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The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: Review

The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Lexicon of Life Hacks for the Modern Lady Geek - Sam Maggs


The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks 

by

Sam Maggs

First off, I would like to say that I recieved this book through the giveaways here on BookLikes, from Quirk Books. I was estatic when this came in the mail. To be honest, I didn't know what it was at first because I didn't realize I had won the giveaway! I actually entered three giveaways for this book, one on goodreads and one on librarything as well. 

 

Rating: 

 

It is very rare for me to read a non-fiction book. Honestly, they usually bore me, but not The Fangirl's Guide. I was throughly entertained the entire time. I'll be breaking this review into the six parts the book is broken up into to (excluding the acknowledgements). 

 

Part I : Introductions

 

It starts off with "A Field Guide to the Geek Girl." This section lists a lot of the major fandoms associated with a fangirl. If you're on tumblr, you've seen all of these. There's Potterheads, Unsullied, Batgirls and many more; but my two favorites: SuperWhoLockians and YA Book Nerds. For SuperWhoLockians it lists the 'defining characteristics' as:

  • 1) An extreme desire for m/m ships to be cannon (Check)
  • 2) A love/hate relationship with the showrunners (Check)
  • 3) Extreme Crushes on Every Cast Member (Check).

 

That's me. That's totally me. And for YA Book Nerds:

  • 1) A love for starcrossed couples, especially in trilogy form (Check)
  • 2) Chronic post-book feeling hangovers (Check)
  • 3) Ability to walk and read a book at the same time (Check).

 

This section literally describes me. I regret nothing. 

 

The next section, my second favorite, is titled "Real Talk: How do I Fangirl-Speak?" It desribes typical fangirl terms such as feels, glomp, OTP, and many more. Even though I know all the words, it's very fun to read. The next three sections gloss over how to convert your friends (hehehe), how to meet fellow fangirls (very usefull suggestions!), and how to bring fangirlness into your life. 

 

Part II: [Fandom Intensifies]: Geek Girls Online

 

The first part of this section is: "The Seven Kingdoms of the Internet." It describes the 'kingdoms' of Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, and Fourms/BBS. It describes a basic breakdown of each of the sites. 

 

My favorite part of this section? "All the Feels: Ten Tips for Writing Terrific Fanfiction." It provides some very great advice that I might even use like 'Write, Write, Write!" and "Feel No Shame." Then, there's a glossary of fanfic-speak which is really cool. Some of the words I didn't even know! There's also a generator at the end of that to help you create some awesome fiction! 

 

At the end of this part there's a single page of text. However, I believe this is one of the most important pages in the entire book. It's titled "Wheaton's Law: Don't Be a Dick." As the title says, basically don't be a dick in your fandom. This is something I see far too often and it really gets on my nerves. You have your ships, I have mine. Can't we just coexist? I think every fangirl needs to read this page. 

 

Part III: Geronimo! How to Survive Conventions

 

Let me tell you, I wish I had read this section before I attended Gallifrey One earlier this year in February. This section is pretty much an essential thing to read before going to any convention! First, there's a list of major conventions that take place across the world! Then, it tells you how to get ready for said conventions. You'll really want to read this section. 

 

My favorite parts of this part? The Invetory list and the Do's and Don'ts. The Invetory list is basically everything that I brought to Gallifey One and if you're going to a Con, you'll need this stuff too. The Do's and Don'ts are so real. 'Do seat hop' yep, I did this. 'do set a budget' yup. I set one for $100 and I didn't go over. 'Don't cut in line' not very nice. Most people get in line for hours so don't do that. 

 

Part IV: Aim to Misbehave: Geek Girl Feminism 

 

This part really spoke to me and I think that it was really nice. To cut the review short, cause It's really long already, I'll just talk about my favorite part of this one: 'Kick Ass Female Characters You Need to Know.' Hell yes. I actually didn't know most of these! I'll have to look into them someday! I fangirled when I saw Zoe's (from Firefly) and Hawkeye's (from Fullmetal Alchemist) names. They're so kickass female characters. 

 

So! That's been my review! I hope you stuck with me until the end! Thanks for reading this and go pick yourself up a copy of this book! You won't be disappointed, I'm sure! 
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