Don’t Read the Comments

I have had the hardest time staying on top of my reading schedule lately! Netgalley was kind enough to allow me to read an ARC for Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith, and I finished it two days after it came out! Maybe that’s normal for some people, but I try to review the books by their release date (I have a couple other books to read ASAP too). Anyway, I have to thank them and Inkyard Press for the opportunity to read this book, which I really enjoyed.

Divya is a famous streamer in the Reclaim the Sun fandom. The game sounds really awesome–you drive a spaceship through the galaxy and try to claim one of trillions of planets. It seems like Minecraft in space, except it’s an MMORPG. It helps pay the bills–ever since her parents divorced, finances have been difficult. Divya earns enough money to help pay for rent, food, and her mom’s last semester in college. Things are going okay–until some trolls, who don’t like her as a female gamer, decide to troll her in real life.

Aaron loves playing Reclaim the Sun as well. His parents aren’t hard up for money, but mom wants him to be a doctor. Aaron wants to write for video games instead. He has a job for ManaPunk, an indie gamemaker, only Jason, the head of the company, hasn’t paid him for a lot of the work he’s done.

Video games with villains and trolls? What more could you want? My guess is that, if you loved the Warcross duology, you’ll love this book too. They have a lot of similarities.

Themes

This book had me at video games. Reclaim the Sun as a video game is well fleshed out and is something I think would be cool to play. So many people love to watch video games stream as well. Mr. Smith also included references to Ultima Online–I loved that game. I had a character named Lorren, who was a mage, and I cosplayed her when I went to the UO World’s Faire one year. Fun times. This book was a lot of fun too. They even went to a video game convention in the book.

On a more serious note, this book also tackles the issue of gender harassment in gaming. It’s never been an issue for me, but I understand that it is an issue that some elite gamers face. Page 84 of the January 2018 issue of Wired talks about women in professional eSports like Overwatch and the ladies at the top do face harassment. Divya’s case is probably more extreme, but people do dox one another and it can have some serious consequences. There’s also the problem of “swatting” in the gaming community, which has resulted in people’s deaths.

Another issue Don’t Read the Comments tackles is companies that don’t want to pay for art. There was a recent case, in fact, where Aaron Carter stole art from Jonas Jödicke–Carter told Jödicke that he should feel complimented that his art was stolen. Umm, no. I hope Jödicke sues the pants off him. Anyway, it’s an issue Aaron has to deal with, and deals with magnificently in this book.

Should You Read This Book?

While you probably shouldn’t read the comments if you write a book and people are reviewing your book, you should read Don’t Read the Comments. You should especially read this book if you enjoy gaming or books with gaming like Ready Player One or the Warcross duology. I admit, I haven’t read Ready Player One, but I did see the movie. This is a great book. I haven’t even had time here to talk much about the great characters or setting, but it’s got that going for it as well. I highly recommend this book.