Ava's Reviews > Single Player

I'm feeling generous...

My first reaction to this book did not fill me with much optimism, the first chapter alone contained such an eye-roll worthy amount of clunky introductions, performative inclusion and - there's no other word for it - cringe video game references, I was sure I was in for a disaster... But you know what, I kept reading and the book got better. I ended up feeling quite invested in this story and enjoying aspects of it.

I think some problems stem from a sort of indecisiveness in narrative choices. Sometimes the author writes as if the audience knows absolutely nothing about video games and couldn't possibly infer stuff from context (Do we need it explained that Cat "having no Gs" is gamer speak for being broke, lol), and sometimes the description become much more comfortable and true to life. I went back and forth between feeling really condescended to as a casual gamer myself, and appreciating the discussions surrounding games that this book introduced. It was a bit reference heavy, down to details like Cat writing dialogue for a game that's totally-not-Hades and later bying and playing a dating sim that's totally-not-Dream-Daddy. Some topics like diversity in gaming etc I feel were treated on quite a surface level or stating the obvious (especially considering the target audience here), but occassionally went somewhere deeper, which I liked and wanted more of.

3 stars is a rather decent rating in my books and I'm giving it here because there were more things that worked for me in the end or surprised me positively. I really did become invested in the plot of the two MCs writing romance options for their game and saving it from the publisher's intentions, it had decent stakes and it was believable. The romance itself - I liked that it was slow and happened more towards the end, therefore AVOIDING THE THIRD ACT BREAKUP. This is so rare, I have to applaud this decision! The way Cat and Andi's relationship developed was actually rather satisfying and felt natural. More focused on them as people instead of fulfilling the genre's cliches. The book also didn't fall into misrepresenting lesbians or being stereotypical which I usually have to endure all the time while reading sapphic romance so this is a breath of fresh air.

All in all, a pleasant surprise. Took some getting over the millenial-type references, but I'll def give this author a chance in the future.