Thanks to Net Galley for this ARC!

Considering my enthusiastic love for A Study In Drowning, I was a bit nervous to start this book.


I shouldn’t have been nervous.


I loved it so much.


I don’t think I’ve ever had this many feelings about bells in my entire life. Literally spent the last 36 hours straight thinking about them.


Ava Reid has broken me and I am now a shell of what I used to be. The way she writes about anxiety and obsessive thoughts has never felt better represent to me as a reader who struggles with these things. I loved hearing more of Preston as a character and his inner struggles with identity and reality. I obviously love Effy and continued to love her in this book.

In conclusion I love Ava Reid and will forever read anything she ever writes. I can’t wait until this book physically comes out so I can buy a million copies.

READ THIS BOOK

I need to preface this review with this: Ava Reid is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I absolutely LOVED A Study in Drowning. That being said, I have to Speak my Truth: I really did not enjoy this. The saving grace of this book is it still includes Reid’s gorgeous prose and she can create a world that oozes atmosphere, which adds so much to her stories. However. the plot was very muddled and lacked a feeling of magic. My biggest issue was it seemed like she stripped the characters of everything I loved previously and made them shells of their former selves. I understand this was about how they dealt with the trauma from ASID, but they felt like very watered down versions of themselves, especially Effy, which was very disappointing.

Unlike A Study in Drowning, A Theory of Dreaming is not plot focused and is instead very character focused. I think after loving ASID, I was expecting a bit more plot rather than just the characters learning to live with their trauma. That aside, I did very much enjoy being back with Effy and Preston especially as they worked to overcome the barriers between them and build a stronger relationship. I think this could've been a more successful novella - as it stands it's a bit longer than it needed to be. Ava Reid's writing remains wonderful - even though this book didn't live up to my admittedly sky high expectations, she's still one of my favorites to read.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

This felt more dark academia than the first book, and also just darker in general, especially the second half of the book. I actually realized I need to go back and reread the first one. I liked getting to see more of Effy and Preston, even if there's a lot of sadness/fear they are both working through on their own terms.

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc!

The second I got this book, I read it. In one sitting. Like a maniac. Ava Reid is one of my favorite authors ever. This book is just fan-service, and Reid delivered about 400 pages of it. I will say, however, that this book could've, and should've, been a novella. This book is much slower than A Study in Drowning, and in its scope/stakes, was much less intense. There's no set structure, and the development of the characters was more subtle.

IF YOU DID NOT LOVE THE ASID CHARACTERS WITH YOUR FULLY HEART AND SOUL, YOU WILL HAVE A ROUGH TIME WITH THIS BOOK. Be warned that there is barely any plot, and you're just following Preston and Effy as they deal with their internal turmoil, insecurities, and trauma. Repeatedly.

Overall, 3 stars. I am very excited to see what Ava Reid is going to publish next.