Gamer Girl Review (Book)
Geeky Teen Girl Romance!
As a general rule I tend to pick up anything that involves the words ‘gamer’ and ‘girl’ (or various forms thereof). Those two words have been tough to find in the same paragraph, much less in the same sentence. Clearly the machines that drive capitalism have scented a new market as these words have been showing up together far more often.
Gamer Girl completely capitalizes on the newest trend in geekyness; girls play computer games too! The thing that rankles most about the whole ‘targeted market’ is that the book is merely a standard teen romance novel coated with a layer of geek.
This typical Cinderella story has the main character not covered in ashes but dressed in punk goth black, with geek tendencies (yet she still manages to have terrible taste in music!) Instead of meeting the prince at a fabulous ball, she meets him in on an online computer game. Only there can her beautiful elf maiden play alongside the dashing knight in shining armor.
Overall the story is just like you would expect it too be. It manages to hit all the standard teen romance plot turns leaving no surprises in its wake. That doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. In fact I was quite absorbed into this little dramady about online love in a world of teen angst.
It’s a satisfying read, especially since the author actually sounds like she understands the geek topics she threw in. But honestly the book would have done better to be called Manga Girl or Emo Girl, because the main characters passion is not gaming. Gaming is just a vehicle for her romance and a muse for her art.
Tags: books, comics, drama, geeky, medieval, mmog, online, rants, roleplaying, silly
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 am
But if they didn’t call it gamer girl, they wouldn’t have gotten to use that cool real me/avatar me picture on the cover.
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
What? Thats totally Manga and would have gone over just fine. =P I guess Manga just isn’t as recognizable.
November 4th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Is Manga kind of like mangina, where a guy plays a girl online?
November 4th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
LOL! No Manga are japanese graphic novels.
Decent link: http://comicbooks.about.com/od/manga/ss/manga101.htm