Review by Karl Verhoven

There’s a cheerful enough start to My Riot as Valerie Simmons gushes at the only job interview she’s ever had. At seventeen she wants to be a ballet dancer, and during the first practice session seen Rick Spears underlines just how difficult that is, the sacrifices required, and the horrific advice given to accelerate the process. “I would never encourage anyone to start smoking”, her teacher hypocritically notes, “but it is an effective appetite suppressant”, which might help her drop to the maximum weight a male dancer will lift. It’s no help that her successful interview is at the ice cream parlour.

Yet, all that is just distraction in this coming of age story. There’s a problem in the neighbourhood that sets off days of rioting. Val is only peripherally affected on the first day, but on the second she’s more directly involved, and it changes her life, making her consider the wider world and what she wants from it. Turns out, that’s being in a band.

Emmett Helen illustrates this loosely, good with movement and the rush of energy involved with someone finding a focus and embracing life, but it’s all supplied in strangely pale colours. These could be seen as allegorical, representing Val not yet completely blossoming, but that doesn’t appear the intention as they remain pale until the end.

There are also aspects of Spears’ storytelling that might seem allegorical, but the likelihood is the upper end of the young adult readership at whom this is aimed are going to want greater focus and a cohesive flow of events. Instead My Riot jumps around echoing the mistakes Val makes in finding herself, introducing issues such as bulimia, but never developing them, and the overall messianic progress is too rapid. Satisfying moments include Val standing up to someone who needs told the realities of life, and the way the experience is transformed into song lyrics, but on other occasions unrealistic and imposing expectation aren’t addressed. The aspirational messages about being what you want to be and following your dreams are right, but the medium leaves a little to be desired.