To start with, this is one of the most accurate and well-chosen titles I have seen for a book. It's relevant on multiple levels, which stood out to me more than book titles typically do.

Effy, our psychologically drowning main character, is the only female architecture student at a university that wouldn't accept her to the literature college, which was where she wanted to be, because "women dumb" basically. This reflects the themes of sexism and misogyny that Reid weaves throughout the book. Effy has a history of trauma, and she feels like she is drowning when triggers of this history cause dissociation.

It took me a little while to feel connected with Effy because I just felt like I wasn't really learning about who she is, but this improved as the book progressed. I think she is meant to be an unreliable narrator, and my quibble with that is that if you know the book is a fantasy and have read the book blurb, you know there are limits to how far her unreliability can extend. It would have been more suspenseful if I didn't know the genre going in. I also thought that she and Preston made a couple stupid decisions that couldn't fully be attributed to their age or their motivations, or perhaps the strengths of their motivations just needed to be further impressed upon readers.

Reid does a great job with the gothic element. Myrddin's manor is decaying and sits on the edge of a crumbling cliff. Ianto, Myrddin's son, is suitably creepy and possessive, which lends an edge of danger to Preston's and Effy's decisions. The references to things being wet, dripping, and dilapidated are very atmospheric.

While I get the sense that this book, and perhaps Ava Reid as an author, is a bit polarizing, I enjoyed it enough to try more of Ava Reid's novels.