If this doesn’t make my top ten books of the year, I’ll eat something inedible. My cat does it all the time, how hard can it be?
This book sucked my entire being into it while I was reading it, and I was a brainless husk just turning pages while my brain was flopping around in there having a grand old time. Sorry if that sounds gross but that’s what happened! I can’t change the facts!
This is a book about friendship, love, and video games, and also the process of storytelling and the creation of art, and also lots of other things, and I loved it. I love Sam, and I love Sadie, and I love Marx. I want to play all their video games (and you can play Sadie’s very first game ‘EmilyBlaster’ RIGHT HERE). I’m not even a gamer, but I love reading books and watching movies about gaming, and this is a book that doesn’t shy away from the details of that. It doesn’t go into technical details, but it is very focused on the WHY of the games.
We follow Sam and Sadie from when they meet as children to decades later when they are successful adults, still trying to make sense of their emotional lives, as we all are. Marx joins the picture during their college years, but I would say he’s just as important as the ostensible two main protagonists.
If you are a human being, there is a good chance you will love this book, so you should go pick it up right now. You’re welcome.
Chipping Away at Mt. TBR, July 2022—Book 16/31