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Book Review of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl
reviewed on + 380 more book reviews


I had put off reading this book for awhile for no particular reason. I'm upset that I did that. I guess I was going through a phase where I didn't want to think about how big of a geek that I am. Anyways, Lyga spins a tale combining the lives of two teenagers. Fanboy is a stereotypical comic book nerd. He has been working on a comic forever and is planning on handing it off to his hero at a comic book convention. Before the convention, he ends up becoming friends with Goth Girl. He is intrigued with her and probably has a bit of a crush. She ends up finding out about his work and finds it very well done. At the convention, the two clash with fanboy's hero and craziness ensues.

The relationship between the two characters is nice. They never seem to be overly comfortable with one another, but it is portrayed as a real high school type relationship. In high school, we all found that our friendships and relationship were so deep, but they really weren't. This is a pretty true testament to that, which is a relief compared to other YA books that place so much emphasis on a new relationship that will be happily ever after or a best friend that you have had all of your life. The plot was believable and you are rooting for the comic to take off and Fanboy to get famous. However, this is realistic and you can only imagine what happens.

Overall, I would recommend this to older middle school and high school students, especially those that are interested in comics. There are a lot of comic references that I got a kick out of because I was so familiar with them. Perhaps Neil Gaiman should get a cut of the profits because his name appears in the novel so often. What can we ladies say, he's a favorite!