The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss (A Dahlia Moss Mystery)

by Max Wirestone

[Lianne]

I was approved an ARC of this book by the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2015/10/19/review-the-unfortunate-decisions-of-dahlia-moss/

Simply put, I loved this book: it was funny, it was intriguing, totally understood where Dahlia was coming from in her life.

Let’s start with the funny. I loved Dahlia’s little remarks and observations about the various people she meets over the course of this very strange case she’s been hired to complete, not to metion the nature of the case itself (seriously: to retrieve a item from an MMORPG?) and how she came to be recommended (I was as flummoxed as Dahlia–but don’t worry, everything is explained). I love all of her little comments and geek culture-examples and connections she makes along the way (especially the Pokeman ones, haha; and the Doctor Who comments; etc.). It’s great.

The mystery itself was very curious, as it starts off dealing with an MMORPG theft but then real life makes things a whole lot more grimmer and confusing. I love how Dahlia is determined to solve this case even as absurd as its beginnings were; it was also interesting how the Zoth MMORPG found its way into the story, bridging the online mystery with the real-life mystery. She and her endlessly strange friend/acquaintance/lodger Charice had some rather interesting ways of going about their detective work :)

Which brings me to Dahlia as a character. I absolutey loved and can totally relate to her from the employment situation to the geek culture stuff to trying to figure out people and the state of her social life. I was rooting for her to crack the case, to get a job (or establish herself as a detective, depending on how the case panned out), to gain some new friends, to get the guy–to be happy and better off than where she was at the start of the book.

I’m not sure if this review/entry is helpful in reflecting my thoughts on the book but suffice to say I really enjoyed reading The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss. I enjoyed all of the character interactions and how the secondary characters help Dahlia along in her case (even though most of them seem to fall into stereotypical roles; Charice comes to mind here, despite of her randomness and contrast to Dahlia). Gamers and geek culture enthusiasts and partakers will enjoy the references and how it adds to the story. Readers who love Veronica Mars and Ernest Clive’s Ready Player One looking for an interesting read will want to check this title out :)