Title: The Manic Pixie Dream Boy Improvement Project
Author: Lenore Appelhans
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication Date: March 5, 2019
In TropeTown, everyone fits a certain character type, called away when an Author has need of them in their novels. Riley is a Manic Pixie Dream Boy, currently sentenced to therapy for speaking out in his latest novel. But this seems to be a trend with the other Manic Pixies, and now their trope is in trouble of being retired–permanently. In order to save their trope, they have to get to the bottom of TropeTown’s secrets; but it might be too late.
I received a copy of this for review from Net Galley and Lerner Publishing group, and I have to say, the title immediately grabbed my attention. The premise is also super fun; Applehans was very creative in showing how these characters and tropes worked. Main characters get to stay in their novels forever, reliving the stories for the reader. Tropes are doomed to jump around until they find the one novel they want to settle in; for Riley, this never seems like an option. He wants the chance to be the star of the story.
The creativity of the story is also what makes the story a bit confusing. While the reader can figure most of the town rules out throughout the story, there are moments where it’s difficult to to follow the rules and why certain events happen. The ending itself is a bit ambiguous; which is fine, but I wanted a bit more explanation to get me a more satisfactory ending for Riley.
We also essentially got a novel that was made up of mostly background characters who are allowed to be the star of the story for once, which reminded me a bit of The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. I loved reading about the world that Appelhans created, and I think there’s a lot of potential to create more meta-fiction surrounding this idea. Do other tropes have such struggles?
All in all, this is a fun read that will make you think about the creation process behind a lot of your favorite books. Though the message gets a bit lost at the end, you’ll still want to read more about Riley and his fellow Manic Pixies.
3.5/5 stars