Book Review: An Archive of Romance (A Study in Drowning) by Ava Reid

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“An Archive of Romance” is a collection of letters, poems, art, diary entries, and other illustrations of Effy and Preston that take place during the A Study in Drowning duology, as well as the lovers’ final epilogue.

Buy “An Archive of Romance”

As I mentioned, “An Archive of Romance” is an illustrated collector’s edition for fans of the A Study in Drowning duology. In this one, we get behind the scenes of the research, annotations, images, and paper trail between the academic rivals turned to lovers.

I did enjoy “An Archive of Romance,” but I also believe this novella was made with loyal fans in mind.

The novella is separated into 3 parts. The first part includes extra material from A Study in Drowning, while the second part includes extra material from A Theory in Dreaming. And the final part is a short epilogue that concludes the entire body of work.

I will say one of my favourite segments was of Preston’s journals in Part 1 of this collection because we never got his POV in the first book. It was endearing to see him work out his irritation (disguised affection) for Effy.

It’s not that I didn’t resonate with the other passages or that I wasn’t interested in learning the richer history of some of the Sleeper Museum figureheads; however, I couldn’t help but prefer the passages revolving around Preston’s diary and the pieces written in Angharad (even though the fairy tale was mostly presented in fragments).

Part 3 made me enjoy the illustrated book more since it featured the epilogue to Effy and Preston’s love story in 10 short chapters that led up to their wedding, which then concluded with a beautiful portrait of the wedded couple and a copy of their respective vows. It was very endearing.

All in all, it is apparent that Ava Reid put in a lot of research, world-building, and love into her A Study in Drowning duology.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read my review of “A Study in Drowning,” the first book in the series, in this post here. And of its sequel, “A Theory of Dreaming,” in this post here.

You can also watch my A Study in Drowning reading vlog here.

I was a girl when he came for me, beautiful and treacherous, and I was a crown of pale gold in his black hair. (p. 64)

In some ways it had been easier to yearn for the impossible. But maybe now she was safe enough
—brave enough—to want the ordinary. (p. 190)

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