Booktober – The Fandom Review

The author of a best selling book has passed away but there is war brewing in the world the author has created. 1) How do you even begin to wrap your head around being transported to the dimension that the fictional world exists in? 2) How do you get back home? 3) How do you not get killed? The Fandom is the perfect example of reality and fantasy blended into one. Besides, we all know how Fandoms can be…. They have a mind of their own sometimes, don’t they?

The Fandom was written by Anna Day. The whole idea circles around that one thought that plenty of fans have mulled over: ‘What if I was a character in *insert book/film/TV show here*? Better yet, what if I was the main character?’ Day’s first novel answers the what if questions. Picture being transported to the Hunger Games, you take the place of Katniss Everdeen with none of her skills just what you know yourself. Would the odds be ever in your favour? I wouldn’t be so confident.

Pared down to the basics, the plot goes like this: Violet, her younger brother Nate and her two best friends, Katie and Alice, are transported to the world of their favourite book and movie, The Gallows Dance. In this dystopian version of London, imperfects (aka Imps) are the lesser species who are genetically and physically flawed unlike the genetically modified elite (aka Gems). The Imps are rebelling against the genetically modified upper class and being hung by the Gems. Violet lives and breathes all things Gallows Dance related and is then forced into replacing the stories heroine, Rose, in order to get her friends and brother back home before someone gets killed. She must use every ounce of her knowledge about the book to bring everyone back alive.

For a first novel, Day really went all out and it shows. Her descriptions are shockingly vivid and highly detailed. The Fandom has romance, action and betrayal and technically it is a story within a story. Though the novel begins set in reality, Day still had to create the world of The Gallows Dance book and film. She creates dystopian characters and leans into the notion that not everyone is who the seem/claim to be. Her characters, even the ones based in the fictional dystopia, have some kind of depth. She also throws in these throwaway thoughts that make Violet seem all the more real and human; for example, there’s the niggling thought that Alice looks so flawless, like a Gem, that’s not necessary jealousy but such a human thing to do. Violet is so very human and compares herself to Alice and to Rose but neither of those characters are the one that has to push the story to its conclusion. This story could have been so different because Violet could have been nerd queen of all and just gone through the plot on her own but instead she depends on her friends and brother and it’s a combined effort to get through and get everyone home and, throughout the journey through The Gallows Dance, Violet never really is truly comfortable as the substitute hero.

Personally, I loved The Fandom and The Fandom Rising, the sequel, which was published in 2019 but you’ll get no spoilers from me about either stories. Oddly enough, what drew me in was the tagline on the front cover of The Fandom: No story is worth dying for. I highly recommend both. They are the perfect imagining of a Fandom having a mind of it’s own and the second book wraps up the duology nicely. They are books that are very hard to put down and I sincerely hope this isn’t the end of Anna Day’s foray into writing.