Oliver Moss (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
olivermoss) wrote2025-06-19 10:10 pm
olivermoss) wrote2025-06-19 10:10 pm
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I've finished Game Changers by Rachel Reid. No, not just the book called Game Changer, tho whole series which is called Game Changers. Getting through the whole series that fast is fine, probably. Anyway, tl:dr whole series review is that the books are of very uneven quality. Some people say to skip book 1, and I can see that. It's a bit more fluffy than some of the other books and some of her later writing is much better. But to me book 4 is just confusingly bad, and that can be skipped easily. The Ilya and Shane books (2 and 6) are fantastic and I also really, really liked 3 and 5.
One thing the writer really excels at is having a distinct feel to her characters. For example, most of them have reasons to be anxious with all the pressures they face, but that manifests in different ways in each character. How it feels to them, if they try to ignore it, how they handle it, etc.
The TV series will be based on book 2, Heated Rivalry, which is about Shane and Ilya. But book 6, Long Game, continues to story of Shane and Ilya and is excellent. It also wraps up the series very well, even though it wasn't the intended ending. The author has scrapped book 7 because it wasn't working, but honestly 6 feels like a great series finale. Maybe 1 or 2 scenes more would have been ideal, but the book pays off a lot of stuff and feels satisfying.
The quality of the writing varies a lot over the series, and also each book has a different dynamic. I am very glad I read it, but I think for anyone reading this series there are going to be books that don't click with as much.
Anyway, the individual books.
Book 1 - Game Changer: When I saw the blurb I was like 'oh, it's this book'. I remember this creating a splash when it came out. In spaces I was in, people were pushing this book hard. No matter what you asked for, people rushed in with this recc. There was a point where I really wanted people to shut up about this book. But, that probably says more about the spaces I was in than the book or the fandom.
It's the coffee shop AU trope, but as original fiction. Some good character work and set up, but overall a bit too syrupy for me. And towards the end it gets a bit floaty. Which is fine. I don't know if I would have liked this book in isolation. Someone commented to me about the first book being skippable if you know the twist already, and have since seen that skipping this first book is at least a somewhat popular take.
Book 2 - I already talked about Heated Rivalry here
Book 3 - Tough Guy: This was very interesting as it dipped into the darker side of hockey as a business and also the impact of hockey injuries. About halfway through I realized that I had seen discourse about this series that started off so fluffy touching on these subjects. It's well done, though. I liked that even in the ending the book stayed grounded in reality and didn't suddenly have Ryan get the kind of defense position he's always wanted. Leaving was the best choice for him. With the LI, Fabian, the book also got into the downsides of hockey culture as well.
Ryan's an enforcer, the type of player who gets into fights to make sure blows hit him and not the star players. (Like from that one episode of Leverage!) Fabian is a highly femme musician from a hockey mad family that doesn't value him or his accomplishments. Over all, I liked the writing, the set up and the pairing. In particular I like how grounded it is. It could have been a bit more fleshed out towards the end.
Book 4 - Common Goal: This is about a retiring goalie and a much younger character who is a friend of the couple from the first book. I liked that she brought in some more hockey in this book, we see who he is as a player and how that is a reflection of who he is. He was a little bland. The LI from the book is her one major character where the characterization just seemed to be a mess for me, especially going from crushing on Kip for years to crushing on the MC. The sex scenes in this didn't work for me. The characters stay in a holding pattern with each other for most of the book, but it comes off as repetitive and rather than giving tension. Also, they stay broken up until there are like 5 paragraphs left before the time-jump epilogue. Within 2 pages they are together and buying the bar and also traveling the world.
In the short epilogue it's mentioned that the journey from where they were in the book to becoming an actual couple was a long and strange one and I was like... really, wow... the thing you just leap-frogged over.
Book 5 - Role Model: This book is about someone who was caught up in the toxic side of hockey culture. Again, bringing in some real stuff. The MC starts out spiraling because his best friend was accused of sexual assault and he has reason to believe the women. His life had just collapsed in a dozen ways. He gets traded and his new team has an openly gay social media manager who is lively, sweet and loves to bake. I really liked this one and how things developed between them.
Sidenote: I think it's fine to just read the Shane and Ilya books, but Role Model does leads into the last book in some interesting ways. A chunk of both books overlap timewise and the MC from this book is on Ilya's team. I really enjoying getting the additional perspective on things.
Book 6 - Long Game - Time to see how Shane and Ilya are doing. Shane and Ilya are such great characters. They are really in a different and have been stuck watching other couples come out and able to love openly and get married and by truthful to their friends. Lots of amazing call backs to the first book and building on things that happened in it.
One of the problems that boys are having is that having to be super disciplined and be rewarded for it is how Shane operates, so all the hiding and not showing his emotions leading to explosive reunion sex kinda works for him. The whole situation is hitting him a lot differently than how it's hitting Ilya.
The author did a great job of having them being an established couple and still figuring stuff out. There was no BS reset on their relationship or anything. Ilya goes through a lot in the book and it's really well handled.
My main review of the book is above, pretty much. It's a very solid ending to the series, which is surprising because the author tends to rush endings overall. If I could magically add in one more scene, I like how Shane thinks he's got being gay figured out, but then realizes he knows nothing of the larger queer community and is not used to being around, for example, very femme men like Fabian. He's not a jerk about it, but he realizes he's got stuff to process and decides to find ways to be at least a little more exposed to the community. I don't think it's unresolved in the book, but I'd have liked to have seen more of that thread.
One thing the writer really excels at is having a distinct feel to her characters. For example, most of them have reasons to be anxious with all the pressures they face, but that manifests in different ways in each character. How it feels to them, if they try to ignore it, how they handle it, etc.
The TV series will be based on book 2, Heated Rivalry, which is about Shane and Ilya. But book 6, Long Game, continues to story of Shane and Ilya and is excellent. It also wraps up the series very well, even though it wasn't the intended ending. The author has scrapped book 7 because it wasn't working, but honestly 6 feels like a great series finale. Maybe 1 or 2 scenes more would have been ideal, but the book pays off a lot of stuff and feels satisfying.
The quality of the writing varies a lot over the series, and also each book has a different dynamic. I am very glad I read it, but I think for anyone reading this series there are going to be books that don't click with as much.
Anyway, the individual books.
Book 1 - Game Changer: When I saw the blurb I was like 'oh, it's this book'. I remember this creating a splash when it came out. In spaces I was in, people were pushing this book hard. No matter what you asked for, people rushed in with this recc. There was a point where I really wanted people to shut up about this book. But, that probably says more about the spaces I was in than the book or the fandom.
It's the coffee shop AU trope, but as original fiction. Some good character work and set up, but overall a bit too syrupy for me. And towards the end it gets a bit floaty. Which is fine. I don't know if I would have liked this book in isolation. Someone commented to me about the first book being skippable if you know the twist already, and have since seen that skipping this first book is at least a somewhat popular take.
Book 2 - I already talked about Heated Rivalry here
Book 3 - Tough Guy: This was very interesting as it dipped into the darker side of hockey as a business and also the impact of hockey injuries. About halfway through I realized that I had seen discourse about this series that started off so fluffy touching on these subjects. It's well done, though. I liked that even in the ending the book stayed grounded in reality and didn't suddenly have Ryan get the kind of defense position he's always wanted. Leaving was the best choice for him. With the LI, Fabian, the book also got into the downsides of hockey culture as well.
Ryan's an enforcer, the type of player who gets into fights to make sure blows hit him and not the star players. (Like from that one episode of Leverage!) Fabian is a highly femme musician from a hockey mad family that doesn't value him or his accomplishments. Over all, I liked the writing, the set up and the pairing. In particular I like how grounded it is. It could have been a bit more fleshed out towards the end.
Book 4 - Common Goal: This is about a retiring goalie and a much younger character who is a friend of the couple from the first book. I liked that she brought in some more hockey in this book, we see who he is as a player and how that is a reflection of who he is. He was a little bland. The LI from the book is her one major character where the characterization just seemed to be a mess for me, especially going from crushing on Kip for years to crushing on the MC. The sex scenes in this didn't work for me. The characters stay in a holding pattern with each other for most of the book, but it comes off as repetitive and rather than giving tension. Also, they stay broken up until there are like 5 paragraphs left before the time-jump epilogue. Within 2 pages they are together and buying the bar and also traveling the world.
In the short epilogue it's mentioned that the journey from where they were in the book to becoming an actual couple was a long and strange one and I was like... really, wow... the thing you just leap-frogged over.
Book 5 - Role Model: This book is about someone who was caught up in the toxic side of hockey culture. Again, bringing in some real stuff. The MC starts out spiraling because his best friend was accused of sexual assault and he has reason to believe the women. His life had just collapsed in a dozen ways. He gets traded and his new team has an openly gay social media manager who is lively, sweet and loves to bake. I really liked this one and how things developed between them.
Sidenote: I think it's fine to just read the Shane and Ilya books, but Role Model does leads into the last book in some interesting ways. A chunk of both books overlap timewise and the MC from this book is on Ilya's team. I really enjoying getting the additional perspective on things.
Book 6 - Long Game - Time to see how Shane and Ilya are doing. Shane and Ilya are such great characters. They are really in a different and have been stuck watching other couples come out and able to love openly and get married and by truthful to their friends. Lots of amazing call backs to the first book and building on things that happened in it.
One of the problems that boys are having is that having to be super disciplined and be rewarded for it is how Shane operates, so all the hiding and not showing his emotions leading to explosive reunion sex kinda works for him. The whole situation is hitting him a lot differently than how it's hitting Ilya.
The author did a great job of having them being an established couple and still figuring stuff out. There was no BS reset on their relationship or anything. Ilya goes through a lot in the book and it's really well handled.
My main review of the book is above, pretty much. It's a very solid ending to the series, which is surprising because the author tends to rush endings overall. If I could magically add in one more scene, I like how Shane thinks he's got being gay figured out, but then realizes he knows nothing of the larger queer community and is not used to being around, for example, very femme men like Fabian. He's not a jerk about it, but he realizes he's got stuff to process and decides to find ways to be at least a little more exposed to the community. I don't think it's unresolved in the book, but I'd have liked to have seen more of that thread.
no subject
A bit of a bummer about the variable quality, but appreciate the heads up should I ever get to this series!
Book 4 sounds frustrating to me. I really hate when stories gloss over something that... would have been a more interesting story. "What a weird, strange set of circumstances to lead us here!" "Okay... but... can we see any of those? No? Okay."
It's helpful to know that maybe some of the weaker entries are skippable, but also nice to know that some of the ones outside the couple from 2 and 6 are worthwhile, too!
no subject
I really like 3 and 5, even if 3 feels a bit rushed. The final book is amazing. I am locked into this fandom now, many years after it's initial heyday
no subject
I'm sure I heard of it around the time that Yuri on Ice was big. I did really like YoI, but the fandom was... well, it was what it was.
At the same time, it's kind of a compliment in a way that a book that was at the time SO well-liked and hyped now isn't even considered the best of the series. I'll have to give the series a try.
Hopefully the show causes a resurgence for the fandom!
no subject
I hope you do get around to it, especially with the show coming up. I have hopes that the fandom bounces back and that that show goes 2 seasons. If it gets renewed, sounds like they'll do the second Ilya and Shane book and end on that.
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This is interesting to me, because I also did not particularly like Book 4, but I'd put it down more to the combined set of tropes: not overly interested in May/December relationships, generally wearied by "let's practice-date, oh shit now there's feelings," rather than structural issues. This makes sense, though.
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