Thank you to Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, the author, and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was released on February 7, 2023.
Cass Williams has a secret life. By day, she’s a high school student. And any other time, she’s roleplaying as Captain Aresha from the Tide Wars books with her online besties, including Rowan, who writes for Aresha’s girlfriend. It’s a path Cass has been down before, but she can’t pull herself away—not when this tight-knit group of fellow RPers is what’s keeping her going after her mother abruptly moves halfway across the country to live with another man, leaving Cass and her father behind. Things escalate as Cass starts dating the girl she’s had a crush on forever, her grades slip, and she tries to navigate both her growing feelings for Rowan and the changes in her life, both online and off.
I can see so much of my middle and high school self in certain aspects of this book—namely (and I’ll just cut to the chase here) Cass’s online roleplaying addiction. There was a time when young me had to be grounded from Neopets and then, when permitted online again, had a one hour time limit that I tried my fiercest to circumvent every single day. Not to mention the Shur’tugal fan wiki Inheritance Encyclopedia, which I checked first thing after school all the time. And then in high school, there was the constant writing of original and fan fiction, with multiple stories going on many pieces of paper that I swapped with a friend between classes. Sometimes during class.
All this to say, Jenna Miller did a freaking amazing job capturing the draw of roleplay, as well as how and why some people might hide that it’s a passion of theirs, the path to addiction to it, and how all of that can complicate your life and friendships. I’m pretty sure Miller was so successful with this depiction because she’s an RPer herself—I feel like someone who hasn’t had this kind of experience would come close to realistically portraying a character who’s obsessed with roleplaying but wouldn’t quite get some of the details—or feelings—right. Miller really knows what she’s doing (duh!), and I just love how evident it is that this is a huge part of her own life. And I LOVED the roleplay interludes between chapters!
I’m also so impressed by all the character relationships and how complex and true-to-life each of them felt. Whether it was Cass and Taylor’s burgeoning relationship and their attempts to connect, Cass and Rowan’s friendship and morewith its ups and downs and fights and apologies, Cass and the other RP kids complaining about one of their own who also keeps them a secret but barely comes around, or Cass and her offline BFF Tate’s effortlessly supportive and close friendship, each felt as if it could have played out in the halls around me back in 2012. Except, you know, with Discord and more openly queer people. To which I say, hell yeah.
Out of Character is so well done, former-internet-kids-now-adults. It gets us, and the intensity of high school relationships and friendships. So you should probably return the favor and get it for your shelf.
Gabriella Crivilare 