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A review by lezreadalot
The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club by Doug Henderson
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.