The Princess and the Fangirl
By: Ashley Poston
Today I just want to talk about something happy and not the ringing of the bells- though it does involve fandom.
The Princess and the Fangirl is Ashley Poston’s second novel about what happens at ComicCon Excelisor Con and to my surprise I actually enjoyed this one more than Geekerella which I did not expect to in the first few chapters.
Jess is the actress who plays Princess Amara she’s at the con celebrating a successful movie while fans of her character mount a campaign to bring her back. But Jess is too good for this movie, this world, this scene take your pick. She definitely came off as ungrateful and childish to me.
Especially when she throws away the script in a bit of pique. And the script immediately starts getting leaked.
Imogen meanwhile is her look alike who also happens to be leader of the Save Amara campaign. The two switch places in order for Jess to find out whose leaking the script and hopefully save her career.
But also for romantic hijinks too ensue.
Since I am not one for romantic hijinks I mostly appreciated that this was a celebration of fandom- what characters come to mean to people and how they can help normal everyday people find passion and become more. But it also touches on things like how much should the actors be responsible for and even the angry bitterness of trolls who will harass and stalk actors or anyone who gets in the way of how they imagine “their characters” to be.
So while the romances were cutesy and the characters sometimes spoke like they were spouting off platitudes like they were strolling for likes on Twitter I did appreciate the look at the good and bad of fandom and I did like how it worked itself out at the end. If nothing else its a quick and diverting read with a great cover.
Good summer reading. Take it to a con with you 🙂
Recommend: Yes.
Great review! I also liked this one better than Geekerella <3 Which also surprised me because I loved Geekerella so much!
That’s an interesting review, I haven’t read geekarella yet. It’s on my list but yeah XD
Quite interesting how you mention that there’s both the good and bad points of the fandom, as if you look more in-dept into some fandoms (specially over tumblr per exemple), there’s really some toxic energies out there !!
I stick to reblogging Taylor Swift stuff and fashion pictures on Tumblr. It can get rough there 🙂
Great review, love! I really enjoyed Geekerella, and am glad to see that you liked reading about both the good and bad sides of fandom culture that is explored in this novel! I haven’t read it yet, but am hoping to at some point this year. That character does sound quite childish and immature though, so I can see how that could be irritating! I hope you like your next read more, Gemma! ❤️
Thanks!
I have yet to see anything as heated as fandom debates, it can literally become all-out war. I think when fans do believe that they’re entitled to how a character turns out, it can come across as very entitled, the author had a vision and while we may be invested in a character and see ourselves in them, the characters story (in the books) remains the authors, not the fans. The author had a vision for the character, and art is subjective, so the story and characters, while in the process of writing, is wholly the authors, in my opinion. We would never look at a piece of painting and demand the artist to change it to our suiting. How the fans perceive them, after the story, is left to the public. Interpretation and debate is for the readers, unless, of course, it’s canon – that part is frustrating as a book blogger when someone presents alternative canon, its not open to interpretation if it’s canon. I think readers to have a right to express frustration if a character isn’t true to their book counterpart, but more so for me if it leans into stereotypes to avoid a more nuanced and accurate portrayal of the scope of the character – like Grover in the Percy Jackson series became someone completely different in the films. But I think that’s more down to Hollywood reducing a male character to a comic relief figure *sigh*
Great review, so excited to read this now!
So many typos, too tired to correct them here, sorry 😭