Dungeons and Drama
So I read Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce and figured I’d share my thoughts here. The story follows a teenage girl named Riley who loves musical theatre. She and her best friend borrow her mother’s car without permission to drive to a musical, despite Riley not having her driver's license. When her parents find out, her punishment is that she has to work at her father’s game shop for several weeks. During this time she meets a boy named Nathan who is a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast. The two come up with a plan to pretend to date each other to make Riley’s ex-boyfriend and the girl Nathan has a crush on jealous. Part of this plan involves Riley joining Nathan’s Dungeon and Dragons game and both of their worlds collide. There is also a plot about saving the school’s musical which was canceled. Riley experiences a lot of sudden changes in her life and we get to see that unfold in this book.
As would be expected the main character Riley is obsessed with musical theatre and is very passionate about the subject. In some ways I sort of think this makes her a bit one note because almost all of her personality revolves around her love of musical theatre and very little is mentioned about her that doesn't directly relate to this. Still I found her personality to be charming in its own way. The book mentions several times how she is wearing bright and eye-catching outfits because she is always making some sort of statement. Riley has no problem bursting into song when the need arises and I found this to be endearing.
The male lead of this book Nathan is in my opinion one of the most well developed characters in this book. Later in the book we learn more about his home life and how it affects him as a person. His parents aren’t around very much so he had to learn to be self sufficient and understand his priorities. Nathan has the most extreme character arc as he goes from not wanting to do social events at school but later changes his mind for Riley’s sake.
I would describe both of her parents as somewhat simple characters. Riley’s parents are divorced but seem to be on okay terms. Riley’s mother shares her love of musical theatre and Riley’s father has completely different interests which revolve around table top board games. This lack of character isn’t inherently bad, but doesn't make for a very interesting story either, especially because they are somewhat major characters.
This book is very campy and at times almost seems like a parody of young adult romance. It contains a lot of tropes that are popular on the TikTok reading community “BookTok” such as “fake dating”, a romance between two characters with polar opposite personalities, and arguably “enemies to lovers” as the two leads have a bit of a rough start when they first meet. This book also has some cliches common in teen movies such as an eccentric young woman having a romance with a slightly troubled young man who has a bit of a rough homelife. The best friend character in some ways seems like an extension of Riley who I would argue is not very complex to begin with.
I wouldn’t say any of these things make this book bad, just slightly less unique. I found the plot to be somewhat predictable, but I would argue the most important part of this book isn’t the plot but rather the emotional journey that the characters go on.
The main character arc of this book would be about Riley learning to leave her comfort zone and try new things. She learns to better appreciate both Nathan and her father’s interests and they do the same for her.
There are references to many specific musicals and songs as well as references to table top board games and things that relate to that culture. This book is very modern and at one point references “cottagecore” which was a fashion trend on TikTok a few years ago. I imagine in a few years this will make the book seem a bit dated.
Spoiler Alert: Riley’s father has a health scare towards the end of the book. I think it was briefly mentioned that his diet and lifestyle isn’t very healthy so it’s not absurd that he could experience this. It did come slightly out of the blue and maybe could have been foreshadowed a bit better but then again I guess the point is that it was sudden and unexpected.
This book has a decent message about leaving your comfort zone to try new things. Overall it’s very lighthearted and not a very heavy or emotional read. I would recommend this book to someone who enjoys young adult romance and “slice of life” stories. I would say that the book is accurate to what it is advertised on from the description and from the cover art.
Perspective: First person
Tense: Present
Length: 300 pages
Kindle Unlimited: No
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