Lovely sequel that I absolutely had to finish (I think it didn't take me more than a few hours after I started reading). It was a great combination between some kind of thriller, finding out who was the "bad guy" in our world and an exciting story in the fantasy world we got to know in the first book. The stakes were incredibly high (lives were literally at stake) and the price was therefor also high, something that I "liked" too (I like that even the protagonists aren't safe from the consequences).

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

Me ha encantado, no sé si va a tener una tercera entrega pero ojalá.

Even though I missed out on the box with "the Fandom", the first book in this series, that was a Dystopia that I just really truly loved, was the reason I really wanted to get the Book Box Club each month. Books that seemed out of my comfort zone and then ended up being straight up my alley. I was therefore very excited to start the second book!

And the second book truly doesn't disappoint. The book starts almost a year after the previous one ended. Alice and Violet are bestseller authors now, but Violet's brother Nate is still in a coma. And then they discover that someone has started to write a third book, a book that messes everything up and mostly a book that ruins the chance for Nate to ever return back to our world. And then a race against the clock starts.

It's from start to finish a fantastic race and I love that this time we get two perspectives. Violet's, stuck in the fictive world trying to change the tide to get her brother back. And Allison's, doing whatever she can to give Violet the best chance she can get by writing her own fanfiction. The two storylines intertwine perfectly and everything that happens in one world has a direct influence on the other, something I really love.

I do have to admit that maybe there's not that much depth added to the characters. They lean heavily on the foundation built in the previous book and not that much background or extra information is added, but I personally didn't miss it that much. I had way too much adrenaline rushing through my vein to even notice.

Because this book is a rollercoaster from start to finish and even a little beyond that. And writing fanfic will never be the same again.

[b:The Fandom|34866434|The Fandom (The Fandom, #1)|Anna Day|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1502374749s/34866434.jpg|56112305] was Anna Day's love letter to dystopian fiction and the fervour of the fans. The Fandom Rising is, rather more specifically, about fanfiction and the wars they can engender. Rising picks up a year after the end of Fandom. In the interim, Alice and Violet have published the official sequel to Gallows' Dance. However, Nate is still trapped in his coma and the girls have forgotten their adventures. Violet's been dreaming, though, and things are moving in the Gallows fandom. A new fanfic writer is turning everything on its head, and if the girls don't stop him they'll lose any chance of bringing Nate back...

I'm going to start with the only problem I had with this novel, and it's the same problem I have with almost all series; it's been more than a year since the first one was published, and there's no recap or memory jogger beyond a few bits of dialogue and exposition. I am honestly not too sure who a couple of the characters were and what the relationships were in the first novel. But almost all series have this, and I realise that putting in a recap at the start can affect the flow.

This is my only problem. Other than that, the story is brilliant. Shifting POVs mean that we're aware of what's happening on both sides of the divide, and a certain character reveal took me by surprise. Another I was expecting didn't materialise, which is good because it would have been upsetting. The settings were great and the action didn't stop at any point.

This sits beautifully as a duology, but I'll be watching out for whatever Anna does next. I'm sure it'll be great.



I need to contact this Fanboy and convince him to stop posting. And I'm Alice Childs, author of The Gallows Song. That must mean something. And if it doesn't, if he won't stop, well, I'll hunt him down and grind his bloody keyboard to dust with my Jimmy Choos.

I go straight to the Fandalism site on my phone. The barbed wire motif suddenly seems all the more jagged, all the more dangerous. I scroll with urgent fingers. There isn't a contact page. I do a bit more snooping, but he isn't on social media or the internet more generally. The guy's a cyber ghost. How on earth did he get so popular?

This complicates things.

Deep breaths. New plan.

I need someone to help me. I'm hopeless with computers. Which sounds daft coming from a girl who spends most of her spare time glued to one. But that's different, that's writing. I know diddly about how to track down another user.

What I need is an IT nerd.

I open Facebook and follow a friends of friends trail until I find the perfect geek. A nerd who I really owe a drink and who, historically, owes me a favour.