Svetlana is a sort of indie-hipster chick and Lesh is a metal-head. What really kept me interested with Lesh was that he reminded me so much of one of my old friends from high school. I even dreamed about him after reading for a couple hours before bed. Weird.
Lesh is so enamored by Svetlana, that he takes it upon himself to create a character in an MMO(RPG?) that has her name and her silvery-blonde hair. That in itself isn't all that creepy. But he becomes very obsessed with this character and loves getting to be her. That's slightly creepy.
The chapters alternate between Lesh, Svetlana, and game Svvetlana. I was slightly confused at first by the chapters that involved Svvetlana. I kept waiting and waiting for there to be some deeper hidden meaning behind them.
Sadly, there really wasn't. In the end, it was just building up to a creepy guy in the game happening to live close by and find the actual Svetlana. Eh. I don't know about all that. It seemed too convenient to keep me locked inside the story. First off, no one uses their actual name in an online game. Everybody knows that. For that very reason. So if Stebbins is such a hard gamer, why on Earth would it ever occur to him that that was Svet's actual name? Or that it was really a girl? No gamer assumes that the player is a girl. I've played such games and most everyone is skeptical of whether they are actually talking to a female or not because dudes do it ALL THE TIME.
Lesh is a walking stereotype. He listens to metal. He listens to metal at absolutely every possible moment. He wears all black and is secretly sensitive. His hair is even black for crying out loud. Not all metal-heads or goths or whatever you want to call them are like that. I'd like to consider myself normal-looking. Jeans and a t-shirt all the way. But, BUT, I listen to some pretty heavy stuff myself. Am I a walking stereotype? No. I don't have black hair, I like the color pink, and Disney movies are just the bees knees. The friend Lesh reminded me of? No black hair, no all black clothes, no headphones in all the time.
Lana. Oh Lana. She is a super anti-social little lassie. Who has an activity wheel on their door? Who actually expects their parents to listen to it? I suppose we wouldn't have a YA novel without the absence, or hatred of parents somewhere but still. For being as rich as they are, her parents are not snobs. They are not mean or spiteful. They just want Lana to go to a soccer game or two with them. It wouldn't kill ya Svet-y.
She's incredibly hateful towards Fry. He does have some anger problems, I agree, but come on now. She is nothing but rude towards him. Perhaps if she had told him A LONG TIME AGO that she didn't like him in a romantic way he would have backed off A LONG TIME AGO. But no. She acts like he's vermin and she needs to be saved from him.
"He was never nice to me,” I insist. “That’s not being nice.”
“Sort of it is,” Hen says. “He talks to you and smiles at you. That’s something.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s lecherousness.”
What the hell girl?
I liked Lesh more than Lana. Their friendship was sweet, don't get me wrong. But their romantic relationship came out of nowhere and hit us like a freight train. He walks to her house and then all of a sudden they are kissing? But where was the amazing, romantic confession? I need it!
I really, really wanted to like this book. So badly. I thought, hey cool a book about gamers. But it could have been so much longer and had so much more to it. The conflict with Fry could have been solved but instead there is a huge hole in my brain waiting to be filled. I could go on and on I think but I will refrain and stop here.
My rating:
2.5 our of 5
