Losing Hit Points

by Kristopher Mielke, K.A. Mielke

Losing Hit Points is a nerdy queer romance book set against the backdrop of a tabletop Dungeons & Dragons game. A romantic story filled with goblins, adventure, and the healing power of admitting our mistakes.Equal parts touching and laugh-out-loud funny, trans teen Journey has the chance to play an epic game of Dungeons & Dragons. Surprise encounters are common in D&D but what they don’t expect is to reconnect with an ex-friend who they still love and have wronged in the past.K. A. Mielke's newest novel melds the fun of the popular fantasy role-playing game with a touching plot about admitting one's mistakes and making up for the past, while looking ahead towards a brighter future ― together.

Genres: Romance, LGBT, Young Adult, Queer, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, Fandom

192 pages, Paperback

Published February 13, 2024

Reviews

[K.A. Mielke]

I am the author of this book. The publishing gods smiled upon me and said, “Yes, Kristopher, you can write a book that is half about modern queer teens in love and half about goblins and wizard cats.” This is a hi/lo novel, meaning a novel for teen readers who might find more mainstream YA inaccessible due to the length or the vocabulary used. It was inspired by my few D&D misadventures and also my love of board game café menus. I think it turned out pretty well.

[Vanessa Ricci-Thode]

Delightful and heartwarming!

['Nathan Burgoine]

Okay, this was delightful, and I often talk about how writing YA is like time-travel for me—that I’m writing back in time to what my younger self would have loved to read. In this case, Kristopher Mielke did that for me, and they served up not only queer kids (re)connecting over D&D, but one of the singular most authentic “gaming is like this” vibes I’ve ever read.

All that to preface that I’m not sure I can pin down a singular favourite thing about this book, but loved all its moving parts: the “I know I’ve done wrong / But I’m still angry and embarrassed” spiral, the game narrative happening alongside the relationship(s), and even having to deal with the “Nathan”s of gaming (I’ll try not to take the naming personally, heh).

Ultimately, Journey and Rumour had me rooting for them pretty much from step one, and I appreciated how much emotional work they did/had to do to get there.

Also, if you’ve not played D&D in a while, prepare to have the itch to roll up a character.

[Jody Swannell]

I really enjoyed this book and you will too! I’m looking forward to reading more from this author in the future!

[Jen Desmarais]

So many thoughts, all of them positive!
First of all, I love the way the story flips between IRL and in-game. Very well done. *Takes notes*
Second, I would die for Ian. 11/10, would read an entire story about him.
Third, do all gaming groups have a "Nathan"? I'm glad this one pulled his head out of his ass.
On to the main characters. The communication!! 11/10!! All the miscommunication took place off-page in the past, and they worked through the issues about halfway through the book. Excellent pacing.
The game play was excellent and hilarious. I kept reading bits out to my husband. Amazing. I want to read the books that world was based on.

[Matt W]

I’ve never reviewed queer literature and this is the second book of the like I’ve read, but I loved it. Felt like a short story and was well rounded and engaging. I couldn’t get enough of every character and their depth, even the smallest one I wanted to know more about. The references were so good and immersive, like I was with friends and we were referring to pop culture irl. I’ve dmed two campaigns and played in two more so I know a bit about dnd, so the storytelling and dnd lingo was well appreciated and not too much.
Definitely a well deserved 5 star.

[Nat Burgess]

This was my first read for the Trans Rights Readathon, and it was such a great thing to kick off with!

Losing Hit Points takes place all in one night and features frequent cuts to the in-game world. I think the author did a great job with pacing and balance. It’s a fairly short book (under 200 pages), and you can easily read it in one afternoon, which makes it feel super cozy. It’s as if you’re experiencing the game in real time with the players.

Obviously, a love story that takes place over the course of one evening is gonna feel a little bit insta-lovey, but the fact that the characters have a history with each other negates that pretty well. And the book isn’t trying to be a slowburn or anything; it’s about two people who already love each other having the chance to work their shit out and come back into each other’s lives.

I definitely recommend this one to any queer d&d nerds, I think you’ll have a great time with it!

[Nerski]

This was a pretty good book. I liked some aspects of it a lot, in particular the format of having the entire thing take place over the course of a few hours, cutting back and forth between the characters in-game and the players themselves. Sprinkled along the real time dialogue are flashbacks from Journey's childhood playing with Rumour, and their guilt over how their relationship ended. The game itself ends in a fun cliffhanger that promises more adventures for these friends, even as the relationship ends on a new beginning for them.

That said, the characters themselves fell a bit short for me. There is some development for the two mains, working out their issues, but it's told rather than felt. You did this, and then I did this, and I felt this way about it. Some parts felt more like a summary than anything else, and I wish maybe the flashback format had been better utilized to give those scenes more depth.

And the side characters have some promise, but none of them ever show more than the 2D basic character they're described as in their intro. There was some promise here, and I liked the format and the idea of this book and got through it pretty quickly but by the end it felt a little lacking. I think this might have worked better as an indie movie, with the actors being able to bring the kind of emotion to screen in a way that just didn't work in this book for me.

That said, it's not a bad read. If you like queer stories and D&D you'll probably enjoy it.

[Lisa Para]

How much did I love this book? Let me count the ways:

1) Super cute overall. Just adorable.
2) So nerdy. Loved the coffee shop puns and chapter titles.
3) Great characters. Gwen with her knitting needles. Journey knowing what to say in their head but barfing out all the wrong things and being unable to stop themselves (relatable, much?). Ian being a realistic little brother who isn't super annoying. Nathan being the guy you love to hate.
4) The multiple levels of relationship repairing - in the game, between Journey and Rumour, and surprisingly between Journey and Ian.
5) The in-game plot was fun. I really want to play DnD now.

My only quibbles are (minor spoilers) that Journey and Rumour seemed to solve their differences a little too quickly/easily, and Nathan's turnaround kind of came out of left field.

Overall, a fun quick read if you like cozy romance like Legends and Lattes but with a nerdy modern twist.

[McKenzie Richardson]

For more bookish opinions, visit my blog: Craft-Cycle

A heartfelt story that is surprisingly cozy. I absolutely love the blending of fantasy and reality as we follow the characters in their D&D campaign and their personal lives in the real world.

Wonderfully written. I loved the characters.

This is some of the characters' first time playing D&D so there is a nice amount of explanation (without info dumping for those already familiar) for those who don't know much about D&D. Loved all the nerdy references throughout. The whole book was written in such an accessible way.

At the end is some information on the game session and the world Hamish created (I would totally read his book) as well as the players' character sheets, which were fun to look at.

A really sweet read with an immersive world and great character dynamics. Looking forward to reading more from Mielke.

[Karen Gedeon]

Losing Hit Points written by Kristopher Mielke – This evening, ex best friends Journey and Rumour, find themselves at the same table playing D&D together. From the time their characters are introduced through the playing of the game the two play a delicate dance of being mad at each other yet missing each other dearly. Since they both attend the same school they have witnessed each other’s gender identity changes from a distance yet remain attracted to each other. This short low level read packs a punch telling two stories: that of Journey and Rumour and that of the D&D quest the table mates are playing. End matter includes character sheets and DM notes for the game. This will quickly become a favorite of teens looking for an LGBTQIA romance or who are into D&D.

[Zombie_Phreak]

This book just tried waaaay too hard to show it was about nerd culture.

Every other page you had references to nerd culture. It was mentioning video game titles, book references, comic books, board games, fantasy settings. Over and over and over and over and over…

At one point I literally said out loud, “I get it, they’re super into geek culture, can we get on with the story already?!?!”

The story was cute, it was silly, the characters were likable and it was a quick read. But it went way too hard on trying to prove its characters were nerdy.

2 Stars

[Tinny]

Losing Hit Points fits the definition of short and sweet to a tee. Dorkish, corny, nerdy - whatever you'd like to call it - in a most charming way.

It is a shorter book, just under 300 pages. It is because of this, I think, that the pacing felt too hasty for my taste. While I liked the characters, there wasn't time to come to love them. I also found that the relationships developed quickly, which felt forced but not contrived, like this series of events would have always played out but was sped up.

Despite my critique, I still really enjoyed this. The awkwardness of the characters when they interacted made the scene feel more human, in such a way where I could imagine this all happening somewhere in the world. I am in no way in touch with nerd culture, but I found myself unable to put the book down. As always with Mielke's work.

[Karen]

I'm not really the audience for this. It was sweet but felt more like a short story than a book. Everything was resolved in the course of one evening. I wasn't interested in the storyline within the D&D game, and found it a little hard to follow since I had to remember which person played which character.

[Mara K.]

i found it a little unrealistic for the two friends to meet, talk, and them being friends again. books need to start being a little more realistic, forgiveness pretty much ALWAYS takes longer than one conversation, and thats just forgiveness, let alone friendship.
well written though, and i liked going into their dnd world.

[Hiccup]

Absolutely delightful story - the D&D and the romance. I love that this is set in Guelph Ontario. Everything is about Toronto it’s nice to see more of the rest of the province featured in stories. Especially queer nerdy stuff like this hehe

[Daryl Ball]

Such a great story of the importance of communication as two former best friends find themselves one night taking part in the same tabletop RPG gaming session. Working through challenges in the game and trying to get back what they once had makes for a wonderfully told story.

[Lea-anne Cunningham]

An adorable tale of love and lost friendship that might get rekindled. Heart warming and perfectly nerdy.

[Elizabeth DeMars]

This was a cute little read and loved it!

[T✭]

This book is in first person which I do not tend to enjoy, depsite that I decided to stick it out since the book is quite short. It’s a sweet book overall if a little fast-paced.

[Kirsten]

Very nerdy. Very queer. Very DnD. Very short. Cute.

[Beth]

A good one shot for nerds and lgbtq. quick read with lots of pop culture references.

[Dani Nelson]

A cute, quick, easy read. I really liked the characters and seeing their progression through the story.

[Ecsk2030]

Cute and nice ending but no plot

[Natalie]

this book was really cute. I wasn't hooked at the start but by the end I was wishing there was more. Obvious work and research done by the author <3 also love the character sheets at the back, suuuuper cute and i loved the personality that shone through in them