Roll for Initiative by Jaime Formato

At the end of last year, my teenage son got heavily into Dungeons and Dragons, resulting in most of his Christmas presents being somehow related to dice. Despite my intense nerdiness when I was a teen myself, D&D is one of those things that somehow passed me by and so, to my shame, I’m still yet to ever play a game. Wanting to understand more of what it’s all about from an emotional point of view rather than simply a how-to-play guide, I took up an offer from author Jaime Formato to read her debut middle-grade book Roll for Initiative.

Roll for Initiative is a coming-of-age middle-grade story that follows twelve-year-old Riley Henderson. Riley has always lived very happily under the wing of her older brother Devin who has become the de facto adult in their lives given their mom’s busy job and somewhat scatterbrained nature. He’s driven Riley to school, done her laundry, and supervised her homework every day, but now Devin has moved all the way across the country for college and left Riley and their mom to fend for themselves. Even worse, Devin was Riley’s DM, so now she can’t even play D&D.

Although initially upset, as the weeks pass by, Riley starts to enjoy her new-found independence. She figures out how to ride the school bus and how to make her own food, makes new friends with some other D&D-loving girls at school, and even starts DMing her own campaigns - even if they don’t technically follow every rule. So when Devin unexpectedly comes back home following some problems at college, she is frustrated by his molly-coddling. If he can’t even figure out his own life then why should he get to control hers? There’s only one way for Riley to get her independence back: she needs to persuade Devin to return to California.

I absolutely loved this fast-paced story filled with its diverse cast of nerdy, arty and independent girls. Riley and her friends are relatable and believable too, reminding me of my own friends at that age, and also my son’s teenage friends today. Devin too is an interesting and relatable antagonist, the college student who has worked hard to get where he is only to find that now, among others who have done the same, those things that made him special now mean he’s average, causing him to struggle with what that knowledge does to his self-belief.

I learned a lot about playing D&D here but also what it means in the lives of those who play it, and how it can inspire creativity and independent thinking both in and out of the game. Far from being the devil-worshipping cult some folks would still have us believe, D&D is a game that forges friendships and is filled with fun, and after reading Roll for Initiative I now want to play even more!

Enjoyed this post? I’d love it if you subscribed or even thought about buying me a Ko-Fi.

Want to read Roll for Initiative? Please consider buying a copy using my Amazon Affiliates link to help support my writing. Thanks!