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A review by fairytamer
Con Quest! by Sam Maggs
4.0
I won an ARC of Con Quest! by Sam Maggs in a GoodReads giveaway after being intrigued by its setting at a comic convention. As someone who loves cons but unable to attend one in awhile I was excited to live vicariously through the characters.
The book itself was a pretty fun read and I highly recommend it to ANYONE (kid, teen, adult) who loves going to cons. Sam Maggs was amazing with her references to real fandoms. When you read this book, I challenge you to keep a list like I did. She references fandoms in anime, comics, tv series, movies. Thinks kids will know & those only adults will. My list counted THIRTY-ONE different references and I KNOW I missed some. The number of references alone is a good reason to pick up this book.
The story focuses on three siblings, Cat, her twin brother Alex and their older sister Fi. Con Quest! Is told by alternating between their point of views as they experience GeekiCon and participate in the legendary Quest scavenger hunt. The POVs offer different outlooks on conventions and the people who attend. Cat loves Geekicon and the Quest. She cosplays, loves to people watch, is determined to win the Quest no matter what. She's a girl of action and usually quick with a plan on how to make things happen. However, she's also impatient and overly assertive to the point of being rude to the other characters. She took me a few chapters to warm up to but eventually I liked her. My personal favorite perspective was Alex's. Alex also loves attending the convention but has trouble with the crowds because of his autism. He is also a pretty awesome artist, and his chapters tended to notice more of the surroundings and details of the con. He its assertive like his sister so his chapters didn't have the constant feeling of being rushed but is just as clever with plans as Cat. Finally, there's Fi, Fi is an outsiders point of view. She's a jock and is more concerned about seeming cool to the "popular kids". She hates conventions and views this as a chance to show her parents that she's responsible. Her chapters were actually pretty funny. She says and thinks a lot of details that both people in and out of fandoms notice and watching her scramble around was pretty entertaining. All three siblings have character development arcs and discover new things about themselves that are immensely satisfying at the end.
My last thought, and if you've made it this far on my review I thank you, was the portrayal of the con itself was pretty dead on. The mentions of the "con funk" triggered long buried memories of body odor and grease. The amazing artists in Artist Alley and how you easily can start massive events like group singings was true too. I've seen an impromptu line dance go down an entire hall before you'd be surprise how open con goers are. But Sam Maggs also protrayed the dark side of fandoms too: trolls, "real fan" gatekeepers, sexists, etc. But it was done in a way to where you feel like they can be overcome and defeated. As they should be nerdom is for all.
The book itself was a pretty fun read and I highly recommend it to ANYONE (kid, teen, adult) who loves going to cons. Sam Maggs was amazing with her references to real fandoms. When you read this book, I challenge you to keep a list like I did. She references fandoms in anime, comics, tv series, movies. Thinks kids will know & those only adults will. My list counted THIRTY-ONE different references and I KNOW I missed some. The number of references alone is a good reason to pick up this book.
The story focuses on three siblings, Cat, her twin brother Alex and their older sister Fi. Con Quest! Is told by alternating between their point of views as they experience GeekiCon and participate in the legendary Quest scavenger hunt. The POVs offer different outlooks on conventions and the people who attend. Cat loves Geekicon and the Quest. She cosplays, loves to people watch, is determined to win the Quest no matter what. She's a girl of action and usually quick with a plan on how to make things happen. However, she's also impatient and overly assertive to the point of being rude to the other characters. She took me a few chapters to warm up to but eventually I liked her. My personal favorite perspective was Alex's. Alex also loves attending the convention but has trouble with the crowds because of his autism. He is also a pretty awesome artist, and his chapters tended to notice more of the surroundings and details of the con. He its assertive like his sister so his chapters didn't have the constant feeling of being rushed but is just as clever with plans as Cat. Finally, there's Fi, Fi is an outsiders point of view. She's a jock and is more concerned about seeming cool to the "popular kids". She hates conventions and views this as a chance to show her parents that she's responsible. Her chapters were actually pretty funny. She says and thinks a lot of details that both people in and out of fandoms notice and watching her scramble around was pretty entertaining. All three siblings have character development arcs and discover new things about themselves that are immensely satisfying at the end.
My last thought, and if you've made it this far on my review I thank you, was the portrayal of the con itself was pretty dead on. The mentions of the "con funk" triggered long buried memories of body odor and grease. The amazing artists in Artist Alley and how you easily can start massive events like group singings was true too. I've seen an impromptu line dance go down an entire hall before you'd be surprise how open con goers are. But Sam Maggs also protrayed the dark side of fandoms too: trolls, "real fan" gatekeepers, sexists, etc. But it was done in a way to where you feel like they can be overcome and defeated. As they should be nerdom is for all.