Shavian reviewed The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Very enjoyable memoir about the addictive appeal of Dungeons and Dragons, the fantastically complicated war-game "played by millions of boys and two girls around the world." I laughed out loud in several places as Barrowcliffe describes his lonely, hopelessly geeky adolescence. His life reaches an absolute nadir when his friends ban him from their games because he is even too nerdy for them!
Unfortunately, Barrowcliffe strains for pathos and over-does the shame and self-loathing act. What's so horribly disgraceful about role-playing games anyway? Donning a wizard's cloak and twirling a 12-sided die may be silly, but is it really any sillier than, say, bouncing a rubber ball up and down and putting it through a hoop?
Unfortunately, Barrowcliffe strains for pathos and over-does the shame and self-loathing act. What's so horribly disgraceful about role-playing games anyway? Donning a wizard's cloak and twirling a 12-sided die may be silly, but is it really any sillier than, say, bouncing a rubber ball up and down and putting it through a hoop?
