I puzzled whether to rate this 4 or 5/5. I'm still not entirely sure. So many positives, but something seems slightly off. Obviously though, I greatly enjoyed this. Zevin yanked me back and forth between loving and hating these characters more strongly and abruptly than most other titles.

I felt the ending scene a bit too cliché with the

airport departure

. The last 1-2 chapters were not satisfying for me; it felt like we spent too much time after the "big event" of the ending, yet it still seemed to come out of nowhere. It was unclear what the story was driving to. There are a few slower passages where I rethought my rating for reasons completely based on enjoyment. I am also slightly bothered at how the

BDSM

was portrayed as

healthy, when Dov is routinely abusing Sadie

. Sadie and Sam's friendship is

worrying as well, given their cruelty. I hope the author didn't intend to imply that was just an "intense friendship/love

.

Zevin is adept in making even small characters feel like real people with depth, a personality. She makes commentary on a variety of issues from sexism in the gaming industry to philosophic ideas of belonging. Her writing style is clever; her history with gaming is overtly clear from her storytelling. 

I recommend this to lovers of gaming (of course) and those who have felt they only know how to love in complex ways.