Deadstream / Mar Romasco-Moore / Book Review

DEADSTREAM

Teresa doesn't leave the house much these days. Not since the accident. It's safer inside, where she can be in control. It's safer inside, where she doesn't have to let anyone get to close. Her closest friends now are those she's met online, those she's connected to via streaming, gaming, and online content-making. It's just safer that way.

But one night, the safe bubble Teresa has built around herself bursts. While watching one of her favorite creators stream, she sees something she shouldn't, something she can't: a shadowy figure, looming just behind him. A shadowy figure that appears just before he dies, live on stream in front of thousands of viewers.

Before she realizes what she's witnessed, Teresa has clipped this moment and posted it to her own channel. Suddenly, she finds her inbox flooded with notifications, and those notifications only grow as other streamers start going down, live on camera. One message comes through, loud and clear: "Open the door." And Teresa might have opened that door already...

THOUGHTS

I loved this book in all kinds of ways that I definitely wasn't prepared for! This book takes risks in the formatting, and those risks pay off to make the online, instantly-connected nature of this plot feel so alive, so encompassing with a chatter of online voices chiming in constantly in the background. This book embraces internet culture in a way that I haven't seen before, in a way I don't think books written for the adult market would dare. And it worked so, so well.

PROS

Experimental Format	This book experiments with format in a way adult lit wouldn't have the guts to, and I loved it! Do I think it always worked? I mean, not necessarily. But it was novel. It felt like doomscrolling, capturing that feeling of being online and stuck in a loop. It felt like being live before an audience of anonymous profile pictures, and I really liked it.
Livestream Life	There are some aspects of everyday life in this internet age that literature just hasn't touched much yet, and livestreaming is definitely one. Literature has barely caught up to podcasts, after all. But this book, this author, definitely knows what its like to watch streams, to stream hop, and to exist alongside this aspect of contemporary culture. This is a book written almost as a love letter to this form of electronic content, bringing it to life in a way that encapsulates actually watching streams (and, you know, not just a nod toward e-sports and more "mainstream" internet content). Streaming isn't new, and it isn't going away anytime soon, so it's nice to see it captured so well in this book.
Mental Health Awareness	I really liked, too, that this is a character struggling with her mental health. And I mean struggling consistently, all throughout the book. A lot of YA books either 1) are written specifically about mental health (i.e. mental health is the plot) or 2) give a character some mental health problem at the beginning and then promptly forget about it as the plot goes on. This isn't a plot about mental health, but Teresa is struggling, and she is struggling consistently. It is important to her character, to the way she interacts with the world and the choices she makes as the plot unfolds. And I liked the conversation this book had around hobbies like streaming, i.e. "young people" hobbies, that just don't click with older adults, health care providers and therapists included. Advice and concern just doesn't quite match up because those adults giving that advice don't really know where they're coming from, what they're talking about. And that just adds to Teresa's struggle.

CONS

Livestream isn't new, and it isn't going anywhere. But not all of this book felt up-to-date. Specifically, there are some Twitter references in the formatting of social posts and trending feeds (though Twitter isn't referenced by name) that feel a bit more... traditional Twitter. Like, 5-years-ago Twitter. Sadly not the Twitter of today. And I think the more this book ages, the more outdated it will feel. Not that I necessarily hate that, though. That's just the thing about, well, the passage of time.	Outdated Already
I was more than happy to just follow along with this plot most of the time, but boy if there weren't some times she should have, you know, just called the police. Not doing so was the right decision, but... why didn't she? She didn't have any active reservations, for the most part, when it came to calling for help, so I'm not sure why she jumped to other solutions first. It felt a little strange (or, you know, plot necessary). Something to note (though it didn't detract from my reading experience. Much).	Call For Help!
The ultimate revelation, the what and how and why of this plot, was a bit of a letdown for me, personally. I think I just wanted something a little bit more. Don't get me wrong. I didn't hate it. I liked the message, even, working in the background behind this revelation. I just, I don't know, wanted something more than we got.	Revelation Letdown

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
9/10

Fans of Diana Urban's These Deadly Games will like following along with this hardcore gamer girl. Those who loved Kelsea Yu's It's Only a Game will like bringing this gaming energy to the all-too-real world.

Details Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers Date: April 1, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.