Don't Read The Comments

Don't Read The Comments
Written by Eric Smith
Contemporary, Gaming, Friendship, Online Safety
284 Pages
Published January 20th 2020
Thank you to Harlequin Teen Australia
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★★★★★
Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya regularly leads her #angstarmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mum pay the rent.

Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer Divya.

At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new world and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line.

And she isn’t going down without a fight.
Reclaim The Sun is a popular online multiplayer game, players from all over the world board their ships ready to explore the universe, colonise planets and mine for resources. For gamer and streamer Divya Sharma, it's how she earns a living. Through sponsorship and revenue to help her single mother make ends meet while she puts herself through college.

Being a female gamer is hard enough, avoiding trolls and online abuse from arrogant males laying claim to online spaces. Divya has tried to protect her personal information. She doesn't use her real name, location or allow people past the virtual walls she's built around herself, she knows all too well how unsafe the world can be for females after her best friend, gaming buddy and streaming producer Rebekah was attacked in an elevator on her college campus. But when Divya is attacked and ambushed in game by a group of dudebros calling themselves the Vox Populi, the online trolling spills into her real life, comprising her safety.

Any girl gamer who's ever played an online multiplayer can attest to Divya's story. I'm no stranger to online gaming. In my younger years playing Call of Duty online and the amount of assholes who try to intimidate and target females is infuriating. Often console support will suggest you block other users or turn off the in game chat, sure, that solves the issue. I would have thought of that myself but my simple female brain is too occupied with flower arranging and darning socks. The issue is that for so long, they've allowed male gamers to create a toxic environment online where these losers living in their mother's basement get together and drive female gamers from the community. Back then, girls would meet online at a specific time and have female only sessions of online games. Safety in numbers is instilled in us because of men and allowing them to become faceless behind a keyboard only perpetuates their male fragility.

Aaron Jericho is a part time online gamer, his real interest lies in creating games and storyboarding, working for an independent developer who is trying to dodge paying wages for his staff. With no wage and an overbearing mother who refuses to support his dream of becoming a game developer, he's built himself a Frankenstein computer made from dumpster spare parts and pieces found in the neighbours trash. It works and is good enough to run Reclaim The Sun where Divya and her armada has just been attacked.

Aaron is a kindhearted young man and while he's never experienced trolling as Divya is now experiencing, he wholeheartedly supports her and her need for privacy while still checking in to make sure she's doing okay. Aaron's narrative explores the issue of creators not being paid appropriately for their work, taking advantage of because they're afforded experience. Experience doesn't pay the bills. Aaron's blossoming friendship with Divya allows him to escape and seek solace online and although he'd like to meet her, he respects Divya's need for privacy and allows her to set boundaries within their friendship. Never pushing her to meet offline or for her phone number.

The focus of the story is how unsafe online spaces can be for females in particular and like Divya, we can protect ourselves and our personal, sensitive information but online communities whether it be social media or gamer communities, it allows others to have access to us. Streaming her gaming attracts large audiences and although it's wonderful for Divya who can earn money from sponsorship, being a public figure shouldn't mean that her life should be for public consumption. Her private life is her own. These online trolls who are aggressively targeting Divya, her friends and family are dangerous. As soon as your safety is compromised, these faceless assholes become a danger and more needs to be done to be able to persecute those who engage in online targeted harassment and doxxing.

Don't Read The Comments is an incredible narrative of girls fighting back against those who attempt to silence us. Eric Smith is an impeccable author, creating discussion surrounding creating safe online spaces for females and supporting young creators. There's a saying, the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept and we need to be more mindful of one another online. If you see targeted harassment, report harassers. If a young woman is being abused, speak out and if you're a male gamer who doesn't believe in females occupying online spaces, then fuck off. 

14 comments

  1. Men as a whole should just NOT. I never understood why they deem themselves worthy to dominate a single space (lol, every male ever tbh), let alone one where people are there to collectively enjoy something.
    This book was such a good read, and a great way to start the conversation about online safety and dudebro trolls. I'm glad you liked it, Kelly!

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    1. It's amazing and we need so many more narratives that open the discussion about safe spaces online and in particular for women and women of colour. We all live so much of our lives online and so many young adult books barely mention characters even on their phones. It's strange.

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  2. I really enjoyed this book as well. Not only did I think Smith did a great job with the issues, I loved his characters. Aaron and his family were particular favorites, but I also loved Div. I thought the game sequences were really well written too. I felt totally immersed in the world of Reclaim the Sun, when they played.

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    1. It was beautiful. I really appreciated that the romance didn't dominate the storyline, as a character Divya was enduring so much in her life that she didn't need the complication. Their friendship was lovely and she drew so much strength from his kindness.

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  3. I'm glad to hear that you loved this one so much. I've never been a gamer, but I've definitely heard about the horrible things that some women go through in the gaming community online. I feel like the whole phrase "don't read the comments" is true for a lot of online fandoms and groups. People can be horrific, and it's great that books like these are released so people can understand what is happening!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. The internet is a great resource, it allows us to connect, be entertained and keep up to date with what's happening outside our own world but it can be equally as horrible. It allows people access to us, to demean us, abuse us and worse and so much of our online spaces feel unregulated or out of our control. Even for people who haven't experienced online gaming, this is such an incredible and authentic discussion of how much information we post online because even the smallest of details can threaten our safety. I can't wait for you to read this Lauren!

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  4. I've been really thinking about picking this one up. It's sounds really intereting and I've been hearing so many good things about it. Will have to pick it up for sure soon. Thanks for the review.

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    1. It's amazing! You'll love this one too, I can't wait to see what you think of it!

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  5. I was never going to read this as I'm not into the shooty-shooty gaming world or Twitch, but this sounds really amazing. Some great commentary and challenges to societal norms/expectations. I'm speechless... Great review, you've opened my mind up!

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    1. It's one of those books that will appeal to the wider audience, even if you're just a social media user. There's only a small amount of gaming which centres around Divya being doxxed and the discussion of access to private online information. It's such a great read and I'd love to see what you think of it!

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  6. I'm not a gamer, but damn, Gamergate was scary -- watching what happened to female gamers during the middle of that all. This sounds so good *so good*!

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    1. It was horrific and also a wake up call to women on the internet in general, how even in spaces we create, people can still gain access to our information. It's a brilliant read Verushka, I think you'll really enjoy it.

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  7. I'm not into gaming, but ready want to read this. Thank you for sharing.
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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    1. Absolutely welcome and looking forward to seeing what you think of it!

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