The Fandom by Anna Day is a book that I’ve had on my TBR for a fair few years now. I first bought it because it sounded pretty good but I was also aware that it’s a book that could end up being so cringy. So I’ve put it off for years. But I’ve finally read it!
The Fandom was published by Chicken House in 2018. It’s a young adult fantasy book that’s kind of like a portal fantasy.
The main character, Violet, is the biggest fan of a mega-famous book and movie series, The Gallows Dance. Along with her friends, Alice and Katie, and her younger brother, Nate, Violet heads to Comic-Con where she gets to meet the lead actors from the franchise. But while they’re there, a freak accident causes them all to somehow be transported into the story.
Almost as soon as they arrive in the world they’ve read and loved, they accidentally do something that leads to the main character dying, so they’re forced to attempt to play out the story themselves to make it to the end and be sent home.
One thing I did love about this book is the depiction of fandom. As someone who has been in fandoms since I was a kid, I always love positive depictions of teenage girls who love being in their respective fandoms. The characters were very excited and it was nice to see them head to Comic-Con and be able to have these positive and fun reactions to meeting the actors that play their favourite characters. Before everything went wrong, of course.
The world they enter is modeled after a typical young adult dystopian novel. Humans have become an oppressed race called Imperfects (Imps for short), while genetically modified humans (Gems) have become the ruling class. If The Gallows Dance was a real novel, I fear it wouldn’t be very good. The world-building wasn’t the best and the characters (mostly the Gems) were very one-dimensional. However, in this instance, it works fine.
The main characters know how the story is supposed to go so they do their best to force the story to go in the same way after they’re given information that suggests if they make it to the end of the story and have it end in the same way, they’ll get to go home. But, of course, as soon as they begin their adventure things start going wrong.
I’m finding it a little bit difficult to figure out how I feel about some of the characters. The main character, Violet, could be a little annoying but overall I enjoyed her perspective. I think some of the traits I found ‘annoying’ are probably just traits of a teenage girl obsessed with stuff and I’ve been that way myself so I try not to judge as I know what it’s like. Violet’s brother was 14 years old and just as obsessed with The Gallows Dance as his sister and it was nice to see a teenage boy loving something like this rather than making fun of it. He honestly didn’t have much of a personality but I enjoyed what we did get to see of him. Violet’s friend, Katie, was barely in the book. She was left behind as collateral for most of the story and I wish we got to see more of her.
The most controversial character is Alice, who is also Violet’s friend. I started the book feeling quite sympathetic towards Alice. She was described as a beautiful girl and the way that Violet talked about just screamed jealousy. She was catty and mean for almost no reason. However, as the story goes on, Alice becomes a character that is very easy to hate. She enjoys this new world they’re in because she was treated far better than her friends because she was beautiful and she was willing to sacrifice her friends’ happiness to get to stay in this world that was oppressing them. Alice does undergo some development towards the end but it was very sudden and since we didn’t get to see much of her, it just really didn’t seem earned.
There is a sequel to the book and it’s not hard to see why. I won’t spoil it in this review but some things towards the end make it seem like there might be reasons to go back into The Gallows Dance.
Overall, I enjoyed this book enough. This is a young adult book and I think the book is perfect for its intended audience but it’s not the type of young adult fantasy that has a lot of crossover for an adult audience.
I’d rate this book 3.5/5 stars.
