emilybakes 's review for:

4.0

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and I was so intrigued by the idea of a D&D book being found in North Korea and the ripple effect that could have on someone's life there. It was a fascinating story, but there were a couple things I found strange... First,
Spoilerthe inclusion of the attempted assault seemed so random and out of place. I guess I wanted Teacher Kang to be a more sympathetic character because of his important role with the game. It does set up a later conflict, but I feel like that could have been done in a less icky way. It's possible that this was one of the nonfiction elements and that's why it needed to be included, but the I don't think we as readers get to know for sure.
And second, the way the ending flows so seamlessly into what feels like an author's note but could also just be part of the narration was a little confusing. I really want to know which parts of this story actually happened (if any) and which parts are "based on a true story." True or not, I was totally invested in this book and finished it in a day. You don't really have to know much about D&D to appreciate it.