This book is excellent! The author has come up with a cool concept of telling a swords-and-sorcerers fantasy story in parallel with the real-world fantasy gaming group that is controlling that story, with the stories unfolding in ways that mirror each other in important ways. This is the first such idea like this I've seen in fantasy writing. But importantly: he also really delivers on making BOTH of those stories very compelling and interesting, and lots of fun to read.
TL;DR: If you like fantasy stories, D&D or other RPGs, online gaming, or nerd culture more broadly, you should check out this book!
SLIGHTLY LONGER VERSION, avoiding major spoilers: Alan, Carlos, and Randall play longtime gaming friends who've been playing in a D&D-inspired campaign for several years. Randall, a troubled guy who is incredibly invested in the game, winds up splintering away from the group (this happens pretty early in the book), and decides to take out his frustration on other gamers around him, spreading his toxic personality through the online and tabletop gaming worlds. Alan and Carlos, meanwhile, continue playing with their friend Lance, and have two new companions join them in the campaign to help fill out and rejuvenate the group. As the gaming group works towards a gaming tournament with a big role-playing game competition, they start to come closer together as a team and get to know each other better along the way -- and the tragic accident that brought Alan, Carlos, and Randall together in the first place starts to become more important to the three of them as its 10th anniversary draws near. The group's characters are battling a creeping menace in their campaign as they near the tournament, and Randall works to spread his anger and hatred through the gaming convention, setting up dramatic confrontations in both the game universe and the real world.
Gastil is a very good writer, and his prose is just delightful and fun -- anyone who has spent much time in RPGs, online gaming, tabletop gaming, and similar settings will especially enjoy the dialogue and descriptive language. His characters are really interesting and compelling, from the compelling main characters to the quirky and interesting side characters -- to spot-on throwaway characters like a hotel liaison at the gaming convention. The dual plots are really solid and well developed, and take us through very cool and fun and thought-provoking journeys along with the characters. Gastil uses his knowledge of social dynamics (he's also a researcher who studies groups and teams) deftly to help explore how positive and negative factors shape our experiences with other people. How does trauma affect different people in different ways? How can groups struggle with and overcome a toxic member? How can people support their friends and loved ones in ways to help them cope with unimaginable loss? These are all important and compelling questions that Gastil explores in Dungeon Party.
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