Book Review: Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress

This is a book that was actually published back in 2007, but my brother found it at one of the Half-Price books we frequent, and it looked amusing, so I decided to get it.

Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress, by Shelly Mazzanoble, basically documents a "normal girls" introduction to playing Dungeons and Dragons, and some of the perceived stereotypes surrounding the game and genre as a whole.

Frankly, I suspect the only reason she was introduced to the game and started playing at all is because she works for Wizards of the Coast, but that's neither here nor there.

This books is a very interesting read, and highly amusing - she has her character essentially making diary entries after some of their adventures. I found some of the perceptions of both herself and her friends regarding DnD to be interesting, as I never encountered them.

Then again, I was already on the inside, having been introduced to DnD by my older brother when I was... Seven? Eight? Something like that. We grew up in a neighborhood with mostly old people, so there weren't really any other kids for us to play with. The group consisted of myself, my brother, and a few of our friends from school, only one of which lived close enough to allow for our parents having no trouble with our walking over to their house. So, we played at home, with the one kid being allowed by his folks to walk to our place (or bike, either way).

The whole take on many people outside the game's opinion about what they think they know about DnD (and how off they are!) came as a surprise. I wasn't really aware of some of the ideas of what some people think it means to play DnD.

Shelly Mazzanoble presents both the stereotypes and a look into the concept of playing DnD in a humorous, jazzed up way, and I think anybody who is interested in DnD, or would maybe like to get their girl friend (or boy friend!) playing, you should probably pick up this book. Not only does she gloss over some of the campaigns her group was in, she also goes over some of the terminology and etiquette of the game, along with some safety concerns (dice + cat/baby = bad), and for a newb, that's all to the good.

I did, however, have one problem with it, but in the face of everything, it's most likely a minor quibble. Ms. Mazzanoble is a fashionista. That is, she's into fashion, and she likes shopping, especially for clothing. I am most decidedly not, though I will admit that I like shopping, to a degree. Consequentially, there were some things mentioned in her monologue that I didn't understand, and still don't completely. To me, Jimmy Choo sounds like a sandwich shop. Apparently, it's a brand of shoes.

Quibble aside, I found the book to be amusing, and think I might try making myself a dice bag out of lace, just so I can try tricking the guys into thinking I'd accidentally brought my hand washing instead of my dice bag. ^^