I missed Effy and Preston so much I’m happy they’re back! I was totally okay with ASID having a bit of an open ending but it’s so interesting to be diving back into the world and the aftermath of ASID with the political tension heightened in the sequel.

Effy and Preston are so sweet as a couple it makes me melt! I do really love spending so much time in Preston’s POV and getting more background about his character.

Where ASID felt atmospheric and fantastical this is more emotional and raw. Effy and Preston, while dealing with the fallout from ASID, are also battling their own deeper and darker emotions both as a couple and independently. This was a great sequel that I juxtaposed fairytale and reality in a necessary and startling way. I loved it and bid this story a content goodbye

I really enjoyed this series by Ava Reid. It is a touch of romantasy with solid characters and an academic setting. The covers are also to die for. I recommend for people wanting to get into fantasy.

Thank you SO much for this ARC!!! Deeply honored for receiving and being able to review this one!

Wow, what a ride! Effy and Preston are back, facing even darker challenges. Effy, now the first woman at the literature college, is grappling with the weight of her past and the pressure to succeed. Preston's internal struggles and his connection to a mysterious dream world add a whole new layer to the story. The book delves deep into themes of identity, trauma, and the blurred lines between dreams and reality. Ava Reid's writing is as atmospheric and haunting as ever, pulling you into a world that's both beautiful and unsettling. While some readers felt the sequel didn't quite match the first book's impact, I found it to be a compelling continuation that kept me hooked. If you're into dark academia, complex characters, and a touch of the surreal, this one's for you.

My one complaint about A Study In Drowning was that I needed MORE so when this book was announced I freaked out. It's so incredibly lush and atmospheric. I love being back in this world and with these characters. I cried, I laughed, I screamed. I love love love this book so much.

A Theory of Dreaming is darker than A Study in Drowning, shifting the focus more toward Preston. His journey—from skepticism to belief. Especially as he struggles with his Argantian identity and everything that comes with it. Effy continues to fight for her place and deal with the emotional fallout from book one.

Ava Reid’s signature gothic atmosphere is still here, mixing folklore and dark academia in a way that feels both eerie and timeless. While this sequel has a different tone, it’s a worthy continuation of Effy and Preston’s story—delivering an emotionally resonant and thought-provoking read

This is just as strong as A Study of Drowning, its predecessor. Ava Reid’s prose remains as beautiful as ever.

Be forewarned that it does delve heavily into depression.

The book can sway toward being heavy-handed with it themes, and the indistinct time period can rankle (there are fighter jets and hospital machines, but only landlines and no computers?), but that’s not new to this duology. Fans of Rebecca Ross’s Letters of Enchantment, or A Study of Drowning, will enjoy this.

This was a fun sequel to a study in drowning! I loved getting to see effy and Preston come together again to take on the academic world as a team.

There was mystery and suspense, and love and poetry. The writing was so beautifully done, and I loved the atmospheric style of descriptions. This duology is so haunting in the best way possible.

I do wish some more things were wrapped up more neatly in the ending, but overall I enjoyed the experience with this one.

The sequel I didn't know I needed!

This book picks up immediately after the events of A Study in Drowning. With their findings published, Effy and Preston have to deal with the fallout of accusing one of Llyr's beloved sleepers of being a fraud at a time when the war between Llyr and Argant is reaching a boiling point. While Effy grapples with her new course load and being the only woman in the literature college, Preston is dragged into a dangerous research project by his advisor, Master Goose, and targeted by his peers for being Argantian. As Preston's dreams slowly overtake his reality, Effy seeks the comfort of dreamless sleep. In order to overcome their personal demons they'll have to learn how to exist in a world that isn't always welcoming.

I was so curious what this world was going to look like without the chilling backdrop of Hiraeth, but I am happy to report that I loved being back on campus just as much as the sinking manor. This story was slower paced than I typically go for, but I love Effy and Preston, as well as Reid's beautifully lyrical writing, so much that I was content to follow their personal journeys in this book. I did throughly enjoy learning more lore about their world though. I was fascinated by the sleepers in the first book and I was so glad that the author expanded on them in this one. I also appreciated that we delved deeper into the exploration of women's rights, xenophobia, and, of course, what it means to love someone. The love between Effy and Preston is so poetic it makes my heart ache.

I will say that I wasn't prepared for how sad and dark this book was compared to A Study in Drowning. If we were going to liken them to Taylor Swift albums I would say A Study in Drowning is more Folklore- Illicit Affair, Mad Woman, "stolen lullabies"- and A Theory of Dreaming is more The Tortured Poet's Department- I Hate it Here, Down Bad, "how much tragedy"- which isn't a bad thing, I was just expecting something gothic and suspenseful and instead got something with more dark academia, introspective vibes.

Overall, I think this is a beautiful companion to A Study in Drowning. Reid has created such a unique world, abundant with rich detail and history, it was truly a joy to revisit it. At it's core, A Theory of Dreaming is an exploration into magic, escapism, and what we're willing to give up to save the people we love.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Harper Collins, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have decided that I need to dnf this book. I’ve been having a really hard time paying attention to it when I’m reading, and most of the time I don’t really have any desire to pick it up to start reading.

I just don’t really think this book needs to exist. I’m not the biggest fan of A Study in Drowning, but I definitely still had fun reading it, and it had a perfectly fine conclusion.

Another issue I have with this book is that I can’t stand Preston. I don’t remember if I liked him in A Study in Drowning, but in this one he was insufferable. I’m all for a man who loves his woman, but he felt almost too into Effy with the way he would talk about her.

If you are a huge fan of A Study in Drowning, and Ava Reid, I’m sure you would love this book. It’s just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

3 Stars

"My mind is never empty if you. Not in waking; not even in dreaming."

I want to start this review off by saying I absolutely love Ava Reid’s writing. I haven’t been disappointed by her writing style yet. A Theory of Dreaming was a complicated read for me. I loved the characters and how much Preston cared for Effy. But the plot felt like a mess to me. It was hard to follow and I had a really hard time staying engaged with the plot. Unfortunately this didn’t hit as well as A Study in Drowning and lost some of the spark.

Sometimes a sequel is not better than the first in a duology...not in this case. I felt like the story continued and loved reading about these characters again! I loved watching Preston and Effy's love continue after everything that happened in A Study In Drowning, and how they have their own dreams and struggles, but are there for each other. Seeing that Effy is the only woman to enroll in college was made a little tougher to swallow with present day, real world struggles not far behind. Fantasy books are hitting different these days. Reid absolutely hit this one out of the park, and it is made even better that I didn't know it was coming!

I’m not joking when I say I started this book the SECOND it landed on my kindle. A Study in Drowning was my top read of 2023 and I just couldn’t wait to be back with Effy and Preston. Ava Reid’s writing remains incredibly lush and evocative and I was instantly transported back to the windswept coast and salt eaten buildings of Llyr and the university. While ASID was primarily Effy’s story, I’d argue the sequel is more Preston’s story to tell as he battles enemies both outside and within his own mind, and the true cost of loving someone through thick and thin. I adored the “story within a story” format of both Antonia’s letters and the sleeping gods. The world was just as atmospheric and ephemeral while feeling more grounded than its predecessor; more raw. I loved seeing Effy and Preston’s relationship settle and shift amongst the cracks as they carved out what love looks like for people still very much on the move. The exploration into xenophobia with Preston being Argantian had the usual bell of timeliness as with much of Ava’s writing. Overall, I knew this would be a five star read the second I saw it was announced, and was completely unsurprised to find every one of my expectations absolutely more than met.

I can’t help but picture Luigi Mangioni as Preston! Not similar people but Luigi was everywhere when I read the first book and it stuck in my head somehow. Sometimes there is no use fighting your mind's eye when it’s set on something.

I’m finding this much less enjoyable to read because of the absolute nastiness they both experience in the university. The sexism, slander, and xenophobia are just constant, taking all potential fun out of the academic setting. It makes it hard to be excited about diving into. It's unrelenting throughout the book.

I do remember thinking at the end of the last book that it all wrapped up too nicely with the university and it didn’t seem realistic. Well, all that is undone in this one, and never seemed to be legitimate in the first place.

I like that the magical focus shifted to Preston vs Effy in this book. Both of them are great, equally complex characters, though Effy didn't really shine in this one.

Their romance has much less tension as they distance themselves from each other right away, hiding what they are going through out of misplaced protectiveness. Again, not as fun to read.

The writing is great and has a dreamlike quality. It is a sadder book though, and the character's heads are sadder places to live this time around. If you enjoyed the first one I recommend reading this, but go in expecting something more muted.

First and foremost, I loved how this alternated between Effy and Preston's points of view! Ava Reid’s writing puts you under a spell and takes you into a dreamscape. She builds an eerie atmosphere, and it’s full of metaphors, just like A Study in Drowning.

The beginning captured me and it was intriguing to be back in Caer- Isel and I loved the focus turning on Preston. The middle of the book however was a bit of a struggle. This book covers some heavy mental health topics. Effy and Preston both struggled to feel like they deserved love and it was frustrating to read about them questioning their worth. In the end, a lot was brought to light that made it come full circle and it was a good conclusion to the duology.


Thank you so much HarperCollins and NetGalley for this ARC!

Ava Reid’s A Theory of Dreaming is a novel that feels like stepping into a world just beyond reach—one where the lines between dreams and reality blur, and the subconscious holds as much power as the waking world. Known for her lush, atmospheric storytelling, Reid delivers a spellbinding tale that is equal parts psychological mystery, folklore-infused fantasy, and deep character study.

The story follows a protagonist caught between the tangible and the surreal, unraveling secrets buried in both their dreams and their past. Reid’s writing is intoxicating, her descriptions rich with detail that makes even the most ephemeral moments feel vividly real. Every sentence pulses with an eerie beauty, drawing readers deeper into a narrative that is both unsettling and deeply emotional.

What makes A Theory of Dreaming so compelling is its exploration of the subconscious—not just as a space of imagination, but as a battleground where trauma, love, and identity collide. It’s a novel about memory and myth, about how the stories we tell ourselves shape our understanding of the world.

For fans of intricate, lyrical prose and immersive, dreamlike storytelling, A Theory of Dreaming is an unforgettable read. It’s the kind of book that lingers like a half-remembered dream—haunting, beautiful, and impossible to shake.

I can't believe that Ms. Reid was going to make this a stand-alone series, the ending of A Study in Drowning left me speechless and yearning for more of this world. I love Preston and having an inside into his thoughts and feelings (especially towards Effy) was the best gift ever. This was definitely darker, there were themes in this book that really had me sobbing and gasping for air as I clutched my chest but the hopefulness that Ms. Reid is able to write into her sentences comforted me in ways I can't truly put into words. Something so effortlessly beautiful about simply being and accepting yourself for who you are is exactly what I needed to hear. I loved all the side characters, Lotto was definitely a favorite!!!!! his and Preston's friendship was so sweet, I'm glad he had a friend to rely on. Effy's journey throughout this book was a hard one to read but it was inevitable, her whole life he had the other world to fall back into, a safe space for her to hide, and it was taken away, of course it would be hard to adjust to this world she had been running away from her entire life. Still, it was hard to read and I could feel and understand her pain, her stubbornness to accept a love that so easily came to Preston. Him choosing her over the palace, just like she chose him over the fairy king. Their love once again surpassing everything and anything despite the temping escape of the world of magic. I wish he would have confided in her about the palace but then again I think her falling back into another dream would have just completely taken over her and he would have never gotten her back. Their love really did end the war like okaaayyyy. 4.25

It breaks my heart to say this, because I eventually came around to ASID, but this sequel was unnecessary, and the ending was unearned. Even though our two MCs are in a relationship post ASID -- and sleep in the same bed – they don’t communicate, barely share a plotline, and don’t grow as characters. This is a problem given the one event that forces them back together – a sensitive event played for shock IMO – which is then infuriatingly glossed over. The message of ASID is repeated here, the themes and mode too similar, the villains cartoonish. In sum: ASID should have stayed a standalone.

A darker, more contemplative sequel, A Theory of Dreaming focuses mainly on the mental health of Effy and Preston as they deal with the aftermath of the events of the first book. There is not much of a plot beyond their struggles with low self-esteem, depression, and mean people, and sadly, the storylines for Effy and Preston unfold separately from each other. I kept waiting for their stories to overlap, or for Effy to be brought into the mystery Preston was experiencing–to get to see some teamwork between them, to see some of the spark that initially endeared them to me and to each other–but it never happens. And the lack of communication between their characters made all the overtures of grand romance simply ring hollow.This is a shame because, ultimately, this is a story about two people allowing themselves to love and to be loved.

All of that said, I absolutely adored Effy and Preston’s friends–and the love between them felt very true. We also learn a bit more about Llyr and Argant as well as the other Sleepers, all of which is interesting enough. However, overall this was a disappointing read for me that quite frankly felt unnecessary. At the very least, it did not live up to the sense of anticipation I felt when Preston asked Effy if she’d heard the bells at the end of A Study in Drowning.

The continuation of this story is something i did not know I needed so badly. Everything about this book was done magically and I was so excited to jump into this world.

I absolutely loved Study in Drowning but wanted more to the story, so I was super excited to read the sequel. I loved the detail into Effy and Preston's relationship and that the author included Preston's point of view. However, I felt as though the story was a bit confusing to follow, but I liked mystery aspect. I would of loved to see more conclusive ending and more focus on Effy's struggles. Overall, I really enjoyed Ava Reid's writing style and the atmosphere of her books.