Side note before I even truly begin: the alternate covers for this novel are absolutely gorgeous! Not that this one isn't super cool, but wow, the other ones match the overall atmospheric and haunting vibe this entire book creates so much better.
The entirety of my review latches onto those two words, actually: atmospheric and haunting. I really think that the writing style and strength of description is this book's strongest quality. I felt like I could walk through every room, see every tree and stone in the forest around Hiraeth Manor, and smell the scent of the briny ocean that touched truly everything in this novel. I was bound to like this book at least a little, given its inextricable connection to the sea and its sublime qualities. 
Though I had my moments of confusion (how exactly does the Fairy King possess people, and when?) and feel the ending is a bit more "telly" than "showy," I really enjoyed following along behind Effy in all her complicatedness. I love an unreliable narrator (though this book is technically written in the 3rd person), and Effy is quite a charming one. Whether she likes it or not, she is faced with the possibility of the supernatural leaking into her reality. Despite these dangers, she seeks to find glimpses of magic in everyday life; this perception of the world is one I can sympathize with. I think she's a very brave as well as very relatable young woman. She embodies beautiful aspects of being a woman with feminine power, but also allows room for the representation of feminine power being abused by men to make women feel misplaced shame (enter Master Corbenic, Ianto, the Fairy King, etc.). Sometimes the commentary on this subject felt a little on the nose to me (some of Effy's interactions with random side characters at the university, for example), but overall I think the plot of this book is able to sustain the whimsy of its ocean-related setting and the heavier concepts of female autonomy. 
I also really appreciate how this book approaches the idea of female voices being erased, covered up, or plagiarized. I felt righteous anger, a desire for justice, and sweet relief all in turn. Without spoiling anything, I really appreciated the twist ending concerning the true authorship of the novel Angharad, and all the implications of that true authorship. It was a twist that actually caught me by surprise! 
From my understanding, there's a second book connected to this first. I think I'll be checking it out.



Some of my favorite quotes from A Study in Drowning:

"What's the point in studying literature if you don't want to tell stories?"

"'What's the point,' he began, as they climbed back into the car, 'of drinking coffee if you're going to dilute it to that degree?'
Effy took a long, savoring sip. 'What's the point of drinking coffee that doesn't taste good?'"

"Why was it always girls whose forms could not be trusted? Everything could be taken away from them in an instant."

"Perhaps a romance is a story with no end at all; where the end is but a wardrobe with a false back, leading to stranger and more merciful worlds."

"And changing your mind isn't foolish. It just means you've learned something new."

"You took away all the other wanting from me."

"He kissed her, or she kissed him---it mattered only as much as it mattered whether the house was sinking or the sea was rising. Once their lips touched, Effy could think of nothing else."

"How terrible, to navigate the world without a story to comfort you."

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

While I think parts of this are sincerely awesome, I unfortunately think those awesome parts get swallowed up by a plot that's trying to hold too many things at once. And, on top of that, it's a plot that moves only incrementally faster than the ultraslow plot of Iron Flame.
I was able to track with Violet's motivations for the most part: find a cure for the dark wielding, parasitical magic slowly eating away at your boyfriend's mind and find the long lost family of your dragon who may be the key to a cure as well as invaluable allies for a coming war. I started to get more bored than lost when Violet and the "quest squad's" journey just kept going and going. Sure, finding the irids in the very first place beyond Basigath they looked would've been incredibly disappointing. But the only parts of this novel I find memorable are bits and pieces of the random places they visit, such as Trager's death in the land of the luck-obsessed people and the scary panthers in the one ruler's lavish banquet hall.
Character development-wise, I disliked Xaden more and more as the book progressed. I started to wonder why Violet was fighting so hard for the fate of a guy who loves her enough to tell her to run in the other direction. Maybe it's harsh to question why she'd fight so hard, because it is in love's name, after all. But Violet keeps putting herself, her friends, and her dragons in danger time and time again for Xaden who, in the end, uses his dark wielding powers for what he testifies is one last form of resistance. I just simply cannot wrap my head around this logic; it made me really angry, to be frank. For him to spend all of the book exhibiting self-control concerning wielding (except, of course, when they're in places without magic where he sees the opportunity to have some wild sex and takes it), only to then just let go of that self-control in a battle that felt impossible to track from a reading standpoint felt like such a subpar ending. I didn't know what kind of emotional payoff that ending was going for. In comparison to the first and second books' amazing cliffhangers, this one is certainly lacking.
So I guess, in conclusion, I'll be reading the fourth book when it comes out to see if elements of the first book's magic make some reappearances. I haven't completely given up hope on this series.

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Some of my favorite quotes from Onyx Storm:

"Help her, my love, I’m afraid our daughter has atrocious taste in men."

"'You have been the gift of my life,' I tell Tairn."

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

I wish I had more to say about this read, but I really don't. My investment hit a tiny burst of air and flew upward for maybe the first 20% of the book, and then quickly began to fall back to earth with nothing of real substance to sustain it. Which is a shame, because I thought the beginning sets up readers for a really cool, psychological exploration of Lucy's state of mind (that opening scene where she has her hands around Ben's neck? What an opening!). Rather, we don't return to some of the really interesting themes Lucy's situation brings up (sexual shame and betrayal, identity being tied to academic validation, etc.). I felt like Lucy as a character sadly fell flat. Honestly, none of the characters really had any substance, which only contributed to my losing a lot of interest in what was going to happen to them.
I think the authorial decision to cut and jump back and forth between two sets of sisters (or, in weird reality, sisters and a mother/daughter duo) confused more than intrigued me. I kept waiting for an "ah-ha!" moment to find me, but it never did. We also never get an explanation for why characters like Jess, Lucy, Mary, Eliza, and their "mam" are the way they are. I wanted a creation story for these Sirens that are, by the way, never actually called Sirens! This bothers me the more I think about it, actually---that the only time these women are subtly alluded to being Sirens similar to the original mythology is the title of Jess' painting. As someone who originally put this on their reading list with a clear interest in seeing how Hart may decide to incorporate original mythology in her own story, I was sorely disappointed. 
There appear to be several loose plot holes left hanging open at the end of the book as well, or at least just a general hazy cloud of confusion over some of the characters' histories. I really couldn't picture or connect with Jess' parents at all because they just had such weird stuff going on (knowing their daughter is half "Siren"/half human because Dad cheated on Mom with a "Siren," raising their daughter's daughter as their own and just never telling her being two chief examples). The theme of men's violence against women---and, therefore, women's retaliation---felt like it was trying to stand on a foundation that wasn't strong enough to support it, too. I wanted more emphasis on the Sirens' song and their ability to lure so I could better understand how these not-quite-women exist and why. 
So much time is spent in dilapidated Cliff House, too. What about the ocean that's right there?! I wanted more descriptions of the undersea world, which would've required more time spent beneath it, which I think would've benefited a book that's marketed to seem like it'll be about Sirens rather than women who are sorta Sirens. Okay, that's all I have in me. I'm aware it's mostly complaints, but this book really did disappoint me.


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One of my favorite quotes from The Sirens:

"Lucy thinks, but doesn’t say, how intertwined those things are. Fear and desire. How one can become the other so easily."