SLAY
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2019!
βGripping and timely.β βPeople
βThe YA debut weβre most excited for this year.β βEntertainment Weekly
βA book that knocks you off your feet while dropping the kind of knowledge thatβll keep you down for the count. Prepare to BE slain.β βNic 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 Pantherβinspired 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 βdownfall of the Black man.β
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 βanti-white discrimination.β
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?
βGripping and timely.β βPeople
βThe YA debut weβre most excited for this year.β βEntertainment Weekly
βA book that knocks you off your feet while dropping the kind of knowledge thatβll keep you down for the count. Prepare to BE slain.β βNic 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 Pantherβinspired 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 βdownfall of the Black man.β
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 βanti-white discrimination.β
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 is not normally a book that I would pick up because I am not much of a gamer but I was VERY pleasantly surprised to find just how much I loved this story! Keira creates a world where Black gamers can feel free to be themselves and be proud of who they are. But in addition to a world without hate and racial slurs being thrust upon the players, the game itself is SUPER cool. The cards in the game represent different pieces of Black culture from all over the world. Characters can make themselves look exactly like their real selves or look like the type of person they feel like inside! What an amazing idea! I kind of wish this game actually existed in the world today :)
There are a few main reasons why I ended up loving this book. Although it started slow, the game and character development was extremely necessary for the rest of the story and really added to the aspect of how the characters changed throughout the entire journey.
There were several chapters from the point of view of players in other regions in the world. They described the game, what it meant to them, and what it was like playing this game that meant so much to their identity while living in the real world that didn't always accept them in the same way. These stories were not only touching but seemed to fit so perfectly into the story even though they sometimes seemed to interrupt the flow.
Finally, I LOVED the aspect of mystery and suspense. When a boy is murdered over something in the game, Keira has to deal with the consequences and her own questioning of her involvement since she is the creator. Many events occur making her question what to do in order to honor the death but also show the world why the game existed in the first place. You will find yourself guessing and predicting so many endings but probably will not predict the actual one. What a suspenseful shocker! Loved it!
Definitely recommend to all readers! If you are not a gamer, that is okay. You will still enjoy this story. And although it may start off slow, stick it out. It is worth it...PROMISE!
There are a few main reasons why I ended up loving this book. Although it started slow, the game and character development was extremely necessary for the rest of the story and really added to the aspect of how the characters changed throughout the entire journey.
There were several chapters from the point of view of players in other regions in the world. They described the game, what it meant to them, and what it was like playing this game that meant so much to their identity while living in the real world that didn't always accept them in the same way. These stories were not only touching but seemed to fit so perfectly into the story even though they sometimes seemed to interrupt the flow.
Finally, I LOVED the aspect of mystery and suspense. When a boy is murdered over something in the game, Keira has to deal with the consequences and her own questioning of her involvement since she is the creator. Many events occur making her question what to do in order to honor the death but also show the world why the game existed in the first place. You will find yourself guessing and predicting so many endings but probably will not predict the actual one. What a suspenseful shocker! Loved it!
Definitely recommend to all readers! If you are not a gamer, that is okay. You will still enjoy this story. And although it may start off slow, stick it out. It is worth it...PROMISE!
I really wanted to like this book but it was so full of eye rolls and just trying so hard to stay engaged. It really doesnβt pick up until about 1/3 of the way in.
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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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.
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