{My thoughts} – Violet and her friends end up being transported into their favorite book/movie: The Gallows Dance. However, this version of Canon that they have been transfered into isn’t one that they remember from the book/movie. It is different in many different ways and they aren’t sure what is what to be exact. There are some parts that remain the same and others that seem to change as much as the scenes.

Violet is trying her best to stick to the original story and is learning that sometimes things may change, but mostly it falls back into place. The threads from the Canon book/movie and the threads from the Canon they are now living in are trying to stay closely knit together in most cases.

Her and her friends are learning that when things alter off course, things can change a lot. Sometimes it changes for the better and sometimes it changes for the worse. You’d have to read the book to see what I mean by that.

I was rather impressed with this book, because it was like I was reading three or four different stories combined into one and they blended flawlessly with one another. The author did a brilliant job pulling everything together and left room for a possible sequel to be written as well, although I am not sure exactly how she’d transport them back into Canon – but thinking about all the different ways a reader could be transported into Narnia, I am sure there is a way!

I think that anyone that enjoys dystopian books will enjoy this one. It is slow to begin, but it does pick up and it becomes nearly impossible to put the book down. I really enjoyed reading it and I am sure that others with similar interest will as well. I mean who wouldn’t want to see what it could be like to be transported into a your favorite book/movie and live there for awhile? It was a rather interesting take on how that could happen and what would happen if it did happen. ( )

*Update 2*

I am... oh my gosh. What just happened?

Ok, the concept of this book is amazing. I love the characters. Especially Ash. Ash is... amazing.

Everything is amazing.

I loved it, I loved it, I loved it x23.

I'm still recovering. But, the main message is... read this book... NOW.


*UPDATE 1*

When I first picked this book up, I never expected it to be so good. But... OMG... it is GOOD.

A book about a bunch of teens in a 'fanon' version of their fav book? Count me in.

A book with authentic teen characters? Double count me in.

A book with references to all my favourite books... think Twilight (I'm counting the amount of times Jacob comes up), Divergent, Hunger Games... triple count me in!

More updates soon... ( )

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Great
Recommended: Yes
Level: High School

This was actually a book I bought for myself before I ever saw it as an option for a ROYAL review, which is why I knew I was going to love it from the start. It has a unique and interesting premise, fun characters, and fast-paced action that keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. While it seems to end rather abruptly (many questions are left unanswered), I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of beloved stories and characters coming to life thanks to the collective imaginations of a fandom.

The Fandom follows the story of seventeen-year-old Violet, who has been single-mindedly obsessed with a book-turned-movie known as The Gallows Dance. The day after she gives a book report presentation on her favorite book, Violet and her friends are attending Comic-Con, where they will be meeting the actor who plays Willow, the hunky hero from the film adaptation of the book. Joining her is her little brother Nate, her best friend Alice (an avid fan-fiction writer for The Gallows Dance), and her friend Katie (who knows nothing about the book and is simply tagging along for moral support). When a mysterious earthquake hits, Violet and her friends find themselves not in cosplay attending a convention, but as real characters from The Gallows Dance. It is there that Violet learns it will be up to her and her friends to complete the story so they can return home.

Hands down, my favorite part of this book was the continuous breaking of the fourth wall, as the characters made countless jokes about dystopian novels and some of their weirder tropes and conventions. For example, the hero's name in The Gallows Dance is Willow, and the characters (specifically Katie and Nate) make fun of the fact that heroes in dystopian novels always tend to have abstract or bizarre names (Four, Gale, Peeta, etc.). This book (and its author) is extremely aware of pop culture phenomena, and uses that pop culture to poke fun at the genre as a whole. I thought this was extremely clever, and as someone who has enjoyed many of the books mentioned in this novel, it made the story even more fun for me as a reader.

Another thing I really enjoyed is how the author incorporates the relationships between friends and family into this universe where a romantic relationship is the catalyst for everything. While there is still a fast-paced romance between Ash and Violet, the story focuses much more on her friendship with both Violet and Katie, as well as her bond with her little brother. In the end, it is her love for her friends and family that completes the canon and sends them home, rather than some noble declaration of romantic love. This follows the modern vein of narratives like Frozen and Maleficent, where it is a platonic love that saves the characters rather than romantic love. I adore this new trend in modern media, and am always happy to see conventional tropes spun on their head.

While the romance felt a bit rushed and forced at times, I can forgive this fact simply because the story intentionally takes place within a trope-filled dystopian universe. While predictable, Violet's attraction to Ash is unexpected because she is meant to be following the "canon" and falling in love with Willow, the protagonist of The Gallows Dance. Where Violet admired and adored the character while reading the book, upon meeting him she finds that he is actually rather cowardly and selfish. This follows the old saying that one should never meet his or her heroes, as the real deal rarely measures up to the picture in our minds.

I also really enjoyed Alice's arc in this story, as she goes from being a bit of an insufferable super fan, to a straight out villain, to seeing reason and coming to Violet's aid in the very end. She, like most of the characters in this book, represents a passionate part of a real fandom, someone who takes her own creations extremely seriously and differentiates between her own work and the "official" work. There were many times throughout the story when I hated her for being stuck-up and siding with the baddies from the book, but it is ultimately her love for her friends that completes the canon and allows everyone to go back home in the end. I applaud Anna Day for showing that strong friendships can prevail even in the most arduous of circumstances, as she could've very easily just made Alice a one-note villain instead of a conflicted and complex character.

Another thing I appreciated in this book was the way in which Anna Day treats fandom. I've been in my fair share of fandoms over the years, and it is absolutely true that fandoms can bring people together and give them purpose. Violet and her friends are able to bond over this book and movie, and it even brings her closer to her younger brother, who enjoys and discusses it with her. The fictional book in this universe brings important discussions to the table about revolution and treating others as being lesser because of their appearance, something that real fandoms can do as well. Day presents the world of The Gallows Dance as one that manifested not only because the author created it, but because the collective minds of the fandom have expanded upon it and made it real. This was a really touching way to look at fandoms and fan culture, and I appreciate Day for looking at passionate fans of pop culture through this lens.

My one real gripe with this book, besides the rather abrupt ending, is the potentially icky way in which it views suicide. It's briefly mentioned in the beginning that the author of The Gallows Dance committed suicide shortly after writing the book, and this is almost a throwaway fact until the end of the book, when it's discovered that the villain from the book (who exists in this parallel universe created by the author and fandom) drove her crazy by whispering in her head and demanding a sequel in which the bad guys win. This made me... uncomfortable, mostly because it seemed to trivialize mental illness and suicide for the sake of the plot. People suffering from very real mental illnesses might find it insulting to see that this fictional author's suicide was used simply as a plot device, rather than trying to make an important point about suicide. It wasn't bad enough that it turned me from the book or anything, but it did make me feel a bit icky.

As for that ending, I still have a lot of questions that I feel Day could've done a better job answering. For example, does Nate ever wake up? It's implied in the novel that his death in the fictional world of The Gallows Dance will lead to his death in the real world, but Violet and Alice write him into the sequel at the end. So... does this mean he'll wake up? The rules are never made expressly clear. I also found myself hoping for a Wizard of Oz/Nutcracker moment, where Violet wakes up in the real world only to find a counterpart to Ash, the boy she fell for while trapped in the world of fiction. It's depressing to think that both woke up in their own universes without any memory of the other, but I suppose that (along with Nate's death) gave the novel very real stakes and consequences. I enjoy anything that can add emotional weight to an already good story, so I suppose I appreciate these plot threads even though there is no satisfying resolution to them.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. When I first found it at my local bookstore, I thought it sounded right up my alley. I am an avid fan of many fictional universes, and often attend conventions myself because of my passion for those universes. I loved the twist on stories like The Nutcracker and the Wizard of Oz, where a character is knocked out or rendered unconscious, only to find herself trapped in a familiar world full of characters she knows from her own world. It left me wondering what I would do if I were trapped in some of my favorite fictional universes (can I be sent to Hogwarts, please?), and how I would fit into some of the scenarios I've read about or seen on the big screen (spoiler alert: I would probably be the first to die in the Hunger Games). Day took a really fun, unique idea, and used it to play around with conventions of storytelling and pop culture. It was a truly enjoyable ride, and I'm really interested to see what this author comes up with next. ( )