portrayal of her depression felt authentic to me, from the way she feels tired all the time and ends up in bed in all hours, unable to find motivation to do even basic self-care. It's not always sadness per se, but numbness. The novel also acknowledges that Preston's love, while able to pull her out of a stupor at a critical moment, isn't a magical fix-it cure. Instead, Effy self-reflects that recovery is not so simple. There will be relapses and times when she will still require medication.)

My disgruntlement at their relationship aside, I liked Effy & Preston's roommates Rhia & Lotto and how they were featured and fleshed out more here. I do think it's a stretch for Effy and Rhia to consider each other BEST friends given how they don't converse or are there for each other in the sufficient capacity I expect best friends to be. Then again, Effy doesn't really have any other friends outside of her boyfriend, so by default, Rhia is her best friend, lol.

If anything, Ava Reid provides solid and heartfelt resolutions to both books in this duology. It's a tumultuous but ultimately satisfying journey.

I’m a huge fan of Ava’s, and was really looking forward to this book! It definitely delivered Ava’s signature ethereal, poetic prose and beautifully gothic atmosphere. The dark academia vibes were immaculate.

In this follow up to ASID, the story focuses more on Preston as he navigates his world now that Effy has stolen his heart and magic has wiggled its way into his mind.

He is struggling with his anxieties around keeping Effy safe, battling some demons from his past, and dealing with being the only Argantian student in his Llyrian university while tensions are high between the countries due to the ongoing war. His only means of escape is into a realm he has discovered, that he can only visit in his dreams.

Beyond following Preston and his mysterious dream world, Effy struggles with being the only woman in the school of literature, even though that was her dream. The mental health representation Effy brings to this story is as relatable as ever. I feel for her, and relate to her so much. She battles between her new found confidence and her old ways of never trusting the world around her. Between holding her chin high and not caring what people think, and cowering in the face of confrontation.

While I enjoyed it overall, some parts of the plot I struggled with and I wished Effy and Preston’s storylines were a bit more cohesive. That being said, I still consider this one of my top duologies and Ava continues to be one of my absolute favorite authors