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A review by sandmoe
The Cleveland Heights LGBTQ Sci-Fi and Fantasy Role Playing Club by Doug Henderson
2.0
Thank you, Netgalley, for providing me with an arc in exchange for a honest review!
TW: Homophobia
This book follows a group of D&D players as they deal with their daily struggles of life, romance, and coming out, and their meetings on Thursdays that deals with evil cults and sleeping gods. Things take a turn for Ben when the group gets infiltrated by a new, extremely attractive, way out of his league, not single, guy, Albert.
I must be honest, I don’t know much about d&d, I have never played it, but I’ve always been curious about it, so it was interesting to get to know the game though the love and passion these characters have for it. I did really like how the story setting completely changed when they got to the D&D parts, and it was those parts that felt the most thought out. I admit though, I still don’t 100% understand the game, but that’s on my peanut brain.
This book felt very pointedly targeted against an extremely specific demographic, male, gay d&d nerds who are in their mid twenties to thirties who also are constantly thinking about sex. Which me as a queer girl who isn’t even in her twenties yet had trouble relating to. You’d think since this book had a wlw couple, it would appeal to the queer women demographic on some scale, nope. No such luck.
I was not fond of any of the characters, Ben and Valerie both came off as whiny and entitled, and just stayed that way with no development. Mooneyham really is just another asshole and I never really got a feel of Celeste’s character. Huey really was one of the better characters in this book, but he barely showed his face.
Most of the relationships felt forced, Ben was always on Alberts tail, even though he had a boyfriend, and he acted like he deserved for Albert to like him back. Valerie was so overprotective of Polly that it almost came obsessive and honestly it did not seem healthy. She takes zero responsibly of her actions and in the end she blames it all on the vamp.
I did however like the one scene with Mooneyham and Huey, where we got to see how they met. The scene was very short, but it was the only scene in this book that actually felt genuine to me.
The language was sort of brutal at times and weirdly constructed and the monologues felt forced. The story jumped around a lot and I honestly think the story would be easier to follow and more well rounded if it all was from Ben’s POV.
TW: Homophobia
This book follows a group of D&D players as they deal with their daily struggles of life, romance, and coming out, and their meetings on Thursdays that deals with evil cults and sleeping gods. Things take a turn for Ben when the group gets infiltrated by a new, extremely attractive, way out of his league, not single, guy, Albert.
I must be honest, I don’t know much about d&d, I have never played it, but I’ve always been curious about it, so it was interesting to get to know the game though the love and passion these characters have for it. I did really like how the story setting completely changed when they got to the D&D parts, and it was those parts that felt the most thought out. I admit though, I still don’t 100% understand the game, but that’s on my peanut brain.
This book felt very pointedly targeted against an extremely specific demographic, male, gay d&d nerds who are in their mid twenties to thirties who also are constantly thinking about sex. Which me as a queer girl who isn’t even in her twenties yet had trouble relating to. You’d think since this book had a wlw couple, it would appeal to the queer women demographic on some scale, nope. No such luck.
I was not fond of any of the characters, Ben and Valerie both came off as whiny and entitled, and just stayed that way with no development. Mooneyham really is just another asshole and I never really got a feel of Celeste’s character. Huey really was one of the better characters in this book, but he barely showed his face.
Most of the relationships felt forced, Ben was always on Alberts tail, even though he had a boyfriend, and he acted like he deserved for Albert to like him back. Valerie was so overprotective of Polly that it almost came obsessive and honestly it did not seem healthy.
Spoiler
The last straw was after she assaulted the vampire, she really had the nerve to think that she did no wrong.I did however like the one scene with Mooneyham and Huey, where we got to see how they met. The scene was very short, but it was the only scene in this book that actually felt genuine to me.
The language was sort of brutal at times and weirdly constructed and the monologues felt forced. The story jumped around a lot and I honestly think the story would be easier to follow and more well rounded if it all was from Ben’s POV.