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SLAY
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019!
"Gripping and timely." --People
"The YA debut we're most excited for this year." --Entertainment Weekly
"A book that knocks you off your feet while dropping the kind of knowledge that'll keep you down for the count. Prepare to BE slain." --Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for Black gamers. By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the "downfall of the Black man." But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for "anti-white discrimination." Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?
"Gripping and timely." --People
"The YA debut we're most excited for this year." --Entertainment Weekly
"A book that knocks you off your feet while dropping the kind of knowledge that'll keep you down for the count. Prepare to BE slain." --Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther-inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for Black gamers. By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only Black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the "downfall of the Black man." But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for "anti-white discrimination." Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically Black in a world intimidated by Blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?
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Community Reviews
This was great.
I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this.
Malcom tho, oh boy. That guy is a walking red flag.
gah!
I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this.
Malcom tho, oh boy. That guy is a walking red flag.
gah!
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ππππͺ - Bα΄ΏΙͺα΄α΄Ι΄α΄Κ Mα΄α΄Ώα΄ΏΙͺs
β ( 9 / 10 )
This book was cute. It's been described as Black Panther meets Ready Player One. I must definitely agree with that. For me usually the " it's like this and this" for comparisons are usually incorrect FOR ME. But this? Beautiful.
The quote is definitely correct and sometimes people grow out of it. But a lot of people don't and use their one friend to answer the question you have and like she says eventually. Google that shet.
Anyway, Kiera is a high school student fed up with video games that mistreat their black players and characters so she builds a VR game for anyone, however it seems only black people (that we see) are playing it. This would be amazing if this game actually existed. I'd play just purely to read all the cards alone "Aunt's potato salad" dead.
The things I did not like... But still liked? Kiera. She may have built this entire game from scratch but she's incredibly insecure and weak minded. (Again as I said I still liked) She was definitely more real because of this because there are way too many split persona gamers. The badass in game and the meek milled in the real world. Malcom. Boi chill. He was so damn in your face with his blackness. Again hated it and liked it. Realness. There are those people that are so for the cause that anyone can catch their wrath for no reason. It's possible that you love yourself and your people, and it's possible to go do overboard. It's almost not quite as fierce as breeding white supremacists at birth (out trying to) but there is definitely a point you wanna tell somebody to call down you're doing too much. Such as being aimed in wrong directions. I hated and loved these two characters.
Things Kiera let slide and the different characters heads we jumped into sometimes gave me a bit of confusion cause I'd get lost on who was talking. These were the few issues I had a problem with but the book as a whole gives me Wakanda Forever vibes and I love it. Must read.
βππ‘π‘πͺ βππππππ
ππ’πΊ ππ’πΊ ππΆπ΅
fell a little flat at parts and sort of just ended with no real ..... idk drama but otherwise a very good read.
This book was sooooo good, I couldn't put it down! I love the black culture and politics in this book, and of course the black excellence!
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