Don't Feed the Trolls
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- $2.99
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
Gaming while female is enough to incur the wrath of the dude-bros, and they’ve come for me. Instead of fighting back, I’ve created an alternate account. Male name, male pronouns. And I’ve met this girl. I’ve always liked girls, and Laura’s adorable and smart and never gives up, and she likes me back. Or rather, she likes the man I’m pretending to be. But I can’t tell her I’m a woman without the mob coming after her too.
And besides: I might not be a woman, not really.
The truth is, I don’t know what I am anymore. I’ve spent my whole life being told how I’m supposed to act and what I’m supposed to be, but none of it feels right. And my lie is starting to feel truer than anything I’ve ever been.
There’s a convention coming up, but the closer it gets, the more I have to choose: lie or fight. But if I don’t stand my ground as a girl, am I letting the haters win?
Then again, those aren’t the only two ways to live.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kudisch tackles video game misogyny in this charming, geeky, but ultimately unwieldy romance. Daphne Benoit, a somewhat employed French-born actor living in the U.S., is elated when her fictionalized version of her online RPG gaming strategy wins the game company's story-writing competition. However, male players who feel threatened by her success unleash a torrent of vitriol and actual threats on her. Hoping to evade notice, Daphne switches to a male persona in the game which quickly leads to adopting the name Daphnis and trying on masculine mannerisms in person and takes refuge with the help of Laura, another player who experienced similar harassment. Much of the early dialogue appears in chat log form and rewards those familiar with gamer slang and musical theater. Daphnis stumbles through overlapping online and offline dangers and a burgeoning romance with Laura until things come to a head at a national gaming convention. Kudisch brings needed attention to online harassment and rightly shows how well-meaning allies often cause more harm than good. However, the tale is hampered by the glib treatment of Daphnis's sudden gender shift (including the implication that a transmasculine identity can save someone from misogynist abuse) and an extraneous acting career subplot. Kudisch's attempt to cram so much into the story waters down its impact.
