In a world of superheroes dominated by the male gender, it is easy to forget that there are several female superheroes for us to look up to. It is also easy to overlook that these heroines face one or several different types of mental or physical obstacles that we face everyday.

In Andrea Towers first published book, Geek Girls Don’t Cry, she breaks down several different female heroines by their struggles and how they work to overcome them. She discusses fictional female characters ranging from Keyleth, a half elf druid from campaign one of Critical Role, to several women within the Marvel universe and so many more. She really works to break down the struggles of the characters, discussing things from their emotional or physical abuse to struggling to live with addiction or PTSD and other mental illnesses.

Each chapter focuses on a specific heroine, breaking down her struggles and giving a brief history of her involvement in the overall story. Towers then focuses on how they work to overcome these issues. The chapters also include additional information from professionals who discuss the real world mental health issues these characters face. The same issues many of us face as well.

Geek Girls Don’t Cry does an amazing job of helping to remind us that these women, regardless of their powers, face the same struggles we deal with everyday. It also includes helpful information on how we can deal with these same issues.

The chapters are broken down into five sections, focusing on an overarching theme. These sections are overcoming trauma, grief, adversity, depression and isolation. In between each section, Towers interviews the woman responsible for bringing our favorite characters to life and how they used their own experiences to bring a more life like feel to them.

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I am torn to say which chapters in Geek Girls Don’t Cry are my favorite or the ones that I connect with the most, because overall the book really helps to let you see yourself in almost all of them. However if I had to choose, the chapter I Am Proud of Who I Became would be my favorite.

Towers discusses the struggle Barbara Gordon, Batgirl, faces after being shot by the Joker and forced to the sidelines. She does not let this stop her and and the comic even takes time to show us how she seeks help from a professional and accepts her new role as Oracle. It was this exact story line that made Barbara Gordon my favorite heroine. Being able to see the internal struggles and how like so many of us, she is still just human, helped me connect with her and understand her.

If you haven’t pre ordered the book, rush out and get it right away! This is one you can reread over and over again and still learn something new. Take it from me, it was my salvation these last couple months while I was struggling with the insane amount of school work on my plate.

The book never feels overly technical and is easy to read and understand but also feels like I am learning more and more everyday. You also do not have to read the book from beginning to end (though I highly recommend it for the first reading) but instead find and read the chapters that call to you the most. Every one of them has something for us to really connect with and gives us a new look at the heroines we look up to.

Geek Girl’s Don’t Cry is available everywhere starting tomorrow, April 2, 2019.

Geek Girls Don't Cry Cover

This was originally published 4/1/19

Julia Roth
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