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lilatov's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.75
I think this book does more harm than good
there is no character development
the relationships have no driving force
extremely minimal character motivation for anything
there are incredibly low stakes, for anything
features a coming out plot that appears to shame the character for not coming out earlier in an actively hostile and homophobic environment
the dnd is flawed and doesn't excite non dnd players / dnd enthusiasts to get more into dnd
plays into stereotypes with each different character in various weird and problematic ways
slightly transphobic? and xenophobic? and biphobic?
weird character conflicts that don't make sense?
the book is written for a very specific subsection of queer community that is not wholly representative and does not endear that section of the community to the rest of it. I slightly cared more for Ben as the story development due to prolonged exposure, but he doesn't actually grow as a character.
This book is frustrating because it has good foundations and a good premise, but the way that it's executed is simply meant to fail.
The dnd sessions were simply a place for them to air out their real life grievances and thus not all that enjoyable?
but the formatting of them was fun
there is no character development
the relationships have no driving force
extremely minimal character motivation for anything
there are incredibly low stakes, for anything
features a coming out plot that appears to shame the character for not coming out earlier in an actively hostile and homophobic environment
the dnd is flawed and doesn't excite non dnd players / dnd enthusiasts to get more into dnd
plays into stereotypes with each different character in various weird and problematic ways
slightly transphobic? and xenophobic? and biphobic?
weird character conflicts that don't make sense?
the book is written for a very specific subsection of queer community that is not wholly representative and does not endear that section of the community to the rest of it. I slightly cared more for Ben as the story development due to prolonged exposure, but he doesn't actually grow as a character.
This book is frustrating because it has good foundations and a good premise, but the way that it's executed is simply meant to fail.
The dnd sessions were simply a place for them to air out their real life grievances and thus not all that enjoyable?
but the formatting of them was fun
h0p35had's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
esdeecarlson's review against another edition
2.0
**This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.**
2 stars
Initially, this seemed like an excellent book for me. I’m a queer nerd, and I love a book about a group of wildly different people joined together by a shared interest. In fact, I think that had I read this book as a high schooler, I would have really connected with it, particularly because the book focuses a great deal on feeling adrift and unsure of the future, and searching for a connection with another person when you feel ‘different’ from everyone else.
Reading it now, however, I didn’t find myself enjoying the story as I had expected to. Although all of the characters save one are in their early- to mid-twenties, most of them (save Mooneyham, who along with his boyfriend Huey was easily my favorite) felt much more like teenagers. None of the characters were particularly developed, and I was disappointed that the book leaned into stereotypes about the type of people who play tabletop games.
I was also perturbed by the amount of isolation the nerdy characters felt due to being nerdy; the story is clearly set in the present day, but apparently in this fictionalized Cleveland, D&D is still treated like leprosy. In actual fact, the game has enjoyed enormous popularity and growing mainstream visibility in recent years. Geeks are cool in 2021… except in Cleveland, apparently. And that wasn’t the only ‘out-of-time’ aspect of the story that jarred me; a number of mannerisms and setting ‘color’ seemed more at home in the mid-2000s than the modern day.
There was also a subplot about vampire LARPers that didn’t go anywhere and felt unfinished. These characters were such sketched-in stereotypes that they felt like they’d be more appropriate as background antagonists in a nerdy webcomic than actual characters in a novella.
I think this book would appeal primarily to a Young Adult audience, particularly young queer teens struggling with how to juggle all the different aspects of their identity along with the confusing expectations of rapidly-approaching adulthood. For many people, this could be a new favorite book. For me, however, the characters and writing were lacking.
2 stars
Initially, this seemed like an excellent book for me. I’m a queer nerd, and I love a book about a group of wildly different people joined together by a shared interest. In fact, I think that had I read this book as a high schooler, I would have really connected with it, particularly because the book focuses a great deal on feeling adrift and unsure of the future, and searching for a connection with another person when you feel ‘different’ from everyone else.
Reading it now, however, I didn’t find myself enjoying the story as I had expected to. Although all of the characters save one are in their early- to mid-twenties, most of them (save Mooneyham, who along with his boyfriend Huey was easily my favorite) felt much more like teenagers. None of the characters were particularly developed, and I was disappointed that the book leaned into stereotypes about the type of people who play tabletop games.
I was also perturbed by the amount of isolation the nerdy characters felt due to being nerdy; the story is clearly set in the present day, but apparently in this fictionalized Cleveland, D&D is still treated like leprosy. In actual fact, the game has enjoyed enormous popularity and growing mainstream visibility in recent years. Geeks are cool in 2021… except in Cleveland, apparently. And that wasn’t the only ‘out-of-time’ aspect of the story that jarred me; a number of mannerisms and setting ‘color’ seemed more at home in the mid-2000s than the modern day.
There was also a subplot about vampire LARPers that didn’t go anywhere and felt unfinished. These characters were such sketched-in stereotypes that they felt like they’d be more appropriate as background antagonists in a nerdy webcomic than actual characters in a novella.
I think this book would appeal primarily to a Young Adult audience, particularly young queer teens struggling with how to juggle all the different aspects of their identity along with the confusing expectations of rapidly-approaching adulthood. For many people, this could be a new favorite book. For me, however, the characters and writing were lacking.
rpych2's review against another edition
2.0
This was a pretty fun and light read for most of it, but it was not without its problems. But I will say, I loved how the D&D campaign was weaved into the story, changing the characters’ names to their names within the game for the dialogue was really intelligently done.
However, all of the characters fell super flat to me. None of the female MCs were developed at all, and the main ones were one dimensional or just there as a love interest. Also, the whole storyline with the vampires really didn’t do anything within the story at all. The whole thing was unfortunately pretty unevenly paced, which made for a rushed and not great ending.
I loved the focus on RPGs and nerd culture in general, but unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of this one.
However, all of the characters fell super flat to me. None of the female MCs were developed at all, and the main ones were one dimensional or just there as a love interest. Also, the whole storyline with the vampires really didn’t do anything within the story at all. The whole thing was unfortunately pretty unevenly paced, which made for a rushed and not great ending.
I loved the focus on RPGs and nerd culture in general, but unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of this one.
lezreadalot's review against another edition
2.0
1.5 stars. Oh boy. So two things about me: I'm really gay and I really love D&D. (Well, I've never played it myself but I'm obsessed with Critical Role, which counts, do not @ me.) So a book about a bunch of queer nerds in a role-playing club? I wanted to love this. And I really think I could have, because somewhere in the middle of this mess is a really cute, campy, silly, but heartfelt story. But this needed some serious doctoring.
First, this wasn't the book's fault, but the copy I received was really badly formatted in terms of the line and paragraph spacing, which made it really difficult to read. Secondly, the plotting was all over the place. There were several threads of the story that just came in at awkward times, plots that got too much or too little screen time, a few points that were just nonsensical/unneeded, even in a light-hearted romp of a story. The whole vampire thing was unnecessary, and didn't ever work into the story in a coherent way. The characters all had arcs, but some were given more precedence than others, and none of them felt particularly fulfilling. The little bits of character development weren't very satisfying, and even though some things changed for some characters, it just didn't feel that way, beyond the obvious. There are a few romances, but none of them, not even the main one, made me feel anything in particular. The story spread wide enough, I guess, but it felt really thin and shallow.
The subplot within their D&D campaign was fun? But again, disjointed and a bit all over the place. The silliness got to be a bit too much for me at times. I did like how the scenes played out, and how their real life discussions/arguments bled into the game sometimes, but reading it as a whole... it just wasn't cohesive. I didn't mind that not all the rules and terms were what I'm used to (they could have been using another edition or homebrew rules) but I just wanted there to be more structure.
There's also a super clumsy moment in the vein of, 'hmmm, how do I let readers know this character is trans EASY I'll deadname her almost immediately.'
I liked this story's potential more than I liked anything about the way in which it was executed. The bones of something good are here! I love D&D, I love silly, I love campy, I don't mind a lot of innuendo and comedy, but none of these really got pulled together in a way that made for a satisfying story, which is a pity.
☆ Review copy provided via NetGalley.
First, this wasn't the book's fault, but the copy I received was really badly formatted in terms of the line and paragraph spacing, which made it really difficult to read. Secondly, the plotting was all over the place. There were several threads of the story that just came in at awkward times, plots that got too much or too little screen time, a few points that were just nonsensical/unneeded, even in a light-hearted romp of a story. The whole vampire thing was unnecessary, and didn't ever work into the story in a coherent way. The characters all had arcs, but some were given more precedence than others, and none of them felt particularly fulfilling. The little bits of character development weren't very satisfying, and even though some things changed for some characters, it just didn't feel that way, beyond the obvious. There are a few romances, but none of them, not even the main one, made me feel anything in particular. The story spread wide enough, I guess, but it felt really thin and shallow.
The subplot within their D&D campaign was fun? But again, disjointed and a bit all over the place. The silliness got to be a bit too much for me at times. I did like how the scenes played out, and how their real life discussions/arguments bled into the game sometimes, but reading it as a whole... it just wasn't cohesive. I didn't mind that not all the rules and terms were what I'm used to (they could have been using another edition or homebrew rules) but I just wanted there to be more structure.
There's also a super clumsy moment in the vein of, 'hmmm, how do I let readers know this character is trans EASY I'll deadname her almost immediately.'
I liked this story's potential more than I liked anything about the way in which it was executed. The bones of something good are here! I love D&D, I love silly, I love campy, I don't mind a lot of innuendo and comedy, but none of these really got pulled together in a way that made for a satisfying story, which is a pity.
☆ Review copy provided via NetGalley.
briggamooz's review against another edition
4.0
Adorable sweet, nerdy, and full of all the good and sad feels. I was blushing along with our awkward crush, pumping my fist for victory in the campaign, and utterly charmed.
ladygeekface's review against another edition
4.0
I loved the way the author did the RPG portions of the book. They blended this game into the story and wrote it as if we're actually happening instead of "they played D&D and fought about what to do next."
The main character was a bit dramatic, but in a believable way. The interactions between character felt genuine, but I did feel we could have explored more with Valerie and Celeste.
The LGBTQ aspects of the book seemed forced at first. The author seemed to be yelling "look we're gay!" It got more subtle as it went on and overall I liked the book.
I'd recommend this to all your RPG gamer friends and your nerdy gay friends, as well!
The main character was a bit dramatic, but in a believable way. The interactions between character felt genuine, but I did feel we could have explored more with Valerie and Celeste.
The LGBTQ aspects of the book seemed forced at first. The author seemed to be yelling "look we're gay!" It got more subtle as it went on and overall I liked the book.
I'd recommend this to all your RPG gamer friends and your nerdy gay friends, as well!
ripavengers's review against another edition
2.0
This book could have been a lot more. All of the characters had something to them that makes you go “yeah this is going to be good” but I felt as though the author did not take full advantage of them.
So we have Ben as the main character, which fine. Completely understand his plight as a mid twenty year old with no job prospects. But that was kind of his only personality trait. And I feel as though by Ben’s story taking the forefront, everyone else’s stories were undeveloped.
Mooneyham and Huey probably had the next most page time. But Mooneyham’s whole thing was “should I come out at work?” and Huey’s whole character existed to be subject to homophobia, and even a few remarks towards Asians.
Valerie’s subplot was so weird. She had a kind of girlfriend and also a run in with vampires that honestly I still don’t understand. Her having povs made no difference to the plot at all.
And Celeste. She had a couple of povs for really no reason. Like she didn’t really have a plot in this.
Also I guess Albert had a few povs at the end to make us feel bad for him? I’m not sure.
I just think this book had so many characters and not enough time to do anything with them. They were all pretty one dimensionally and bland. Also there was a continuous use of the g slur thats used towards romani people in one chapter which was quite uncomfortable to read.
The positives of this book would be that everyone was unapologetically LGBT and the relationships were cute. Also some scenes were funny. But really I think it needed to be fleshed out a bit more and scanned for harmful comments from various characters that were unnecessary.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
So we have Ben as the main character, which fine. Completely understand his plight as a mid twenty year old with no job prospects. But that was kind of his only personality trait. And I feel as though by Ben’s story taking the forefront, everyone else’s stories were undeveloped.
Mooneyham and Huey probably had the next most page time. But Mooneyham’s whole thing was “should I come out at work?” and Huey’s whole character existed to be subject to homophobia, and even a few remarks towards Asians.
Valerie’s subplot was so weird. She had a kind of girlfriend and also a run in with vampires that honestly I still don’t understand. Her having povs made no difference to the plot at all.
And Celeste. She had a couple of povs for really no reason. Like she didn’t really have a plot in this.
Also I guess Albert had a few povs at the end to make us feel bad for him? I’m not sure.
I just think this book had so many characters and not enough time to do anything with them. They were all pretty one dimensionally and bland. Also there was a continuous use of the g slur thats used towards romani people in one chapter which was quite uncomfortable to read.
The positives of this book would be that everyone was unapologetically LGBT and the relationships were cute. Also some scenes were funny. But really I think it needed to be fleshed out a bit more and scanned for harmful comments from various characters that were unnecessary.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
vmckayn's review against another edition
3.0
Some strange plot holes and some problematic choices, but I like what this book was after. A light and fun little reward.
horrorwine's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
0.25
weird, racist, and bad
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
Copious use of a slur against Romani people in one scene. Very uncomfortable.