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A review by delightful_reading
Dangerous Play by Emma Kress
4.0
Full Review & Stop on a Turn the Page Tour can be found here
Dangerous Play by Emma Kress is a novel with a mission: to bring awareness to sexual assault and to challenge rape culture. And this novel is pretty successful with that.
Zoe Alamandar and her co-captain Ava Cervantes spent the summer recruiting and training girls for their field hockey team, so that they can dominate and make it to the State Championship. There’s a lot riding on them making it to the championships: scholarships, college, and continuing field hockey at the collegiate level. But Zoe’s priorities drastically change after she is sexually assaulted. The aftermath involves Zoe convincing her team to turn vigilante on the boys who get away with sexually harassing and assaulting girls. However, as Zoe amps up the vigilante justice, Zoe and her team are faced with the question: how far is too far?
I really liked this novel! It had an ensemble cast of friends (the field hockey team). Even though Zoe is the main character, a lot of her teammates play pretty important roles.
While the vigilante social justice is a main part of Dangerous Play, it isn’t the only thing. Zoe also has a lot going on. Her dad is recovering from a work accident, and Zoe is dealing with a complicated relationship with her mom. She is dedicated to her team and getting them to States. She also has a crush on a soccer player named Grove. I really liked how Zoe’s life wasn’t just one thing, but as she gets more and more into vigilante justice, it creeps into other aspects of her life.
All in all, this was an enjoyable novel that focuses on some heavy themes. I really like the cast of characters and some of the vigilante aspects!
Many thanks to Turn the Page Tours for inclusion on the Dangerous Play Blog Tour and Roaring Brook Press for the physical copy of Dangerous Play!
TW/CW: rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, guns, violence, life threatening situations, violence/injuries related to sports
Dangerous Play by Emma Kress is a novel with a mission: to bring awareness to sexual assault and to challenge rape culture. And this novel is pretty successful with that.
Zoe Alamandar and her co-captain Ava Cervantes spent the summer recruiting and training girls for their field hockey team, so that they can dominate and make it to the State Championship. There’s a lot riding on them making it to the championships: scholarships, college, and continuing field hockey at the collegiate level. But Zoe’s priorities drastically change after she is sexually assaulted. The aftermath involves Zoe convincing her team to turn vigilante on the boys who get away with sexually harassing and assaulting girls. However, as Zoe amps up the vigilante justice, Zoe and her team are faced with the question: how far is too far?
I really liked this novel! It had an ensemble cast of friends (the field hockey team). Even though Zoe is the main character, a lot of her teammates play pretty important roles.
While the vigilante social justice is a main part of Dangerous Play, it isn’t the only thing. Zoe also has a lot going on. Her dad is recovering from a work accident, and Zoe is dealing with a complicated relationship with her mom. She is dedicated to her team and getting them to States. She also has a crush on a soccer player named Grove. I really liked how Zoe’s life wasn’t just one thing, but as she gets more and more into vigilante justice, it creeps into other aspects of her life.
All in all, this was an enjoyable novel that focuses on some heavy themes. I really like the cast of characters and some of the vigilante aspects!
Many thanks to Turn the Page Tours for inclusion on the Dangerous Play Blog Tour and Roaring Brook Press for the physical copy of Dangerous Play!
TW/CW: rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, guns, violence, life threatening situations, violence/injuries related to sports