cbr17bingo: school
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 would encourage readers to check content warnings for this, though be aware that it would be a spoiler.)
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this e-ARC. All opinions are my own.