I've never been let down by the good, old "girl-dresses-up-as-a-dude-to-dismantle-the-patriarchy" trope, and Whitney Gardner delivers beautifully. Speaking as a proud #nerdgirl-- and veteran of some D&D campaigns myself-- I found myself cheering for Cameron, even in her most awkward moments. Because even at her most awkward, Cameron's fight reflects the mind-numbing sexism faced by countless real women online during GamerGate. It's time to take this problem out of the shadowy recesses of the internet, and into the light where we can face it head on. Girls can be whoever they want to be and love whatever they want to love, and "Chaotic Good" shows us that we never need to apologize for being a #nerdgirl.

Oh, I definitely needed this book in my life.
I remember being at work about a month ago, looking over the Kirkus reviews and seeing Chaotic Good. The first reaction I had was "Oh, that's so cool!" because I had never seen a DnD inspired contemporary. My second reaction is "I want to read this so bad." I immediately crossed my fingers and hoped it would be on here. To my delight, it was!

I think I read this book in 3 hours, I enjoyed it that much. I think everyone has been able to relate to this before: moving to a new town, losing all your friends, and struggling to make new ones. Another layer to Cameron's stress is that she's getting a lot of hate online as people bash her passion and call her a fake geek because of her gender, and the first person she meets has the same outlook. She struggles with her identity and relationships strain because of this.
As a girl, she never would have been invited to join a local DnD group, but when she shops dressed as a boy, she's treated with respect and gains friendships (one with the very boy who talked down to her.) The longer she waits to tell them she's a girl, the harder it is.

I seriously cannot wait to own this book, you guys. It's going to be one I tell everyone to read (especially my DnD group!)

Review will be available at Booklist Online within the month.