You know, I'm something of a Queen fan myself.

And for that very reason I feel like I am qualified to talk about a book like this, where the author put so much heart and soul into a story to a point where it would feel a bit strange to a reader who doesn't share that same passion. Additionally I've read a lot of graphic novel memoirs throughout the years, so I also feel like I'm qualified to talk about them. I think I could have written this book, except I would have had to discuss a lot of strange aspects of being a Queen fan. From the boring and stale (the Queen fandom on Instagram post-2019) too the downright embarrassing (the time I cried while looking at a picture of Queen after lip-synching the lyrics alongside an orchestral arrangement of Queen songs). We didn't get to see any of that Jazz in this story, instead watching as Mike moved across the pond and talked about running away with his friends.

Of course, my favorite aspect of this book was Queen itself; I would never get bored of talking about them. I thought it was really sweet how Dawson always brought Queen into the big moments of his life, and how his love for them never waned over the years. I also really liked how he drew the timeline at the beginning of the book that showed his family portrait over the years while also showing each album's release date. Seeing as Queen and his family seem like two of the most important things to him, it was nice to see them side-by-side. Although this wasn't specifically about Queen, I liked how Dawson and his sister bonded over George Michael. When they were younger they were constantly in a feud about whether Queen or Wham! was better. As a person with siblings I can confirm that you will automatically hate everything your siblings love, even if deep down you don't mind it.

It was also really interesting (part of me wants to say funny, but in the moment I don't think they were funny) to see Dawson as he had to personally deal with everything that happened regarding Queen. First he had the disappointment as he tried to see Queen and then later Brian May. I definitely feel that, but I wasn't alive when Queen was touring as the four members, so I never have to live with the knowledge that I *almost* saw the real deal of Queen. It was also certainly something hearing when Dawson talked about when Freddie came out. It was HILARIOUS how teenage Mike was all like "I'm not homophobic but my friends and I say the f-slur as a joke." And then there was the scene where he learned about Freddie's diagnosis and then death. Now, I don't know how many people who read this book went into it knowing that Freddie died that day after he made his diagnosis public, but I forgot until the moment before I flipped the page to when Dawson learned the news. 

Me reading: "Oh wait this is funny. Didn't Freddie die the next day? Hahahaha." *flips page* "Haha- oh."

I will say that I laughed a bit when Mike cried in the school nurse's office. But I say that as if I won't act exactly like that when Brian, John, and Roger die. Man, I hope they never die.

Now, if this book had only been the Queen scenes, it would have been pretty good. But in reality, I don't think Dawson's life was really interesting enough to warrant a 300 page memoir. The biggest part of his life was his big move, but besides that there wasn't that much else. For the most part he was a normal kid, then a normal, edgy teenager that had normal, edgy teenager thoughts, and then a depressed young adult whose biggest problem is finding a life partner. It was a very normal life, and I've already experienced a lot of these things and seen other people gone through these things as well. I think this books should have been a third of the length it was. I can get that Dawson would really want to tell his whole story, and that's great, there's nothing wrong with being normal, but I think his editor needed to be a bit harsh and cut down on some of the fluff. On the other side, it might be a fortunate thing that Dawson's life is "boring," because a lot of memoirs revolve around something very traumatic that happened in the author's life.

It wasn't that bad, but I definitely was not as strong as it could have been. If the book had been shorter and Dawson had cut out some of his extra life stories then it would have been much better. Although I love how this book was focused on Queen, I would have liked a bit more Queen in this book. Specifically, I would have liked more Roger Taylor and John Deacon in this book. The only people who really know about them are the non-casual Queen fans, and I was hoping that would mean they would get more than an off-hand mention in the book, but I was let down. It's a much more trivial issue that really didn't affect my rating, but a little more Deaky and Rog would have been nice. It would have been more than nice, it would have been fantastic, extraordinary, and it would have made this book 10 times better.