The Fandom

Day’s debut novel blends the joy of falling in love and the stark terror of actually becoming part of a fictional world, with no idea how to return home. Seventeen-year-old Violet doesn’t simply love the Hunger Games–esque world of The Gallows Dance: she all but lives and breathes both the book and its film adaptation. After an accident at Comic-Con somehow transports Violet, her younger brother Nate, and two friends into the future dystopian London setting of The Gallows Dance, the story and characters diverge sharply from the canon she knows so well. As they attempt to find a way to return home with their innocence and imaginations intact, the lines of friendship, family, and love are pushed to their limits. Day hits the novel’s themes rather hard, particularly the idea of people not being who they appear on the surface, and the grim dystopian world of The Gallows Dance comes across as overfamiliar to the point of derivative. But readers will come away thinking about how realities (fictional and otherwise) can and cannot be changed, and the not-entirely-happy ending leaves the door open for future storytelling. Ages 14–up. (Apr.)