Kelly McFarland
‘We are different ages, genders, tribes, tongues, and traditions … but tonight we all SLAY’
Slay by Brittney Morris tells the story of seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is a college student and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. By night, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide in the secret online role-playing card game, SLAY.
No one knows Kiera is the game developer – not even her boyfriend, Malcolm. But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, the media labels it an exclusionist, racist hub for thugs.
With threats coming from both inside and outside the game, Kiera must fight to save the safe space she’s created. But can she protect SLAY without losing herself?
You don’t have to be a gamer to understand this book it is one of those where jargon does not matter, It’s the subjects being discussed do and with this story, it touches on so many issue prevalent black teens today and for gamers as a community.
We loved how original this plot was, Slay is a well thought out and structured novel that never loses it’s pace, with relate-able and likeable characters this book is a great read, and something new and fresh in the YA genre.
Slay is released in the US on Septemeber 24th by Simon Pulse and will be released in the UK via Hodder Children’s books, you can preorder it here.
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