Flawed by Auryn HadleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Women Daring to Fight Online
I love Auryn Hadley, but I hadn’t really looked at this book at all. I tend to work my way through back catalogues of authors I like before I start on any collaborations because they always contain a different kind of writing. I saw Auryn mention Kitty Cox on her Facebook page and found this book that they wrote together and once I read the blurb I HAD to read the book.
This is not an easy book to read. It’s about how women are demonised and abused online if they have an opinion, or they try to become a face in the tech arena. This story follows a young woman, Dez, who was just a girl when she was abducted and tortured for having a well known gaming blog. After her abduction she couldn’t stand to have anyone touch her at all. She spent most of her time on opiates trying to blot away her constant fear and anxiety.
This is the story of how one man had faith that underneath all her flaws Dez is capable of contributing in the gaming industry. He brings her on board and shows he’s not scared of her flaws. He helps create an environment she can work in and she starts to make friends.
This is a difficult story to read if you are a rape survivor, or if you have experienced online abuse because of your gender. It feels real and raw and difficult. It’s also a book that gives you faith that you can rebuild a life after something cataclysmic hits, if you have the support you need.
I will be the first to admit that just because I have played a bit of WOW, does not mean I have a real idea about the gaming industry. A lot of the book went straight over my head, so I can’t comment on the veracity of the gaming language, but it also didn’t overwhelm me as a gaming outsider.
The story is sad and beautiful, poignant and angry. The love story is beautiful because of it’s lack of convention. There are two people drawn together despite their opposing addictions, learning to find value in themselves through their value to the other. Dez and Chance are wonderful in their dysfunctions and their acceptance of each other.
This is a really gripping book, and the plot is complex and intriguing. I like that there is an overarching plot that isn’t resolved in this book and that future Gamer Girls will take up the baton against ‘The Opposition’.
I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.
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