Review: Queens of Geek – Jen Wilde

Book cover: Close-up of Charlie’s pink hair

When BFFs Charlie, Taylor and Jamie go to SupaCon, they know it’s going to be a blast. What they don’t expect is for it to change their lives forever.

Charlie likes to stand out. SupaCon is her chance to show fans she’s over her public breakup with co-star, Reese Ryan. When Alyssa Huntington arrives as a surprise guest, it seems Charlie’s long-time crush on her isn’t as one-sided as she thought.

While Charlie dodges questions about her personal life, Taylor starts asking questions about her own.

Taylor likes to blend in. Her brain is wired differently, making her fear change. And there’s one thing in her life she knows will never change: her friendship with Jamie—no matter how much she may secretly want it to. But when she hears about the Queen Firestone SupaFan Contest, she starts to rethink her rules on playing it safe.

I’m going to be honest with you. I wasn’t going to read Queens of Geek. I’ve never been  to a con before, the blurb didn’t intrigue me and I don’t like the cover that much. It just didn’t seem to be my type of book. However, then I started seeing so many reviews stating how much they loved the book and I thought I’d give it a try.

It’s #ownvoices for autism and anxiety representation.

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As I mentioned above, I’ve never been to a con before. I also have absolutey no clue about Tumblr, so I was quite worried when it was mentioned that one of the characters has an account – I was sure I would be confused. I thought that I wouldn’t get any references and thus wouldn’t be able to enjoy the story, since I wouldn’t know what was going on. However, the writing is structured in such detail and so descriptive, so that I was able to understand the intricacies of these events and those of Tumblr. This doesn’t mean that there was a lot of telling and dry, explanatory descriptions, rather that I started understanding the appeal and culture behind a con through the two main characters.

The story is told through the perspectives of Charlie and Taylor, and Jen Wilde’s writing talent is very obvious here. No matter which perspective I was reading from, I could tell that it was truly from the perspective of that character. Loved that. Both of the main characters are gems. Charlie doesn’t hide who she is; she’s bisexual and she’s Chinese Australian, and she’s very proud of that. Taylor is more insecure, she has anxiety and autism, however she really grows through the book and I especially loved the friendship she made and how her relationship with her friends is so beautifully strong.

I love stories that have dry humour and this has some of the best. It’s a real laugh-out-loud book and such a light and fun read.

This book is very intersectional, discussing and showing cases of sexism, ableism and homoantagonism. There is however a microaggression about micropenisses which is not called out.

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Queens of Geek surprised me. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much and I really did! I’m very glad that I actually gave this book a try and didn’t ignore it just because I didn’t like the cover (don’t judge a book by its cover!).

Trigger warnings: biantagonism.

5 stars

Have you read Queens of Geek? What did you think of it?