This books is a whole ton of fun. I wasn't really sure what to expect from I'm a Gay Wizard given that it is a Wattpad book and I couldn't really remember the plot when I started reading it. This is the story of Johnny and his friend Alison, two young people who are kidnapped by an institute when it's revealed they can do magic. Their powers mean that they must now attend school at this institute, although the plot focuses more on the shadowy goings-on of this world. There is also a lot of teen romance and tons of representation in here (gay Latinx main character with a trans best friend).
One of this book's greatest strengths is its creativity. To be honest, I was kind of expecting a Harry Potter rip-off but this has nothing in common with that series at all. The institute is not a fun magical school but a place of imprisonment, and the bulk of the magic system focuses on the use of a dream world. The characters are also pretty good. Some of the side characters suffer from being a little one-dimensional but Johnny was very likeable and I was rooting for him.
Sadly, I could not make it all the way through this book. This is more down to my own personal tastes than any real criticism. This book introduces a LOT of new terms that exist in this magical world and I just couldn't keep track of any of them. At the halfway point I realised I wasn't following it very well and so I just skim-read the rest. I'm not a fan of fantasy books that have lots of new terms or really convoluted plots, and sadly this one was just a bit too much.
If you can read books with those elements though, then I'm a Gay Wizard could be a good book to check out. It is definitely Young Adult and some of the elements (especially at the start) betray its origins as a Wattpad book. There are a couple of high school cliches and other small details which maybe should have been ironed out in the editing process. Overall though, I was pleasantly surprised by this book and it definitely deserves kudos for having such creativity and representation in it.
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