Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith, 320 pages. LGBTQIA+
Inkyard Press, 2020. $19.
Language: R (142 swears, 43 swears); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
For Divya, video games aren’t just for fun -- streaming for her channel and sponsorships help her and her mom pay rent. Even though she has been very careful not to put personal information online, Divya is being attacked by trolls both online and in real life. How do you fight back against anonymous and dangerous foes?
Smith raises a lot of issues through this story that we all need to be more aware of, including how online safety is huge and you can take precautions to protect yourself as well as the seriousness of online harassment and hating. I loved reading this book because the characters felt so real with legitimate concerns and rationalizations that make sense, and they illustrate how much people can be hurt by what goes on online. The people online are people in real life, and no one has the right to hate on them, drag them down, or hurt them. I would more highly recommend this book if there wasn’t so much unnecessary swearing because I think most people would benefit from reading a new perspective of how online actions impact real life. That being said, I don’t feel like the ending gave very much closure to the issues; I was left wondering if everything was really resolved, which could’ve been purposeful to create discussion about what happened but seems unnecessary after everything that happened in the story, if that is the case. The mature content and violence ratings are for both sexual and non-sexual harassment and for malicious intent.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I love Eric Smith! I listen to him on Book Riot's podcasts constantly and I think he is such a joy hear reviews and suggestions from. This book was a 4.5/5 for me and it had a lot of personal connection to my life. My husband is an avid video game player and I recognized and laughed at all of the Twitch and video game references and TOTALLY just get it. It was hilarious and Smith's voice just shouted through the pages for the entirety of the read. It lost a half star because the ending fell a tad flat for me. I felt like there was a whole bunch of build up just to find myself a little disappointed by the conclusion. I will be recommending this left and right for my video game inclined students at my middle school.

This is a must read for any gamers or fans of the gaming world. Divvya and Aaron are both living in a virtual world. Divvya does it for love of the game and for money to help pay bills. Aaron lives almost exclusively in the game. This book takes a look at not only the life of the players and gamers who live in these worlds, but the culture that surrounds it and it's dark underbelly of trolls and doxxing.
Ultimately, this story is full of humor and love and a fantastic world building in the game.

This was such a cute romantic story!
The characters were fleshed out and instant likeable.
Highly recommend if you're looking for a quick and funny read!

I will be posting my review to my blog, goodreads, and instagram on January 23rd, 2020. I will be adding links here when they are live.

I was really excited to be approved for this title because I am a gamer and thought the premise sounded awesome. There were some good topics discussed in this book and although I can't talk about the racial issues, I can talk about being a female gamer.

I have been a gamer since my family got a super Nintendo back in the day. Since World of Warcraft came out, I have been a MMO gamer and have tried many different ones throughout the years. It was cool to see them mention a few and even older ones like Ultima. I have also played Call of Duty and I think that is where I have ran into the most trolls when it comes to me being a female.

I definitely could relate to Divya because of the way other gamers called her names. I have been called numerous ones just for being a girl. Divya always talked about not reading the comments and although its easy to do for the most part, it's different when you can hear them say it like on Call of Duty. As for MMO gaming, I really haven't ran into many issues because of my gender since they don't know who is behind the screen unless I get into a chat like Discord. Of course, you will get the infamous troll that says, "girls don't play videogames!" but it's easy to ignore.

Divya stuck up for herself throughout the book and had friends and fellow gamers stand by her side. The gaming community can be a great community but just like any other, you will always have trolls. I liked this book's take on it all and I thought it was done nicely.

As for the other characters, there wasn't too much development for Divya's and Aaron's friends but I still thought they were good characters. Aaron isn't a big gamer but is there to support Divya. He does face racism and I thought it was a good topic to include.

Another thing I liked about this book was the mention of bookstagram. I have one and the community is a great place to make friends and since this book mentions it maybe others will want to know what it is and take part in it!

Overall, I enjoyed this one and glad I got the chance to read a book about a topic that I am familiar with.

As a start, it was not my favorite kind of reading because I know nothing about games and the virtual world has been created behind. If you count watching Black Mirror’s Bandersnatch is an entrance to this different world, I could say: “Okay I know this kind of addiction and the way of express yourself with another version of you to escape from your real world’s troubles and problems.”

I loved those two kids’ characterizations and their different stories. Divya, abandoned by her father, taking care of her mother financially, trying to close her eyes and ignore the virtual hatred against her. But for Aaron, game has different meaning because in his real life, he does his best to make his parents pleased, hating his job which crashes his soul. But when he plays, he forgets everything and he loves his virtual self.

So I got lost so many times because of technical terms. I googled some terminologies several times. Maybe the beginners or virtual land ignorance, there should be also small terminology dictionary for this book. So the people like me have better understanding.

But mostly I loved the stories of those young people and criticism of merciless, cruel acts people against each other when it comes to internet. I always enjoy new indie authors’ work. I only cut one point because I had hard time to connect with the main topic but that was my problem before choosing this book to my tbr list.

Thanks to NetGalley, Inkyard Press for sharing this ARC COPY in exchange my honest review and of course thanks to creative mind of Eric Smith.

I was a bit skeptical at first when I started reading.
A book about a girl who live streams herself playing online games... How interesting could this be?
But I was floored at the world-building and the descriptions that the author provided for the games that D1V was playing, you could close your eyes and imagine it. The game world was just as real as the 'real world' in the book.

The book highlights the terrifying aspect of being an internet personality, facing trolls, threats, and people who will do anything to mess with someone. I've never been a part of the gaming community and I am glad I didn't agree when my brother suggested I do it because 'female streamers are more popular.'

I think the author does an amazing job writing a female perspective, it's not easy to find a male author that can write a female character without over-sexualizing her or just completely doing it wrong. I truly enjoyed all of the characters, none of them fell flat for me. They seemed like real people, not just awkwardly slapped together personalities to fill in the pages and dialogue.

Div and Aaron's relationship is so sweet, I can't help but smile when I read their interactions. There isn't a fast build-up and they don't trust each other straight away, which I like a lot more than these stupid 'Insta-love' relationships where they fall in love at first sight.... well....it would be the 'first type' in this case?
I wish there was more to their romantic relationship, but I did love their friendship and interactions through the game platform.

I wish there was more, in the end, explaining what happened to the trolls and who they were. I wanted to know more about why they were targetting Div like that. But thinking about real-life internet trolls, they don't need a valid reason or a reason that makes any sense to hurt people.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a quick fun read and I couldn't keep myself away from it.

Honestly, I don't really know much about the gaming community, but I'm glad I'm not part of it. This book gives a good perspective on the life of a gamer, whose life contrasts greatly to her gamer persona. Divya is a strong girl, who is financially barely scraping by with her single mother. She games with her best friend Rebekah and together they battle against online haters who target them for some unknown reason. In comes Aaron, a boy who games for fun on a computer he impressively built himself, befriends Divya and together they bond whilst gaming. I like the dynamic between the two as Divya is more secretive about her personal life (as she rightfully should be given the circumstances) while Aaron is just out there being freely himself without any repercussions. Interestingly enough both get along really well and I found it cute when Aaron was fangirling about being friends with a famous gamer.

Now what really irked me were the online trolls who were hating Divya for no reason. Even worse when it escalates really quickly, from cornering her in a live stream game to threatening to release her personal information to harassing her mom and best friend. I don't get why people can be so hateful, but I'm glad it's in the story because it happens in real life. You see haters online all the time who hate someone for petty little things or for nothing at all. I like how Divya deals with these haters as she at first fears for her life, but then slowly comes to term with the fact that she needs to fight back, and it's done in such a glorious way.

Overall, it's a pretty good read with a light romance that I probably would've enjoyed more if I held an interest in the gaming community, which I don't.

It's rare to find a male author who just gets the female perspective. It can be scary out there as a female; Smith perfectly portrays the female experience and how it feels to be attacked by strangers who are emboldened by the anonymity of the internet. He also touches on the topics of female empowerment, friendship, trust, internet safety, and bullying. The characters are relatable and I found that I truly cared about the outcome of their story.

Accurate reflection of how teens use, and perhaps misuse, social media. Should also be read by adults wanting to understand the minefield of such communication systems their kids are using.

I absolutely love this book and the message it sends out! D1V is a great main character strong fierce everything I love in a female lead. Beks made the story more down to earth and realistic. He story line was perfect for the story! I also loved how the author portrayed a women's struggle while still showing how awesome some guys can be. It was a perfect mix highly recommend!

Divya or as she's known in the gaming community D1V as she plays Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game, as if her life depends on it. Maybe her real life does not, but real life would suffer much more if she didn't have the income from her sponsorships for playing the game. Virtual life and real life takes a curve when Aaron Jericho enters the picture and finds Aaron finds himself on the same remote planet as D1V, the famous gamer. They may have to deal with their home problems on their own but in the virtual world they have each other. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the interactions between Divya and Aaron, I did not understand most of the gaming descriptions. However, the story is worth the journey.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book! I have been following Eric Smith ever since I saw him at a book festival, and the way he is so down to earth and into the online community spoke volumes to me, and I knew from seeing the synopsis to this novel that it was going to be very genuine. I had been counting down the days for an ARC to be released, and I loved it more than I knew I could. The storyline is so here and now. It feels young, honest, and real. I haven't seen a novel tackle streaming and online trolling before, and because I have friends that do stream, it made it that much more of a compelling and meaningful read for me. It was also so wonderfully nerdy and trendy, making me feel in the midst of friends and like-minded individuals as I turned each page.

Divya and Aaron are two gamers from very different walks of life. They are expertly crafted and feel like people you would meet, both online and face to face. Divya has a Glitch stream where she has built up a following (the Angst Armada) in the game 'Reclaim the Sun' and is steadily getting sponsors and donations. She streams not for herself, but for her mom, who is trying to put herself through school after Divya's father left them. It's hard on her mom, seeing the things that internet trolls write about her daughter, but Divya has one hard and fast rule for herself; don't read the comments. Aaron on the other hand is an aspiring video game writer, and he is trying his hardest to break away from his mother's expectations of him while working for someone who is sketchy at best (not paying him and shooting down his origina ideas) but he is able to lose himself in the very game that Divya streams and dream of a life all his own.

Reclaim the Sun is a large MMROPG where players pilot themselves across a vast universe, finding planets, claiming them, and mining their resources for upgrades to their gear, ships, or avatars. Unless you're in a party like the Angst Armada, coming across another player is very rare, so when Divya and Aaron find each other as they attempt to claim the same planet, the two forge a quick friendship. Things get rocky quick in both of their lives as the online trolls spamming Divya's stream start coming after her, both in game and in real life, and Aaron finds out that he may not know everything about the 'friends' he's been making a game with, or his own family. Their relationship is a safe haven in both of their rocky lives.

I think my favorite thing in this book is how it showcases the discrimination that girls still get when they play video games. The line 'you're good, for gamer girls' set my soul alight with fire, because it's just another way that men have been built up to be better than women. Divya and her best friend (and streaming co-host), Rebekah, are such strong, talented, and driven ladies, and seeing them hold their own and combat the gaggle of threatened boys coming after them is so empowering. It's sickening to think that these kinds of things really do happen in real life; the discrimination, the bullying, the online and personal attacks, and not just to women, but to minorities, especially POC like Divya herself. I love how she never backs down, and how her Angst Armada stands behind her every step of the way. There are a bunch of moments in the book where Divya is at her lowest, and you think she might be losing her resolve, but then a random act of kindness reminds her what she stands for, and I may or may not have cried each time.

The internet can be such an ugly and unforgiving space. However, I myself have made some of the best friends in my life right now from Twitter. Even as a kid, playing around in places such as Neopets, I had a 'guild' where we talked about books and music, and these were and still are communities that I return to when the real world hustle and bustle gets me down. It's amazing to think of the technological progress that we've gone through as a country, and that I could be as connected to my friend from England as I am to my coworker that I see face to face every day. It's an incredible privilege, and this novel is a beautiful reminder to see it and treat it that way. We should be making content as uplifting, and posting comments that induce a smile, not tears. I usually agree, Eric, don't read the comments, but I hope you read this one: you've made a true work of art.

Adults and teenagers alike need to read this book!!! It is an amazing tail of what your actions can start and who it can touch. It definitely needs to be a must read.