Love and Video Games

Gr 8 Up–A novel exploring chronic pain and first love in a mirror of a high stakes video game quest. Keegan is a white, gay 18-year-old gamer with chronic pain. He and three close online friends and teammates play the fictional mythology-inspired online video game Pantheonic. The team, including Keegan’s love interest Alix, who is a trans guy with light brown skin, has the rare opportunity to go to NYC to enter a game tournament. Keegan decides to take on the challenge, despite his fears around his unmanaged chronic pain, to enter and hopefully win the prize money. The mythology in the video game is well researched and diverse, and the book presents a wide representation of LGBTQIA+ identities, backgrounds, and abilities. The deft depiction of the video game as a reflection of the team’s real-life challenges, as well as their safe space and escape, will be relatable to gamers. Readers, especially those who experience chronic illness or pain, may find the author’s use of Tension Myoneural Syndrome to explain Keegan’s pain to be problematic, as it implies pain to have a mind-over-body cure. There is nuance to this aspect of the text, and some readers may find learning about this non-Western approach to pain refreshing and hopeful.