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A review by orinposner
Boys, Book Clubs, and Other Bad Ideas by Shay Lynam, Maria Berejan, Stephen Folkins, Jennifer Lee Swagert, Sunny Everson, Katrina Hamilton, Kristina Horner
5.0
Overall, this book feels like a bunch of writers who love YA literature (and more specifically, YA fantasy) came to play: all the short stories in the anthology have the same title, which is fun and interesting already, but there’s something about putting “Book Club” in that title, thereby forcing all the stories to be, in some way, about books and/or clubs (=groups of friends), that makes for a delightful metaliterary anthology with the theme of friendship/connection somehow coursing through it.
Here’s a little of my thoughts on each story:
Kristina Horner’s fun and sweet story on demon huntresses in high-school brings to mind a younger version of Buffy, and I felt like it did relatively a lot of worldbuilding in very little space.
Stephen Folkins’ story – the only one whose title is very slightly different (it’s “Boys’ Book Clubs and Other Bad Ideas” instead of "Boys, Book Clubs," etc.) – was a really enjoyable metaliterary romp poking fun at YA fantasy.
Jennifer Lee Swagert’s story is a lovely tale of unlikely friendship and, like the previous story, it’s another dive into a fictional fandom (this time of a VR video game) with all its lore, slang, and norms; I LOVED it.
Katrina Hamilton’s story is the only one of the bunch that has zero fantasy elements – it’s purely a high-school story with silly high-school problems – but somehow the stakes here felt like the highest, and I became invested in this nerdy Mean Girls world. The story has a unique narration style, too, which worked for me and created a nice, quick pace.
Shay Lynam’s another high school story, though this time it’s a fancy Academy in a beautiful, old building, and then (of course) there’s a supernatural twist. Honestly, this one started out really slow for me, but it picked up, switched genres a bit, and it might be worth it for that ending…
Sunny Everson’s story is a Harry Potter parody – we’re at a Hogwarts-like wizard academy and there’s a Chosen One and a Dark Wizard and all that, but our protagonist is a self-described background student who’s starting a book club. I really, really loved this one. It’s also kinda gay, though, unfortunately, only very slightly so.
Maria Berejan’s is a delicious story of a demon working as a Death Day Coordinator at the Afterlife Library, and, well, things happen. This one is definitely one of my favorites. It feels like the most different story in the anthology, but it still goes back to the theme of books and their readers, and in a really interesting and beautiful way.
***
I supported this book on Kickstarter and got a physical copy when it came out (and seriously, what a beautiful cover!).
Here’s a little of my thoughts on each story:
Kristina Horner’s fun and sweet story on demon huntresses in high-school brings to mind a younger version of Buffy, and I felt like it did relatively a lot of worldbuilding in very little space.
Stephen Folkins’ story – the only one whose title is very slightly different (it’s “Boys’ Book Clubs and Other Bad Ideas” instead of "Boys, Book Clubs," etc.) – was a really enjoyable metaliterary romp poking fun at YA fantasy.
Jennifer Lee Swagert’s story is a lovely tale of unlikely friendship and, like the previous story, it’s another dive into a fictional fandom (this time of a VR video game) with all its lore, slang, and norms; I LOVED it.
Katrina Hamilton’s story is the only one of the bunch that has zero fantasy elements – it’s purely a high-school story with silly high-school problems – but somehow the stakes here felt like the highest, and I became invested in this nerdy Mean Girls world. The story has a unique narration style, too, which worked for me and created a nice, quick pace.
Shay Lynam’s another high school story, though this time it’s a fancy Academy in a beautiful, old building, and then (of course) there’s a supernatural twist. Honestly, this one started out really slow for me, but it picked up, switched genres a bit, and it might be worth it for that ending…
Sunny Everson’s story is a Harry Potter parody – we’re at a Hogwarts-like wizard academy and there’s a Chosen One and a Dark Wizard and all that, but our protagonist is a self-described background student who’s starting a book club. I really, really loved this one. It’s also kinda gay, though, unfortunately, only very slightly so.
Maria Berejan’s is a delicious story of a demon working as a Death Day Coordinator at the Afterlife Library, and, well, things happen. This one is definitely one of my favorites. It feels like the most different story in the anthology, but it still goes back to the theme of books and their readers, and in a really interesting and beautiful way.
***
I supported this book on Kickstarter and got a physical copy when it came out (and seriously, what a beautiful cover!).