When content moderator Girlie is offered a new job at the VR site, Playground, her company has acquired, the numbers are too big for her not to say yes. But there is of course more to Playground – and indeed Girlie – than meets the eye. Girlie has spent her life trying to moderate her feelings and her past – that means no falling in love. Her resolve is tested when she meets William, the Hong-Kong born, London-raised best friend of the founder of Playground’s tech.
This second part of the story is the one we're ultimately leading to, but you wouldn't know that from the long - and at times almost rambling - setup that leans hard into the day-to-day of content moderation, which, in many ways, makes this a book of two halves. Whether or not that works for you is pretty much dependent on how much the first appeals to get to the second. It's worth the journey. A solid 4 stars.

I really rated the whole feel of the book. It felt very me. I’d be interested to know what others thought because I’m definitely struggling to pigeon whole the book. But I guess maybe that’s why I liked it so much. I’m a cross-genre gyrlie. If I had to, I would call it a slow burn literary romance with speculative themes. If I had to compare it to something, the closest thing would Death Made a Fool of Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi, mainly due to the cross genre slow literary romance vibes.

Moderation explored culture, capitalism, VR and strong female energy. It featured and celebrated queer relationships in a normative fashion and the strong familial bonds forced by age and proximity.
It’s less mainstream and more intellectual than I thought it would be, which I love.
The MC, Girlie, is a kinda badass bitch vibe character with no shits and a hard exterior, that I would usually hate as an mc. But her inner monologue is so authentic, and there’s clear reasoning, self protection and motivation behind her character flaws, so I’m onboard. Usually this type of character is done badly, so I’m here for a really well written version of this archetype.

The blurb features love heavily as a topic, At halfway through, only the slightest hints of romance. This worked for me, I can see the breadcrumbs, I can feel the tension of the slow burn, I’m rooting for the possibility. However if someone were here for the love straight up, this is not a book for them.

What this book does offer is a deep critique and submersion into Filipino culture in America, a look at horrific scenes of content moderation, a bisexual mc, and immersive world building into a new sense of virtual reality.

There are some scenes talking about the politics of some of the history of the company or merger that are a bit confusing/ I’m unsure what it adds. But I also trust that the author knows what they are talking about.

This makes me think about the old saw about how your greatest strength is also your weakness. I love the author's snarky voice, the observations, the cultural references, the relentless listing of brands and the way every social interaction is deconstructed as a signifier of economic and social status. But - the richly textured detail means it takes forever to get anywhere. I started losing enthusiasm when I was 28% in and Girlie hadn't even started the job which was supposed to be the focus of the story. And the romance element didn't really do it for me, I was expecting something darker given the set-up.

I spent an enjoyable afternoon reading this but overall it didn’t quite work for me.

The content moderation critique was interesting but stopped being relevant half way through when the plot and the romance took over. It talked a lot about various issues with tech today but stopped short of properly critiquing it.

There were quite a few British references sprinkled throughout which went beyond cliché which was nice for a book set in vegas.

this was a of the time novel that seemed to ripple an undertone all the way through me reading it. i felt gripped right from the start. and need to know more and more and was tripping over myself to read through the pages.
there was an unease and uncertainty that went through me with this book. the corporate darkness things going on but then mixed in with caring about this main character and her budding romance.Elaine has such a class act in world building for this book it completely transported me to where she wanted me. the newer world of AI was both intriguing and scary to visualise and visualise it i did.
i dont even feel like i can properly describe this book or put some snippet like plot review to it because i dont feel clever enough and not without giving gaping spoilers. but this is something to read and think wow to. its something to feel clever enough for even though you feel like your reading something beyond you in smarts.
the front cover of this book started me off and then continued how i felt in this book. i bit blurred, scooped out, uneasy but brilliant, full of colour and understanding of detail. with an artist at the front (Elaine) who knows exactly what she is doing and so we should believe and then follow her to show us. and that i did, and im so glad.

This just didn't work for me. At times the writing was really engaging but a lot of the time I felt like skipping ahead. There were a few different elements to this story but none of them felt explored enough and the romance just didn't work for me. I didn't feel like either character actually liked the other - it felt more like Castillo realised that not much had happened by the end so needed to push it in a romantic direction.

Not every book needs to be full of action and answers but this didn't have enough of either for me.

I was utterly gripped by this novel from the start. Elaine Castillo you must immediately write another book.

Moderation follows ‘Girlie Delmundo’ a Filipino woman living in Las Vegas. We are initially introduced to her intricate personal life and family history as an introverted and private individual who struggles to let her walls down. Predominantly, this book is centered on her position as a content moderator, whose job it is to witness the darker parts of the platform and weed out the seediest and most disturbing of imagery and commentary made by its users.

There is a dynamic interplay of themes in this publication that blend into each other seamlessly. We are introduced to Girlie as a member of an ethnic minority living in the US with a complicated and traumatic backstory. The book then draws us into the field of corporate life through content moderation and later into the evolving and innovative landscape of VR technology. These chapters are in addition, interspersed with a slow burn romance. Less of a typical romance in their case as it is a connection of two souls. Could not get enough of this book, highly recommend as your next read!

Not what I expected in all the right ways. This brilliant book takes a concept that admittedly, we’ve seen a few times (We Had To Delete This Post, for example) and makes it fresh, engaging and utterly human. I loved the slow burn relationship and the humid Vegas setting which was so vivid. After reading this, I’ll definitely be exploring more of Castillo’s work.

Girlie supports her large Filipino family in Las Vegas by working as a content moderator for a social media company, which she is adept at. She is offered a new position with more money and a new boss, William, after the company takes over another and launches a new business in virtual reality theme parks. Despite the fact that they only engage in the virtual reality realm, Girlie finds William's closest buddy, who established the VR company, fascinating. Moderation is a fantastic book with lots of intriguing concepts and great characters.

An interesting novel covering the du jour topic of moderation on the internet.

The suitably-aliased Girlie is a moderator that gets recruited to a virtual reality fairground by William.

The role requires suppression of emotion in order to deal with the content, and this has a knock on effect with relationships in general, where giving something of oneself is against the rules.

An interesting mix of dystopian, romance and mild but well-written erotica, which I read very quickly. Girlie is a unique protagonist with trauma she is keen to shield everyone, including us readers, from. You root for her, yet you don’t exactly want to be her friend. You are, inevitably, hoping for a happy ending for her in her career and most importantly, her personal life. In an age where everything is digitalised, open to all, and instantly generated for entertainment, her role as “content moderator” gives a lot of food for thought. I enjoyed this novel on the whole, as well as its opportunity to continue checking my own White bis and privilege as her Filipino perspective is so vividly written by Castillo.

Moderation was a thought provoking read about AI, social media and anonymous thoughts. It peels back the human condition to look at the psyche underneath which was really interesting

Oh this book had my whole heart! If you grew up chronically online and you love unreliable narrators with a hint of female eccentrics, you will enjoy this!

Moderation is a novel blending tech commentary and romance, as a content moderator gets a new job in VR. Girlie works as a content moderator for a social media company, and she's good at it, allowing her to fund her large Filipino family's life in Las Vegas. When the company buys out another and starts a new venture in virtual reality theme parks, she's offered a new job, with better money, and a new boss, William. William's best friend founded the VR company and Girlie is fascinated by him, even though their interactions are mostly in the VR world.

As someone interested in big tech, I'm always interested in literary fiction engaging with and critiquing it, so Moderation sounded fascinated. It turned out to not really be the book I was expecting, as despite the title and premise, it is only really half about the content moderation and VR side of things, and half about Girlie as a character and in particular builds towards her attraction to William, her new boss. The content moderation side is very prevalent at the start, with the novel slowing building up a picture of what it is like for Girlie and her colleagues alongside Girlie's carefully constructed life. As the book goes on, the focus changes, and though the company itself stays relevant throughout, the content moderation doesn't, and the tech side of things moves more towards big companies and the clash between different potential usages of virtual reality.

The first half of the novel feels entirely like setup, with not much happening, and then there's a few major events in the second half, but actually the slow pace continues throughout, so it definitely isn't a book for people who want fast-paced action. Instead, the book takes a more unexpected route, focusing on Girlie and William's slow burn romance that is enjoyable to read, if not what I thought the book would be about. The ending is not where I thought the book would go, but actually I was invested in it and I liked the return to a human focus rather than the tech world. The novel has its ups and downs, not quite resolving any of the technological side, but overall I found it an enjoyable story about people, wrapped up in a story about tech.

I enjoyed this book when it was describing the moderation in the VR world but the odd rambling bit at the beginning organising the cousin's party was not needed. I felt the author had more to say on AI and VR in general but she kept having to resort back to this being a 'romance'. The explicit description of sex was shocking and the ending seemed left field. A good writer with questionable choices in tone and style

Elaine Castillo’s Moderation is a darkly funny, sharply observed exploration of technology, ethics, and burnout — all wrapped in a speculative near-future that feels unsettlingly close to our present. The novel follows Girlie Delmundo, a Filipina-American in her thirties who moderates traumatic content for a massive tech company. When she’s promoted to work on a futuristic VR platform recreating lost civilizations, she finds herself not only facing the usual online toxicity, but navigating a labyrinth of corporate secrets, virtual therapy, and personal reckoning.

What makes Moderation shine is its voice. Girlie is sarcastic, emotionally guarded, and surprisingly tender beneath all that edge. Her internal monologue is sharp and often hilarious, bringing levity and intimacy to a story that could otherwise feel bleak. I was genuinely entertained by her perspective, and loved how Castillo used humor as a coping mechanism and a storytelling tool.

The world-building is immersive and layered, and the novel tackles big themes — from historical revisionism to surveillance capitalism — with confidence. I was especially impressed by how grounded the speculative elements felt. However, as the book moves toward its conclusion, it stumbles. Major revelations and emotional turning points come too fast, packed into the final chapters without the buildup they deserve. I found myself wishing the story had taken more time to explore its characters’ growth and let the emotional weight of its plot unfold more gradually.

For a large part of the novel, I was certain this would be a 5-star read. It’s clever, insightful, and deeply original. But by the end, it felt more like a very good book that could have been a great one. That said, it’s still absolutely worth picking up — especially if you enjoy speculative fiction that blends politics, technology, and humanity with a distinctive voice and a sharp sense of humor.

A book of the year, immediately - sharp, funny, richly textured, emotionally devastating, breathtakingly romantic and sexy. Castillo makes it look so, so easy, and this book makes so many of its contemporaries look either leaden or anaemic. Thanks so much for letting me read it early.

Girlie is good at her job. She is a content moderator and gets an interesting job offer.
The technology, social commentary and thriller aspects of this book are well done.
4/5 stars for that.
Plot and characterisation is 3.5/5
Overall, an interesting read with good writing and promise.

Moderation follows Girlie who works as a social media moderator, flagging and removing inappropriate content. Girlie is a good moderator as nothing bothers her. She gets an offer to start moderating virtual reality theme parks. Girlie takes the job but there could be something darker built into the company and William who started the company is exactly Girlie’s type.

This was okay. This was a five star when I started it, then it went to a four star and then a three star. I really liked the witty commentary at the start but then I just lost interest in this. This did have a lot of interesting things to say and generally I can see people enjoying this. Stories involving content moderation are always interesting and I always give them a go. I would recommend this and this was written well.