Update: so it turns out in Scottish mythology a banshee is a female spirit that sings beautiful laments. The Irish version is the keening screaming death spirit. The more you know. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3 Stars
Cover 4 Stars

WWTQ: Who really wrote Angharad?
Answer: If you're asking that question, you know the answer.

BookTok will probably come for me, but I just did not enjoy this. Everything said about it is true: it's atmospheric, it examines misogyny in academia, Effy's trauma is terrible. But boy is it dull and frustrating to read.

I could go on and on about the weird idiosyncrasies that made no sense: The unexplained reverence for authors. The Sleepers. The magic. The time period. The war. Why in the psudeo-contemporary world these people don't have sump pumps or flood insurance.

But for me what kept me from being engaged was the writing. The author made strange word choices that became increasingly distracting and it did a disservice to the novel. Yes "carpetbagger" is a unique insult, but it has real connotations that are not explored at all in this book. Is America a thing? Was there a Civil War? We don't know. There are also so many mixed metaphors that I thought were intentional, but now I suspect were not because they're never explored. Why does Effy think that the death scream of a sea-faring Banshee is a song? I think she meant a siren.

It's also a story-within-a-story, which gives the author two opportunities to force bizarre analogies down my throat. And poetry. So. Much. Poetry. Full disclosure I stopped reading the writings of Mirren, the fake author after the first 10%. It's entirely unnecessary to the Effy plot.

The main characters work together to solve a very obvious mystery. Why were the two super smart (we're told) students unable to figure it out? I knew who the Goblin King was and who the "real" writer was in the first half of the book. So, when at the 85% mark the whole "mystery" is wrapped up like Scooby Doo I felt a little insulted and unsatisfied.

I'm bummed. I was looking forward to this, but it was a slog.

A Study in Drowning - Likewise Book Reviews

15 Reviews