One of my favorite recent reads. Cameron is a nerdy seamstress who is trying to hide from the stress of dudebros on the internet being ridiculous and venomous after she cosplayed with her friends as a character from a game she didn't personally play (her friends all played and she had made everyone's costumes). As if that weren't enough, her family just moved from Portland to the middle of nowhere where there's only one comic shop, guarded by a dudebro gatekeeper who literally put all of the "girly" stuff in one pastel corner and won't let her shop anywhere else in the store without harassing her. When Cameron needs to get a particular comic for her first ever paying costuming gig, she impulsively borrows some of her twin brother's clothes and goes to the comic shop incognito as a boy. Lo and behold, no harassment! The ability to walk anywhere unchallenged is intoxicating, and Cameron ends up dressing male more and more. While she enjoys exploring new geeky frontiers in a Dungeons and Dragons group, her unresolved problems continue to grow more and more.... when the dice hits the table, will she end up with a low initiative and nowhere to go?

*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

I absolutely LOVED this book. I love this trend of geeky/nerdy books that are being published. While I personally don't cosplay or sew, I have to say that this book made me want to buy a sewing machine. I want to make all the things! Also, I need to look up D&D info.

I went into this thinking it would be more of a fluffy book, and it is, but I didn't except the internet troll portions to be so...accurate. The scenes where Cameron checks her blog or e-mail, the comments are actually written out for the reader and they can be so difficult to read. We all know what is going to be written, at this point in time we all know what trolls are like, but it is still so shocking that people can be so cruel. Anyhow, these portions are a bit dark and I felt so, so bad for Cameron, but I think the scenes were written well and the fun moments help balance the book, so it isn't too sad to read.

As for the characters, I loved them. Like I said, the trolls were done well, Brody seems like "a real geek", you know "a nice guy", so I disliked him, but he felt so real. All the characters did to me. Cameron in her donut dresses is a bright light, her brother makes me laugh and I love their relationship, while Lincoln and Why are funny and add good dynamics. Why and Cameron's brother are gay, by the way. Which adds an additional conflict when Why likes boy-Cameron. More conflict in poor Cameron's life. I will say, the lack of female interaction in the book peeved me, but I understood it: her friends are busy or don't want to talk to her because of what happened before she moved and she doesn't have any new friends in her new town. There are some female interactions and since almost none of them revolve around boys, I was pretty happy with them :)

This isn't a book about someone who has everything figured out. Not everything is handed to them. This book feels real to me in that aspect, so between that and the funny moments, I really did love reading this book.

I have already recommended this book! I enjoyed reading it and I think anyone who likes going to cons, cosplaying, or who has a geeky heart will enjoy this or at least relate to it.

Chaotic Good is the first book that I've read by Whitney Gardner. I am happy to say that I will definitely go back to check out You're Welcome, Universe and will anxiously await the release of Fake Blood this fall. Chaotic Good will be released for sale on March 13, 2018.

Cameron Birch feels like a fish out of water when she moves from Portland to Eugene, Oregon. When she ventures into Atomix Comix to purchase cosplay reference material, her fears are validated. Dudebro Brody, the store manager, harasses her about her choices, her knowledge of geek culture, and even ushers her to a "girl section" to help her from being overwhelmed by the boys comics. Reading the opening pages of the book made me so angry. The Brody's (and sometimes Brenda's) of the world are why I have to psych myself up to go to the comic store to buy my Archie reboot comics.

In a bid to shop unhindered at the only comic store in Eugene, Cameron - with the help of her twin brother Cooper - transforms herself into Boy Cameron. In her boy cosplay (lets just call it armor) Cam is treated with more respect then she ever was as a girl. After her first trip to Atomix as a boy she is befriended by Wyatt (called Why) and invited join a Dungeons & Dragons game with Brody and DM Lincoln - she brings her brother along to fill out the game. Even as a noob, her questions about gaming are not met with derision or suspicion; she is just one of the guys.

In the background of her new life in Eugene, Cam is trying to create a costuming portfolio to get into CalArts when she graduates from high school. If that isn't stressful enough, she is also facing online backlash because of her cosplay creations. Her geek cred has been called into question. True to internet form, she is being judged and harassed by a faceless horde internet users. They are (butt-hurt) spiteful, rude, and some of them are downright vicious.

Of course, when you are trying to make new friends, dressing up as somebody you are not and infiltrating their ranks is generally frowned upon. Drama ensues. Relationships are tested. Cell phones are harmed. Gardner guides this story to a satisfying ending and I couldn't help but smile thinking about what might come next for the characters.

I enjoyed this book immensely, as a reader of YA fiction and as a geek. Personally I have not played much D&D but I have been around it for such a LONG time. I appreciated the campaign storyline and I loved the D&D graphic interludes in the text. Linc reminds me of an important person in my life; he to is a brilliant storyteller and weaver of brilliant RPG campaigns.

I think what I appreciated most about this book is the depiction of what it is like to be a female trying to break into the ranks of a male dominated subculture. Gardner writes with aplomb about being the only girl in a comic book store, online bullying, and walking down the street as a woman. We live in the time of gamergate, #metoo, and #EnoughisEnough. We live in a time when rape culture is a common term and doxxing is a tool used by the nameless to inflict their brand of vigilante justice upon those they feel have wronged them.

In Chaotic Good Gardner delivers us a female who is learning to be strong. Even though she stumbles, she is learning how to navigate this world of ours. Cam is not always right, but she is a big enough person to admit her weaknesses and her bad decisions (eventually). In the end, Cam learns that she needs to be the change she wants to see in her geek community. I wish her well in her endeavors.

Thank you Whitney Gardner for writing this book and to Random House Kids and NetGalley for providing an advanced readers copy for reviewing purposes.

Guys.

Guys.

GUYS.

This book is the shit. It reminded me a lot of Eliza and Her Monsters and Fangirl.

I totally felt Cameron and her struggles as a girl-nerd living in a nerdom ruled by boys, most of whom resemble something that lives underneath a slimy bridge...or deep in a parent's basement. This book explores the differing levels of fandom—from cosplay to playing to delving into the storyline or whatever—and what it means to be an authentic nerd. And how girls are always have to work 3 times as hard to prove themselves and ooops, get one incredibly difficult question wrong and you're a poser! On top of all of that, there's the condescendingly male gaze when you enter a comic book store, aka, the sanctuary of maleness in some places.

And Cameron deals with all of that and more, as she creates cosplay but doesn't follow the storylines. She loves the costumes, the characters, and creating. After being degraded in the only comic book store in her new town, she decides to cosplay—as a boy—to make it easier to get costuming ideas. And it's easy. So easy that she makes friends. Guy friends. And starts playing in a D&D game with her brother. And a cute boy. A boy who thinks she's cute (as a boy). And the misogynistic troll who treated her like crap as a girl. As Cameron gets sucked deeper and deeper into her lie, the internet nerdlodytes are on the attack—spamming her blog with hate mail, flooding her inbox with dick pics, and then calling her phone.

It's almost too much to take—but Cameron has a dream. She has ambition. And she'll let nothing stop her.

Okay...and the story is set in Eugene, Oregon!!!!!!! Oh. My. Goodness. This is the second Oregon book I've unintentionally read in a row. And both BOTH are set outside of Portland! I am totally fangirling over the location because I don't think I've ever read a YA set in Eugene, Oregon, before. Bonus: same high school as mine! And now I am officially homesick.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.

The title of this book is a nod to a common character trope. Gardner explains:

"Chaotic good ones place a high value on free will: they always intend to do the right thing, even if their methods are haphazard and generally out of sync with the rest of society. "

When Cameron finds herself the target of Internet ire and crosses paths with condescending mansplainer, Brody, she decides to assume the role of a chaotic good character, by masquerading as a boy, in order to prove a point to Brody. However, problems arise when she lets the rouse go on for too long, and she may have woven a web of lies too big to escape.

I really enjoyed this nerdy and rather feminist story.

Cameron was an engaging protagonist, who embodied many chaotic good qualities. She was big hearted and often had good intentions, but didn't always make the best decisions. She was riddled with guilt over hiding her identity, and started to lose herself a little. What I will say, is that she learned from her mistakes and grew a lot over the course of the story.

I felt so bad for Cameron when the Internet attacked. I have never been big on fandoms, and one of the reasons is the negative experiences I have had with members of some fandoms. It's good to be passionate, but some people take it too far, and that is exactly what happened to Cameron in this story. My heart went out to Cam as she tried to battle back against the attacks, but the whole time, I wished she had asked for help or even just support, because she had some fantastic people in her corner.

Gardner assembled such a wonderful supporting cast, and I adored getting to know each and every one of them. I loved Why and all his nerdtasticness, Lincoln and his smooth storytelling skills, and Nana Dotty, who was just so fabulous and a true champion for Cam. Well, that and I have a soft spot for incredible grandmas.

I was really impressed with some of the choices Gardner made for her characters. For instance, Cam's parents were "later in life" parents. I wouldn't say you rarely see almost 60 year old parents in most YA and it was an welcome change. I also loved that the romantic interest was geeky and DID NOT have washboard abs. In fact, Cameron describes him as "soft". I love this, because in reality, not everyone has washboard abs, and it's nice to see some "average" people featured in stories.

Speaking of the love interest, I was all over this romance. The two were very sweet together, and the way Gardner wrote about Cam's attraction was so adorable and believable. She also incorporated the concept of consent into one of their make-out sessions, which I think we need to see more in books, as it's relevant and important in today's society.

As far as the story goes, I enjoyed being a part of Cam's creative process. My daughter's undergraduate degree is in costume design, so it's a world I am familiar with, and always in awe of. But I had the most fun during the D&D campaigns. I would not say I was a big D&D player, but it was huge when I was teen, and therefore, I dabbled a little. This was a fun walk down memory lane, and I totally found myself engrossed in those segments of the story. Lincoln's storytelling was fabulous, but then Gardner added these amazing illustrations that just elevated it even more.

This book was stuffed with nerdy fun, a strong family focus, and great characters, which amused and entertained me, but also gave me many things to think about with respect to some of the issues exclusive to women.

"My name is Cameron Birch. I'm a level 17 Chaotic Good human being."

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 in Chaotic Good.

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. (via Goodreads)

I received an eARC of Chaotic Good from Netgalley, courtesy of Knopf, in exchange for an honest review.

Chaotic Good is a lighthearted romance that deals with some heavy topics. Overall, I really liked it, but felt it could have done a little more to make the stakes feel real.

Chaotic Good needs content warnings for internet harassment, doxing, crossdressing by a cisgender character, gender-antagonistic comments & behavior, slutshaming, and death threats.

I loved the comic aspect of this book. I didn't know it was in there, and it was a nice surprise! It was a perfect way to tie the authors art into the story in a way that felt fresh and fun.

I also loved that D&D became a family event, bringing their dad and his friends into the circle as well. When I was growing up, my dad used to carry around graph paper and pens and would draw out maps and build a small campaign at almost every family gathering. My brother's actually a DM now, which is amusing for me. It was a great throwback.

I felt like the twins' nicknames were a little overused. I've never used a nickname for my sibling during fights the way did, and it was a little overly twinny. That's a minor complaint though.

My other minor complaint was that it never really felt like the threats or harassment were real to me. Cam was working so hard to minimize the issues and threats that it made me as a reader feel like they weren't a big problem. Since they were a major part of the high stakes event in Chaotic Good, that made it fall a little bit flat.

However, I loved the group of characters. I loved that Cam wasn't willing to just let Brody be an ass, and that Brina got to have some agency of her own.

Overall, I liked Chaotic Good. If this D&D cosplay contemporary sounds up your alley, you can pick up a copy of Chaotic Good for yourself on Amazon or Indiebound!

Fun book. I have a lot of girls who come in my store who would totally relate to Cameron. I love the format, the plot and the characters. Fun book!

I thought this was a fun, fast read that kind of explores what it's like to be a female in the nerd/geek community. I've been in the community for many years and have never really had my "cred" called into question. I'm pretty sure it's because i'm not what you'd call, attractive? But i've seen girls get torn down time and time again for being "fake geeks" and it's honestly the most ridiculous thing ever. There's one character in this book who declares himself a "nice guy" while spending most of the book insulting every woman he comes in contact with and i seriously loved when she finally told him off.

This review isn't even a review at this point. Let me try again...

What I liked:
-the relationship between Cameron and Cooper.
-Why and Lincoln are so precious.
-asking for consent before touching a woman
-all the D&D talk
-the comic strips
-Cameron growing into herself and sticking up for herself
-the exploration of gender, and how men are simply allowed to take up more space than women... just because they're men

What I didn't like:
-Cameron not being honest with like, anyone

If you're a geek girl, i think you should add this to your TBR. Also if you liked the gender exploration in Noteworthy, this has similar vibes.

(Disclaimer: I received this free book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

Chaotic Good hit me right in the emotional feels. I have zero sewing and artistic talent. So I didn't feel like I was like Cameron in that way. No. I felt exactly how Cameron feels when she is being interrogated for being a 'fan' and denied entry into the spaces of 'fandom' and the 'geek' culture. It's no secret that it's pretty male dominated. There have been some great changes, but it has a long way to come. We know this. We know because women have been harassed, threatened, and told that they don't have a seat at that table.

A thoroughly delightful read for the fangirl audience. Some elements of the story feel a little overdramatized -- the way everyone feels SO BETRAYED by Cameron's big reveal, the way Cameron's brother turns on her -- but the overall narrative is so entirely my jam that I really didn't mind. All the descriptions of Cameron's costumes and how she creates them are amazing, the D&D scenes are really funny, and I loved the comic illustrations. And that cover is absolutely on point. Definitely will be passing this book around to several friends in the girl geek community.

Cameron's cosplay is finally earning her attention. Which she is hoping will get her into her dream colleges costume design program. But when she wins a competition, it sets off angry comments from male fans.

When her family moves, she hopes to complete her portfolio in peace away from the abusive comments. Unfortunately the only comic shop in town is run by a jerk that questions every female that walks in.

Cameron dons her twin brothers clothes and waltzes in and quickly becomes accepted into the nerd sanctum. Soon Cameron is playing D&D alongside the shop owner.

As she falls deeper into her boy persona, her portfolio is pushed to the side and her feelings for a boy at the comic shop threaten to blow her cover.

This book was amazing! Finally representation for all us nerds out there! I was way too excited to pick up this book and I could not put it down!

I know all I'm doing is ending every sentence in exclamation points but this book is so great! I absolutely adored the authors dedication and the chapter markers. I love fantastic esthetics in books as it's what really pulls me in and then a fantastic story makes me stay. It's too cool that she includes tabletop gaming and even illustrates the group playing. This author absolutely kills it with her writing and how absolutely gorgeous her book is!

My two impressions of this book:

1. Wow! So cute and feminist and fun!

2. Holy prolonged drama, Batman! I can say that without knowing anything about Batman, because this book is about being allowed to enjoy comics however you choose to, dammit.

Let's go in order.

Cute and feminist and fun? So good. I love that Cameron's a cosplayer and that costume design is an important part of the book. It's really fun to read about. The love interest is really sweet and so is the romance by extension. Looking back I think the whole part of the book where Cam is becoming part of this group of guys while pretending to be one went a little fast, and making that part more developed could have raised the stakes on her eventually having to explain she's a girl. But there are other things going on in the book, so I can let it slide.

Cam is also struggling with internet hate as her cosplay blog attracts tons of douchebros angry that she's a "fake geek", which intersects with this guy in real life who is condescending to every girl who walks into the comics shop. Everything coming down on her for daring to be a girl at once is what makes her feel safer pretending to be a boy, and is the driving force behind the real point of the book: Cam regaining her confidence even as jerks across the internet do their best to make her feel worthless.

In my opinion, the book does best when it's leaning on the cute romance, the sibling relationship (which is also great), or Cam reconciling her feminist ire with the fact that she doesn't feel safe anymore and then finding her confidence again.

When the book doesn't do well? That's when it's forcing the drama to outlast when it should have ended. And look, I get it: the book needs a plot. That's a thing books need. But the solution to your plot running out too soon are not thin excuses that get the job of expanding the plot done — at that point you need to go back to the drawing board and reconfigure the pacing of the book so the plot lasts as long as it has to. For me, I reached a point of frustration at 70% of the book where I stopped buying the characters' reasoning for why misunderstandings hadn't been clear up.

That doesn't mean everything after 70% was bad. There were still plenty of things I enjoyed, and a lot of the emotional scenes after that point still hit me hard, although frustration sometimes hit me harder. I still really enjoyed this. I'm so here for Squirrel Girl cosplay and scrabble with made up words and D&D romance.

While some of the characters are one dimensional and the book is wrapped up far too neatly for everything that occurred, the portrayal of trolling was highly accurate.

I really enjoyed this story! It was funny, the romances were cute, and it tackled the very real issue of cyberbullying. I loved all of the references to comics and movies. The story was fast-paced and the plot had a good amount of ups and downs. It was a fairly fast read for me and I enjoyed every second of it!

I admit I was first drawn to this book by its adorable cover, but the description was immediately appealing too! It’s about a teen girl, a talented seamstress/designer who is super into cosplay, whose family has just moved to Eugene from Portland. When she’s targeted by misogynistic trolls on tumblr, and then a comic book store guy is horrible to her, her gay twin brother helps her dress as a boy so she can feel safe. And then her boy persona gets invited to play D&D, and she falls for the DM, and she’s trying to complete a portfolio for fashion school—well, and stuff goes down! But this was super cute and I loved it, the narrative voice was super likable. And it nails a lot of how current culture hates women and doesn’t even realize it. Great stuff. A/A-.

A wonderful book for teens who like cosplay or D&D. When geek girl Cameron's blog meets negative feedback from internet trolls, she finds comfort in exploring her new city disguised as a boy. This book tackles heavy themes of bullying, inclusivity, and identity. Filled with dynamic characters and a quick moving plot, I highly recommend it. My only problem was with the ending. Although it gave a brief conclusion, a more in dept one would for been welcomed. However, a sequel would make me just as happy as a longer ending.

There have been a lot of books I've read that I have related to regarding fandom life. Some of them like Eliza and Her Monsters and All The Feels can touch on things like how others perceive your fandom life and how it feels to be a part of a fandom and interact with others online. Other books like Queen of Geeks can give you a look more into attending conventions and what that experience is like for different people. Chaotic Good however is the first book that really got into things like mysoginistic or sexist attitudes of many males in the comic world, something I have encountered sadly a lot online.

Also before I go on I do want to make a note that I have been lucky enough to meet many wonderful male comic fans who are not sexist jerks or awful to women or rude people. I have also encountered many comic stans online (mostly men, but some females too) who have said rude, sexist, mysoginistic, cruel, false, and just plain awful things to women who are in the comic fandom. I am lucky to not have been on the receiving end of this harassment very many times, though I have seen with my own eyes many who are not so lucky. I may refer to many of the comic stans and mysoginistic comic fandom members as males in this review. This is not because I feel that every man in the comic fandom is sexist or rude towards women, but because sexism and misogyny is something that I have seen a lot in the real comic fandom world and is addressed heavily in this book. So I just want to make this note to remind people to please not flood my comments with any kind of "not all men" reactions to what I have written. I understand and acknowledge that not all male comic fans are sexist jerks. However, there is a lot of sexism against women in the comic world and it is something I feel needs to be addressed in this review since the story touches on it a lot.

Cameron spends her days making cosplay outfits for herself, her friends, buyers, and online viewers. She dreams of getting into Cal Arts and designing costumes for heroes & villains on the big screen. Something Cameron has to deal with a lot though is sexism and rudeness towards her and her creations from online trolls. This is not made any better when Cameron's family moves from Portland to a smaller town in Oregon with a comic shop basically run by a young man named Brody who acts condescending and rude to the girls who come into his comic shop. Cameron decides to take action and with the help of her twin brother, Cooper, she decides the only way to see if things would be different if she wasn't her is to dress up as a boy and infiltrate the guys at the comic store. Soon Cameron is participating in dungeons and dragons nights and other comic related hang outs all without any of the guys knowing she is not really a guy. When Cameron starts to having feelings for Lincoln(one of the fellow Dungeon's and Dragons players) and when the online harassment she receives starts to become even worse will Cameron have to risk all her hard work to save her heart and herself?

Okay so I may have made the synopsis a little dramatic, but this book is still a page turner.

First of all I want to say what I loved about this book. The very first thing I adored about this book had to be the truth behind the interaction between Cameron and Brody in Chapter 1. I am a big fan of comic books, movies, and shows. This is especially true for the DCTV show Arrow. I am also a huge fan of the character Felicity Smoak and Olicity (Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak's ship name). Now seeing as Felicity is not exactly comic cannon (or at least the character she is in in the show) and neither is Olicity, I have seen or personally been on the wrong end up many post targeting fans of Felicity or Olicity. I have been told I am just a "stupid olicity fan" or something along the lines of  I don't really know comics. I have also heard and seen many worse things said about the Felicity Smoak and Olicity fandom whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, or even YouTube. So to say that I know somewhat about comic stans who act like certain women should not be allowed in the fandom if they don't like comic Ollie or have not read all the comics (or even one) or don't ship Black Canary and Green Arrow is somewhat of an understatement. This opening dialouge between Brody and Cameron is so spot on with how I have seen interactions go between women and male comic lovers. Like Brody & Cameron's interaction, I have seen men who think a woman is less of a comic fan if she doesn't know every comic or origin story or character by heart or likes  a certain character that they deem "lame." The truth in just the first few pages of this book spoke so much to me and really addressed different quips that I have heard sexist comic stans say to other women.

The book gets even better though. Something I really love first of all is the characters in the book. Every character is unique and has their own personality that makes them distinct and three-dimensional. Even the unlikable characters do get a little light shined onto them on why they may act the way they do, without the author saying it is okay. This is somethng I feel isn't always done correctly in books so kudos to Whitney Gardner for being able to show a little bit of the reasoning behind why a character acts a certain way without justifying that character's actions. The book also give us a realistic look into trolls, doxing, and the negative parts of the internet. The internet can be a great place for people to be able to see your creations and compliment your work. Sadly this isn't the case for everyone and this book acknowledges that. Chaotic Good gives us a glimpse into the hard truth that there are people online who can dox you or will brutally judge you for what you do or say. They feel because they are behind a computer screen they have all the power in the world. Chaotic Good shows us that and the reality of what can happen if someone does dox a person or the strain that harassment can have on the individual being harassed online. I am very lucky to have never been targeted with the level of online harassment that Cameron is dealt and I hope I never will. However, this book does give a realistic look into what can happen if someone is being targeted and bullied online.

The last two things I want to talk about in this book are the consent and illustrations in this book. First let me start with the sexy consent in the book. There is a part about 60% of the way through the book when the main character is making out with her potential boyfriend in her parents garden. Every time he kisses her or touches her he would say "May I?" and they would continue their make out scene until one of the characters says they don't want to go further and the other is perfectly fine with that. There is nothing about either of the characters feeling pressured into doing something they don't like or getting used to whatever they are doing that makes them uncomfortable. The two characters have a very consensual and sexy make out scene without either of the characters feeling pressured into doing anything they don't want or without the others permission. I have seen some people in the book community say that there can't be verbal consent in romance scenes because it is not "sexy." Well I think that this scene just proved all of those people wrong. Both people in that relationship ask each other if they are okay with what the other person wishes to do and when one person says they are not ready for something the other person instantly stops. There is no arguing or trying to coerce them, it's is just an extremely romantic and consensual scene. So for anyone who  thinks that consent can not = sexy or romantic...well I advise them to read this book and then get back to me on that.

Finally, I want to talk about the illustrations. They were placed throughout the book during the dungeons and dragons scene and I found them extremely creative and helpful. I had some issues with the dungeons and dragons scenes and I feel that these parts did help make those scenes more tolerable for me.

Now onto the bad. There were a few things I had issues with in the book that caused me to have to rate it 4 stars. The first was the dungeon's and dragons scenes. I felt like they were not as exciting as they could of been and while I understand playing a game is not always the most exciting activity, I feel Gardner could have made those scenes a little more interesting or maybe have them told all through the comic illustrations instead of just somewhat. That would have made those parts of the book more intriguing. I also would have loved to see more illustrations to show maybe Cameron's costume ideas. If the illustrations could have shown some of Cameron's cosplay designs I feel that could've been something extra special and additional to the book to help the readers.

Lastly, the biggest issue I had with the book was the ending. That being that I did not feel there really was one. I mean there is a concluding scene, but we don't get to find out so many questions I had regarding Cameron and her future. Almost everything Cameron does in the book is to help her get into Cal Arts and when (SPOILER ALERT) it does not go too well at her meeting with the admissions person we don't hear much else about Cameron's plans for the future. We know that she will probably have to send a portfolio of her work instead of showing her designs in person to different schools, but that is really all we get. I wanted to see more about Cameron's future and I kept thinking we would get an epilogue to explain that and a few other lingering questions about relationships or what happens to certain characters. This was not the case though and was something I felt very disappointed by and is ultimately what caused me to rate the book the way I did.

Overall I really did enjoy this book. I think there is a lot of truth to it regarding comic and "geek" culture and the misogyny  that can be found in it. I also really liked the unique characters, storyline, romance, and more. I did have some issues with choices made by the author (mainly the ending), but all in all I really liked this book. If you are a fan of comics, dungeons and dragons, cosplay, and/or just really good books, then I think Chaotic Good is something you'll definitely want to pick up.



4 out of 5 Stars

**** out of *****

I have really loved both of Whitney Gardner's contemporaries so far. Both are quite different from the usual cute fluffy romances / issue books that I seem to pick up all the time. She's got a strong writing voice, fantastic concepts, and a great commitment to casual diversity. Her debut was a romance-free book about a Deaf street artist and the friendship she forms with a girl at her school. Her second novel is about a nerd girl who dresses as a boy to avoid harassment.

I have to say, I don't think I loved this quite as much as her debut. While our heroine, Cameron, is feisty and real, she doesn't have the snarky whit of Julia from You're Welcome Universe. Given that the humor was maybe my favorite part of that book, the lack of strong voice really disappointed me.

Don't worry, though; the nerdy bent of this novel made up for it. Chaotic Good is a book about being a girl and trying to interact with nerd guys, and oh man, is it unfortunately relatable. The portrayal of sexism felt so real and tangible.

I do have to say, in a book all about dressing up as a boy, I kinda wish there had been a mention of gender not being binary. You know, even a single mention. It's fairly easy to mention that kind of thing; Noteworthy by Riley Redgate did this very well just last year. But that's a fairly minor complaint.

This book was most enjoyable to me during the geeky D&D sections as all the characters hung out together. I liked seeing all the characters play off each other, and I also LOVED the D&D stories. The mixed media is really special. In fact, the comic pages brought this story from “fairly okay” to “really fun”.

That's pretty much all I have to say about this. It's clever and entertaining and short. Pick it up if you have the opportunity!!

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!)