4.5 ★
With themes that feel both far from reality and very close to home, Moderation takes the reader through expansive world of Playground, a virtual reality experience treading the lines between gaming, therapy and an alternate reality, where one can explore a world they may never in real life. Girlie is offered a promotion to be a moderator in Playground, from here we see her come to terms with her own bounds while her suspicions lead her to the mysterious truth of Playground.

‘She was in short, the ideal employee. There was no better proof of her wellness, indeed her resiliency, than the fact that she was still there.’

Moderation has a little bit of everything to make it a great book: apathetic lead with a complex emotional infrastructure, likeable and over-worked love interest slash boss and virtual reality as utopian escapism and/or nightmare subplot. The unsettling themes throughout this book made me skeptical there was romance at all, which was something I enjoyed. Even though William has many hearthrob qualities and there are classic rom-com scenes that feel plucked out of a movie (literal knight-in-shining-armour, awkward family gatherings etc.) this isn’t your typical romance book love story, and even with the satire and sarcasm it is neither a rom-com. This book is a character study and conversation about opening up ourselves amidst the terrible acts of violence we are witness/subject to in online spaces, more so for those who moderate it. Girlie herself solidifies the dark tone of this book: an emotional detachment juxtaposed with the horrifying reality of moderation. As she discovers the truth behind Playground and develops mutual interest in William, the reader sees her finally choose herself.

‘She was tired of national heroes, tired of sob stories and triumphs, tired of firing squads and martial victories, tired of streets named after people who died badly, streets named after people who killed well.’

The idea of Playground is not something that is far from our own reality, however the inclusion of the tech suits and the super powered virtual reality experience where you can learn to swim, touch, taste and feel amps up the speculative power of this book. The true star was in Castillo’s writing and the strength of Girlie as a deeply complex, opinionated and considerate, real person. There are brilliantly written passages that tackle uncomfortable issues with both precision and humour, reflecting the age we are living in. Pick up this book if you’re a fan of Black Mirror, Severance and Modern Love.

Moderation is such an important read and super funny. I feel like everyone who reads this will be able to connect in some way, especially in today's society. I actually think this book would appeal to anyone.

A funny, insightful, intelligent book with a gripping central romance spanning tech, video games and our modern era of extreme online content that is still moderated by real people. I really connected to the main character Girlie who is written with such warmth and depth.

Elaine Castillo’s latest book is particularly pertinent in view of the new Online Safety Act here in the UK. ‘Moderation’ gives us an intriguing insight into big tech, online content moderation and virtual reality. It's a wild ride of a read!

Really interesting, enjoyable read. The setting/context was unusual and I love a peek into another world. This one was "moderation". I've never really thought about it before, but found it really interesting. It created some thoughtful consequences.

I also loved the main character, "Girlie" who was delightfully spiky and cynical. She kept the storyline unpredictable and real. And while the story was focused on big tech start ups, there were also really human elements - family, obligation, generational guilt, sisterhood - which created great layers and depth.

Girlie works at a social-media moderation centre, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She's really good at it, but you wonder at what cost to her personal life. Suddenly her company offers her a big pay rise to start moderating its new venture: virtual-reality theme parks which ups the ante of her role.

Im not sure the plot was as dark as its made out to be, but for me it didnt matter, as I felt sucked into the real story which is Girlie's growth to find herself.

This book is so unique and has put absolutely anything Elaine Castillo does next on my auto-buy list. The premise is fascinating, and I felt like I read half the book with my fingers over my eyes but in the best way possible. Girlie is hilarious and just so poignantly human, and observing her relationship with her family was a treat.

This book was definitely…something. The opening was hooking and grabbed me from the very start yet I didn’t feel this momentum was consistent the whole way through.

I loved this book so so much and the love story really crept up on me. A wonderfully well written exploration of identity, technology and ethics.

Moderation is sharp, urgent, and exactly the kind of book that makes you want to underline entire pages. Elaine Castillo has such a commanding voice — clear-eyed, incisive, and unafraid to challenge the way we think about culture, storytelling, and who gets to speak with authority.

This collection felt like a conversation I didn’t know I needed. Castillo writes with clarity and conviction, but also with care. She doesn’t shy away from discomfort or contradiction, and that’s part of what makes her arguments so compelling. These essays push back against lazy narratives, especially around race, literature, and "universal" truths, and ask us to think more critically about the world we live in.

What I appreciated most is how personal this writing feels without ever becoming self-indulgent. Castillo brings her lived experience into the work in a way that deepens the ideas, making them feel rooted and real. There's a kind of intellectual intimacy here that’s rare — bold without being preachy, brilliant without losing warmth.

If you care about books, criticism, or cultural conversation in any form, Moderation is a must-read. It's thoughtful, fearless, and full of moments that make you pause and rethink everything.

Behind the moderator's filters.

This never quite stayed still for me, what genre it was, what direction it was taking. Even the main characters were hard to pin down - were they cold and hard? Hiding something softer? Well, my questions ended up being answered really, even if the story veered into office/tech politics when I didn't want it to.

Girlie Delmundo (apparently her real name rhymes with Girlie) is a successful moderator, specialising in dark areas that have made her sought after and noticed. Working in the online world requires emotional detachment and strength of mind, Girlie seems to excel and keeping others at a distance, keeping her personal and family life away from her work life.

Head-hunted by a revolutionary and giant simulation/virtual reality game and its team, Girlie makes the move to a new medium, with some feelings about one of the founders/head moderator William, a British Asian, regularly being tested as their paths cross, in and out of the game's many settings.

I wouldn't have called this a romance, but there's definitely enough content here to class this as part of that genre. It's quite smart in the approach to this, with two very intelligent but self-contained characters gently stepping around each other, the tension is quite high, the expectation only growing as we notice their similarities and connection.

Could have done without the office politics, not something I enjoy reading about and it made the book longer than I thought it needed to be. Though I did enjoy the descriptions of Playground and the virtual reality world and experience, even if darker aspects were very distasteful (nothing graphically described).

We get to know both characters better, including a gradual reveal of Girlie's background, and she lets both us and her own new acquaintance in a little more. William too is given instant likeability with one particular addition to his story (not spoiling it here).

It became more a romance as the story progressed, Girlie q realistic portrayal of a contemporary woman, both loyal to family and independent in herself, reluctantly feeling drawn to another in a part-created world and part real one.

Very interesting concept, by the end I was very much drawn into the story and looking for satisfying closure.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atlantic and the author Elaine Castillo.

We meet Girlie a moderator who is very good at her underpaid job, she has seen many come and go due to the high stress level of the job, she however has been desensitized due to her own past. The job has an effect on the mental health of those who work there. Girlie works hard in order to help pay off her families mortgage.

When her company is taken over by new management she is moved to Virtual reality. Her new job might just be what she needs to help her family.

An interesting insight to the graphic imagery and content that is dealt with behind the scenes of social media. With a hint of romantic interest when Girlie finds herself falling for her colleague William.

Love the cover of this book!

The premise of this story really intrigued me but unfortunately it just didn't deliver. The writing is wonderful in many respects but I found myself glossing over many paragraphs of in-depth tangents about watches and lifting weights, wondering when the plot would move forward. It felt superfluous rather than necessary character building. The first third of the book is setup and I felt the pacing was just off. Sadly not for me.

I didn’t love as much as Castillo’s previous novel but it’s an enjoyable love story for modern times and the writing is as ever super sharp.

I am sure ti's book will be a big hit with a lot of readers, but unfortunately it just wasn't for me. The promised sounded fantastic, but the execution wasn't for me.

Having read this at the close of my year drowning in the corporate world felt very appropriate. I spent pages upon pages of this book laughing and cringing simultaneously. Moderation is a deeply necessary and entertaining read, with so many instances and interactions that will feel familiar to any computer-based office worker, with some truly exceptional passages.

Sorry I didn’t finish this book, it really wasn’t my vibe at all. I found the writing style really off putting and I didn’t connect with any of the characters. I read maybe 40% then dnf

Moderation is a clever take on capitalism and big tech, with rich detail and a witty protagonist - but I just didn’t connect with it as much as I wanted to.

It has a lot to say, but the delivery is dense. It’s clever, but the tone sometimes feels pretentious, and I found myself zoning out during passages of minutiae about gym routines and watches, especially after the first quarter when the focus should’ve been tightening.

I found the moderation angle and VR world really interesting, and I appreciated the attention to detail here, but I wanted more - especially as there are some intriguing characters and dynamics around identity, race, class, and trauma that could have been explored more deeply in that context. The critique of big tech and corporate power starts strong but loses momentum, especially once the romance subplot comes in. I’m not usually a fan of romance plots anyway, but this one didn’t pull me in at all. The love interest was honestly a bit dull… but I did enjoy the bits about his dog.

Overall, I liked the concept and thought it was well written, but it just wasn’t for me. Also docking points for the questionable British clichés - sorry!

Moderation, a novel that follows a woman who is a content moderator for a social media site as she gets promoted to work in a brand new VR environment ‘Playground’ where she meets its wry, mysterious founder. The book is billed as a tech based romance, but I’d say its heavier on the literary commentary on technology, social media, and the relationships they help (and hinder) us building. I think there are some strong concepts in this one, but I’m still mulling on the idea of whether the romance was ultimately necessary for the plot.

This is my review of Moderation by Elaine Castillo.
Firmly in the speculative fiction genre, this is set in the grimly familiar very-near future. Girlie Delmundo is a strong-of-stomach moderator for a social media company, her queasy speciality being spotting real(as opposed to faked) child sexual abuse. Direct and appearing to lack emotion, she is her family’s breadwinner, so cannot allow sentiment to colour the unremitting bleakness and horror of her employment, of which we gratifyingly see only snippets.
A role so traumatic, only the desperate will take it on, with a prolific attrition rate -“None of the white people survived. Young, middle-class hopefuls with student debt, they’d shown up when the position was still being called process executive. Most of the white candidates didn’t make it past the initial three- week training course; the ones that did left within a year.”
“The floor was now averaging only three or four suicide attempts a year, down from one or two a month”.
As a stalwart in this strange community, she is headhunted for a position as a real-time moderator in a new virtual reality interactive game-following a merger with a smaller VR company Playground. Girlie is the perfect candidate, astute and unshockable. She is so cynical and world-weary, she is as surprised as we are, to find herself attracted to her new boss, the retiring Englishman William, which seems to be mutual.
William was a co-founder of Playground, forged with seemingly clean ethical lines whilst embracing the field of medicine, with legion proposed therapeutic implications for VR; from treating PTSD to chronic pain.
Inevitably, the technology is being subsumed into the larger company, and it’s easy to presume where the data and applications will be headed.

I have never read any work by Castillo before, but was immediately drawn in by her sharp as nails prose, with not a spare word or phrase, every other sentence a pitch-perfect skewering of social characteristics. So I admit to being somewhat surprised when the novel, while still acid in its telling, incorporated a sweet and rewarding love story.
It was a pleasant surprise, and while the romance is tied up in a conveniently neat way, I wanted to reread the book immediately just to revisit Girlie’s distinctive voice.
A really confident and wryly entertaining addition to the speculative fiction genre. Great for fans of The Dream Hotel. I loved this and would give 4.5 if available!

Thank you Atlantic books for providing this advance copy for review via NetGalley.

Girlie works in content moderation aka seeing the worst things imaginable on a daily basis. One day she is offered a promotion to work in VR and the money could really help her family out.

I DNFed this at 24%. Unfortunately the format is effectively unreadable on kindle which is my chosen ARC reading medium.

Was intrigued in the dynamics of Girlie’s Pilipino family so I can see this finding an audience for people with a similar interest. Also for people who think big tech is evil.