Queens of Geek

I just finished reading the book last night and now that I slept on it I will attempt to write a short review about it.

The book is... well, it‘s fine. It does many things right and I appreciate it because of that but at the end of the day I wasn‘t really impressed either.

What I liked:

- the diversity; this book has a very diverse cast and none of it feels forced or like the author is trying to get “cookie points” for including poc or queer characters. I like that kind of “casual diversity” where it is still important but also comes across as natural

- the way that sexuality and mental health are being handled; I saw myself in the two main characters and some of their issues were very relatable for me personally

- the ode to pop culture and fandoms that this book is, essentially; even though it wasn't necessarily similar to my own fandom experiences, I still think that many fans will be able to identify with this aspect of the book

- the feminist tones; without spoiling anything, there is a lot of that in the book, the girls can handle their sht and they help each other out, sexist bullsht that other characters say gets called out immediately, etc.


Now, let‘s quickly get through the things that bothered me:

All in all, this book didn‘t manage to grab my attention for very long, I read the first 15 chapters and then reached the point of “Okay, can something happen or can I just be done with the book already.”

Don‘t get me wrong, there is plot, I think. It is first and foremost about romance, I guess. The problem is that both relationships weren‘t as interesting to me. One was already very established and had lots of pining, which gets tiring after a while and the other felt very rushed to me, so basically the exact opposite. Aside from that we have... I don‘t know, Coming of Age subplot maybe? And of course the whole convention stuff that‘s going on, which is very repetitive and still only described very vaguely sometimes? Characters say they want to do something and in the next scene it had already happened. The very constricted setting of only one weekend at SupaCon seems a bit unfortunate, looking back on it.

Also, the book kind of reads like a fanfiction, which isn‘t bad in itself of course, but I have read stories with a similar plot, that were properly paced and felt more dynamic and interesting, so I couldn‘t help but compare the book with those, subconsciously.

To sum it up, I would still recommend the book, because it is an easy, comfortable read and I think many of the topics that are mentioned in the book can be important for a variety of people. If I had read this book when I was maybe 14 I probably would have been all over it, just because it would have maybe helped me realize some things and helped me deal with them, which is already very important and its the reason why this book ended up with 3 stars from me.