Reviews

Two Can Play That Game by Leanne Yong

Only show reviews with written explanations

happyolive's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective

5.0

theritareads's review

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

TCPTG has everything you want in a YA romance. You’ve got two loveable eldest Asian characters; sibling love; avoiding the Asian Auntie Network; and a “who’s better” competition. You’ve got a classic “you’re a jerk” meet cute (not that Sam and Jay will admit that) and cheeky banter. And you’ve got Australia-Malaysian rep.

Put it all together and you get a great cross between Lillie Vale’s Beauty and the Besharam and Julian Winter’s Right Where I Left You. So, if you’re a fan of either of those, you’ll like this one.

As not a gamer, I enjoyed learning about the technical side of gaming (and escape rooms!) and the process of pitching games to developers. With so many stereotypes around what Asian kids are “allowed” to do, it was nice to read a book that celebrates that simply being Asian makes one Asian enough.

Also, can we take a moment to appreciate Sam as a demi character? The way Sam explains her confusion over romantic attraction, but also how her romantic attraction unfolds is so well done. Because demiromantic/sexual is not well understood (or as discussed as other identities), we really need more demi characters in books and TCPTG is a great example of why that representation matters and how to do it well.

TBH, I struggled writing this review. Partly because all I want to do is tell you how cute and fun this book is and that you should just trust me and read it! But also because there’s a lot about the Asian diasporic/child of immigrants experience that is beautifully captured in the book that is hard to put into words. So, hopefully I’ve done enough to convince you to pick it up!

ddrew16's review

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

molly_love's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I hadn't thought I would enjoy this book that much but I really loved that it wasn't exactly what I thought it would be and they way each thing that is happening is so well placed and written. It's a beautiful book to read and I read the whole thing in just a couple hours.

katts_bookworld's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

beautifulpaxielreads's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Two Can Play That Game (TCPTG) is a complex and deeply satisfying novel, covering many topics - among them family, friendship, culture, and of course, games (of many kinds!).

Sam Khoo is a promising young indie games developer fresh out of high school. She has dedicated the past year of her life to creating her passion project, Vinculum, which she hopes an indie games company will pick up and develop further for a public release.

Sam is desperate for exclusive tickets to a game design workshop which she believes will kickstart her career. Those hopes are dashed when Jaysen Chua (who Sam privately renames Jerky McJerkface) sneakily snatches the last one. Infuriated, Sam challenges him to a video game face-off with Jay's solen ticket as the ultimate prize - otherwise, she'll ensure the Asian Gossip Network is informed of his treachery.

But it isn't only Sam's gaming life under pressure. Although they love her deeply, Sam's parents don't really understand her passion, preferring her to take up her university scholarship and eventually enter into a more financially stable career in the corporate sphere. Sam is torn between being a good Asian daughter and pursuing her dream of game development. But are these two things mutually exclusive? And where do her developing feelings for Jaysen fit in?

As I said earlier, TCPTG has a lot going on, and at times I felt Leanne Yong tried to fit in too much. It did feel sometimes that readers were being told about how a character was feeling rather than being shown that.

But ultimately that did not detract from my enjoyment. The pacing is fast, the dialogue snappy and snarky, the characters true to life and realistically developed, and the complex intersections between culture, family, friendship and ambition were thoughtfully handled. You don't even have to know a lot about games and gaming culture, as it's all pretty well explained - Yong, who also designs escape rooms for a living, clearly knows her stuff.

An enlightening and highly enjoyable read.

Content Warnings