What If You Really Got Into a Good Book? Anna Day's THE FANDOM

In Anna Day's THE FANDOM, the characters are obsessed with a novel by Sally King titled The Gallows Dance, which has a huge following. The novel has been developed into a movie, and the characters are included in Comic-Con.

Violet and her best friends, Alice and Katie, have their costumes and are extremely excited about attending Comic-Con.  Violet’s younger brother, Nate, is also a big fan and goes along with them. Alice is a fan-fic writer who likes changing the plot of The Gallows Dance, because no sequel has been written: Sally King has killed herself.

The one main event they all see as a "must attend" at Comic-Con is a meeting the story’s main characters, Willow and Rose.  Rose is the heroine who saves the lower class of people called Imps. While meeting them, the room starts to collapse, leaving them all trapped inside. When they wake, they find themselves characters in the novel, as they notice how similar their surroundings are to the novel and the movie.

The world they have entered is not a friendly one. In fact, only Alice is mistaken as a member of the privileged class.

Now that they are part of the story, the story starts to change. They know every line of the movie by heart. Unfortunately, main character Rose dies accidentally, and Violet must take her place. Some events follow the original plot, while others go off course. Violet, as Rose, ends up falling for Ash, not Willow. In the movie, Ash loves Rose but he is just a minor character. But Violet finds Willow shallow and cowardly.

There is a precog named Baba who can see the past and into the future. Baba tells Violet she must let the story play out in order for the four of them to return home. But since the final scene has Rose being hung at the gallows, will the four make it back home?

Novels and movies often take on a life of their own. Many people immerse themselves into them, often unable to discern fact from fiction.  Have you ever wished to be a character in a novel or movie? The common theme of “watch what you wish for” is played out in this novel. THE FANDOM touches on friendship, family ties, trust, and loyalty. People sometimes have ulterior motives for their actions.

This young adult novel has many twists and turns and will keep you guessing until the very end.