Today's the official release day of one of my favourite 2018 releases and the sophomore novel of one of the best people ever! Whitney Gardner's amazing story Chaotic Good comes out today, and I teamed up with my fellow Lankan bookworm Gabrielle - go check out her blog everyone - to tell you all why you should read this beautiful story! Also I am really excited because we're doing a little play on Dungeons and Dragons with this review, and have some cool art courtesy of Gabby, so let's get down to business! :D
Title : Chaotic Good
Author : Whitney Gardner
Publisher : Knopf
Release Date : March 13th 2018
Synopsis :
Cameron's cosplay--dressing like a fictional character--is
finally starting to earn her attention--attention she hopes to use to get into
the CalTech costume department for college. But when she wins a major
competition, she inadvertently sets off a firestorm of angry comments from male
fans.
When Cameron's family moves the summer before her senior
year, she hopes to complete her costume portfolio in peace and quiet away from
the abuse. Unfortunately, the only comic shop in town--her main destination for
character reference--is staffed by a dudebro owner who challenges every woman
who comes into the shop.
At her twin brother's suggestion, Cameron borrows a set of
his clothes and uses her costuming expertise to waltz into the shop as Boy
Cameron, where she's shocked at how easily she's accepted into the nerd inner
sanctum. Soon, Cameron finds herself drafted into a D&D campaign alongside
the jerky shop-owner Brody, friendly (almost flirtatiously so) clerk Wyatt,
handsome Lincoln, and her bro Cooper, dragged along for good measure.
But as her "secret identity" gets more and more
entrenched, Cameron's portfolio falls by the wayside--and her feelings for
Lincoln threaten to make a complicated situation even more precarious.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
We decided to do the review as D&D characters. So first of all, here's our character profiles!
(Simply put, yours truly is going to be @TheDruidUrLooking4 and Gabby is @MageYouLook)
@TheDruidUrLookin4
Both of us here are proud geeks and huge fans of Whitney Gardner. GO READ YOU’RE WELCOME UNIVERSE EVERYONE!!! Chaotic Good had me excited ever since I heard about it, and even though I am not a comic book or D&D fan myself, I was all excited for how Whitney would present them. And she absolutely delivered an amazing geek tribute of a story, and I loved it! What are your initial thoughts of the book?@MageYouLook
Oh, BIG SAME. I think I actually screamed out loud when I heard about this book. Scared my dog, too. I’m… okay well, I’m not as big a comic book fan as I could be, but I know my stuff. And I’m a huge D&D nerd even though I’ve NEVER MANAGED TO FIND PEOPLE TO PLAY IT WITH ME, so, like, just the title alone got had me like, “oh heck yes i’m buying this 10/10 will read”.@TheDruidUrLookin4
The book has actually made me want to play D&D! You know what Gabs, initiate me, and I would totally play with you! Also probably my favourite thing about the book is that it’s actually all about loving nerdy things without being an expert at it. I don’t know 100% about comics, but I do love some superheroes and characters, and the book is all about not being ashamed of loving things from a fandom you’re not a die hard member of, and I adored that!@MageYouLook
YES. I L O V E D how the book just got to the heart of that. It’s something that’s so common in fandoms. People just dumping all over other fans just because they don’t know all the information there is to know about a show or movie or series. It was so great. Let people just enjoy things, you know? I thought Whitney tackled that beautifully. Especially with Cameron, and how she loved the comics for their costumes. It’s not something you see every day.@TheDruidUrLookin4
So true. Take me for example. I LOVE Batman, but I have never read the comics. I probably fell in love with the character due to the cartoon and the movies. And it’s totally okay! I hate it when fanboys gang up on people like me and Cameron, and the portrayal of pissed off, trolling, comic book fan dudes was just perfect! It was a perfect rendition of most of the trolls we see on twitter these days, and from the mansplaining to the pure idiocy, Whitney got every irritating little detail right!@MageYouLook
God. The Mansplaining. If I had a dollar for every time I was quizzed about Star Wars so dudes could decide whether or not I was a “Real Fan”. Ugh. But yeah, no, Whitney nailed that. Every time I felt anger on Cameron’s behalf for the stuff she had to go through, it was so personal as well because hey! That’s me! I have to go through this. I have so many friends who have to go through this. LET US LIKE STUFF. IT’S NOT HARD.@TheDruidUrLookin4
You would totally know! In fact, I have to admit, I had you in mind the whole time I read about Cameron, I was like, “Cameron is Gabby. Period” And she even looks like you! Right to the hair.@MageYouLook
I was just about to say! Cameron felt like me! Like. I don’t even know how to explain it. I related to her so much. And yeah. The hair. That was uncanny. How does she have my exact same hair???@TheDruidUrLookin4
Lol, you should have been the cover model. I also adored Cameron. She’s one unique character, and like Julia from Whitney’s debut, her character was so realistic and lovable in her own way. I loved her passion for costumes and their creation, her drive for her ambition, and her personality in general. The only other character who kinda reminds me of her would be Eliza from Eliza and her Monsters.@MageYouLook
Okay hold on. Totes need to add that to my ever-growing TBR. But yeah, Cameron was a great protagonist. She felt so real, and her personality just leapt off the page. That’s kind of a cliche to say, I know, but it’s true. She could have been a friend of mine, you know? There was a realness to her. And I’m so glad you brought Julia up, because I wanted to talk about how wonderful it was that Cameron and Julia never felt the same. They’re both so strong, but yet so distinct, and I loved that.@TheDruidUrLookin4
YES! Whitney really has a magic with characters. Speaking of, I loved the entire cast of secondary characters. It was a small group of people, and I loved each and everyone’s unique personality. My adorable soft boy Lincoln, Why and his flamboyance, Cam’s parents who were just sweethearts - especially her dad - and COOPER! It’s been so long since I read such a wonderful yet realistic sibling relationship, and family dynamics, in a book which is not focused on that concept. The brother sister relationship was cute, beautiful yet had its ups and downs, and I loved that!@MageYouLook
SAME. I absolutely loved Cooper, and the relationship between him and Cam. I don’t read that many Contemporary YAs, so I don’t really know if this is a thing in this particular genre. But in the books I often find myself reading, sibling relationships like this are so rare. I loved that they were close, but still had their own interests, and had conflict and that they actually worked through these things without magically forgetting things for the big happy finale. And the rest of the cast was so great too. They were so diverse, and they each had their own very distinct personalities - which I thought was awesome. The lines never blurred, you know? Also, Link! Soft, adorable, Link. I had such a crush.@TheDruidUrLookin4
I want a Link for myself. Why don’t we get more YA love interests like him? He was such a darling. Also man did he score a 10/10 in the whole concept of consent. Sigh, he is too perfect.@MageYouLook
God yes. Every time I see one of those stupid “consent isn’t sexy” arguments, I just wanna show them that scene with Link and be all like, “THIS IS HOT, Y’ALL.” Which, it was! Also, can we talk about Link’s masculinity and the non-toxicness of it? Because look, he was so Soft ™ and gentle and never ashamed of it. Nor was he ever shamed for it. It was SUCH a great thing to see.@TheDruidUrLookin4
When he kept asking for Cam’s approval and told that she didn’t need to explain why when she said no? I straight up swooned! Also he was an amazing Dungeon master! I loved how he just spun his stories so intricately, and so beautifully. I fell in love with the game without ever playing it.@MageYouLook
This D&D campaign has me by my nonexistent nuts, lemme tell ya.— Sunnava bench (@GabbzOnFiyah) June 18, 2017
Me, live tweeting my reading experience and talking about
Link’s amazing skills as Dungeon Master. It was SUCH a good campaign. I felt
like I was playing it! The little comics Whitney tacked in to accompany the
campaign made it all the more amazing to read. And dude that’s so amazing. We
really need to get a group together and play this sometime.
@TheDruidUrLookin4
The little comics! I loved them. I wasn’t expecting
them, but they were so cute. I also adored the D&D characters. Tiffani was
epic, lol. Also, what do you think your alignment would be if you played?
@MageYouLook
Tiffani was the best! Oh, no question, I’m chaotic good. (I’ve done multiple tests.) What do you think yours would be?@TheDruidUrLookin4
I had to google the alignments and pick, maybe I should take a test later. But I am a total Neutral Good! And we need to talk about all the costumes!@MageYouLook
I knew it! You definitely seem like Neutral Good. WE DO. WE MUST TALK ABOUT THE COSTUMES. AND DOTTY.@TheDruidUrLookin4
Man, how did I forget to mention Dotty! She was fabulous. I can totally see why Link was the way he was, because he was raised right! I want to be like Dotty when I grow up.
And the depth the book went into about costumes and their
creation? It was perfect. My mother is a seamstress - she does it more as a
passion than a career - and I grew up with fabrics and thread and was taught to
sew like a Victorian girl child. And I adored how Cam’s love was played out.
The book didn’t just stop at mentioning her making clothes, it detailed on the
how, and the ups and downs and the quirks of making costumes. It was beautiful
and fascinating. I felt like I was back in my mother’s sewing room as a little
girl, sitting on a bundle of different materials watching her do her magic.
@MageYouLook
That was beautiful. I’ve never been much of a
seamstress, but I was taught to sew as a kid, and have been around tailors
almost my whole life and it was so incredible, how much detail there was to
Cam’s passion. Buttons, and fabrics, and colors, and textures - nothing got
excluded. And just like with Julia’s graffiti, this was a real hobby. Cameron’s
interests never got shoved to the backseat in favor of the main plot and I
dunno, I thought that was incredibly important. You got to hear the passion in
her voice when she talked about making costumes. You weren’t just watching her
stay up all night to finish a project, you knew why. You understood why. It was
so so great.
@TheDruidUrLookin4
Absolutely. I love it when my MCs have a passion and an ambition beyond the plot, and Cameron’s was refreshing and had heart. And the book also went into the real issues, the prejudices and stupid social commentary that comes with an ambition based on a form of art. Besides, I also felt that Chaotic Good in general was a beautifully feminist book.@MageYouLook
Oh, definitely. Even with a predominantly male cast, this was wonderfully empowering for women.@TheDruidUrLookin4
Chaotic Good is a tribute to geek life, but it’s also a tribute to nerdy girls and women who can’t love what they want, express their love for their fandom in a way they wish and be a part of things that are typically for the boys. It’s an ugly side of geek life, and I am so glad that the book confronted it. GIRLS CAN BE NERDS TOO.@MageYouLook
Amen, sister!
And, like, I know the impact on us adults has been huge -
but think about what this book can do for younger kids? Younger girls learning
that it’s okay to like these things - that they’re not just Boy Things, and
that they can still be fans even if they don’t know as much about it as other
fans. Little boys learning that the toxic nonsense that they’ve been taught has
been a lie, and that girls can like these things without anyone needing to make
a big deal about it? It may not seem like it, because on the surface this book
is about comics and nerd culture - but it’s so important. I wish I’d had this
growing up, a teen who felt that she had to become one of the boys to be
allowed to like these things. I really do.
@TheDruidUrLookin4
I agree wholeheartedly. This book is a beautiful, cute story with a lot of heart. But that’s not it. It’s a really important story that I would want everyone to read. It will drown one in feels, make you go through a lot of emotions, and ultimately will make you learn and feel empowered. And that’s what makes Chaotic Good a gem of a story. We both recommend this book to everyone, and if you’ve been sleeping on the amazing talent that is Whitney Gardner, you need to go read both of her amazing stories!
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