Illustrated by Xanthe Bouma
3 stars
Handling middle school is a whole lot easier when Jess can hang out with best friend, Olivia, and play D&D. But now Olivia wants to bring in more players to their campaign and Jess has no interest in making new friends.
A nice story overall. Can easily be read without really knowing anything about D&D. It was an interesting blend of middle school drama and escape into a fantasy world. D&D allows the characters to either work out their real-world problems in-game or ignore them for a bit.
The artwork is wonderful. I loved the blend of the realistic and the fantastical.
I really wanted to liked this and I enjoyed so many elements of it. The art is great, there are interesting character dynamics, and the D&D scenes add some cool fantasy elements. But throughout it all, Jess’ behaviors really put a damper on the book for me.
There’s some nice character development, but I really struggled to get into this because of Jess’ character. Jess was honestly such a jerk for most of the book and the resolution wasn’t all that satisfying. I really struggled to stay engaged because of Jess’ repeated bad decisions, selfish actions, and mistreatment of others, which felt half-heartedly addressed.
Deals with overt bullying, parental abandonment, changing friendship dynamics, relationships with parents, and a reluctance to make new friends.
I am interested in reading the next book since it focuses on Olivia instead of Jess.