Welcome to Litsy!

Truly enjoyed this novel recommended by my postmodern lit prof— videogames, identity, and social change wrapped up in a compelling story beautifully told. I want to put it on a syllabus with Tomorrowx3 and Roleplaying

A YA book that‘s main character is a Black, gamer girl is amazing. This covers deeper topics like racism and relationships than just murder and video games. Extra bonus points for the author being a POC.

This is a book I‘ll definitely be going back to sometime in the future.

They‘ve compared this to “Rdy Player One” but rly, it‘s much MUCH better. It‘s amazing to see teenagers have such an amazing understanding of the world…I know an adult wrote this, lol, but I do know the younguns today are incredibly aware of their surroundings, self, and others. When I was this age I was nothing of the like - but it makes me happy and proud I‘ve made such progress since then :))

This book is different than normal books I read. The wording they used throughout the book is so detailed. It is about a girl that go‘s inside a video game and has to SLAY all the bosses to leave the terrible video game world. It has action and a couple of sob stories

Kiera has created a secret MMORPG which is the only place she can be herself without the pressures of conforming to white society, but when there‘s a murder connected to the game her refuge becomes another source of stress as people threaten to sue for anti-white discrimination. Everything quickly begins to spiral out of her control, and she is unsure of who to confide in and who to protect her secrets from.

👍

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new - don‘t judge me I have a lot of books.
Join the fun if you want. This is day 278.
#bookstoread
#tbrpile
#bookstagram

@AsYouWish All your fault I picked up this book and lost sleep reading it!!! Sooooo goood! Thanks for the recommendation.

Read this book! Read it now! I fell in love with Kiera right away, she is strong, brave, bold, & incredibly intelligent. She is the girl you want to cheer for & have cheering you on. She is the anonymous creator of a video game that has taken over the world, but when someone is killed because of it, she finds her life turned upside down & finds out who her real friends are. Highly recommend!!

🎮🎮🎮🎮🎮

I am LOVING this book so far but my gosh I can‘t stand the main character‘s boyfriend. She‘s such an incredible and intelligent protagonist, why is she with the most judgmental, manipulative and chauvinistic man?! I‘m to the point I actually needed to vent about him. Is this just me? Am I missing something cultural? Because dear lord this queen deserves better!

This book is amazing! It blew my mind! Kiera is a strong colored female lead. I don‘t usually like the main character in books, but I really liked Kiera because she‘s so smart and independent for a teenager that it‘s inspiring. Great book for teenagers and adults!

#poc #gamer #audiobook #libby

Half the time, Kiera is an honors student at a high-end high school. When she gets home, she‘s Queen Emerald of Slay, a game she developed in secret. Its been kept on the down-low, until one of her players gets killer for her game. Now, everyone wants to know who the creator is.

#audiobook #poc #libby #YA

So good! I loved the way the author describes the characters in emotions, how there voices sound, and how they look. Kiera is the creator of the online game SLAY. But when a kid is killed over a fight in the game, officials start calling the game racist. I enjoyed this read immensely. The one part the left me wanting more is when it switched to other gamers for a single chapter, and then we never hear from them again. ⬇️

#FirstLineFriday

Ah, yes. Easy Cheese. This book is great so far.

I read this for the Avengers Reading Challenge that I‘m taking part in this year. I like that each month they have a group book that applies to all the boards instead of just one, and so far the books have been interesting picks.
I found this an interesting book and there was good discussion on race and identity, I just felt like I was missing something still though. Overall, still a good book.

The online game created in SLAY is so cool! The descriptions of the different cards, settings, & battles were really immersive. I was able to follow along fairly well—even via audiobook, which is sometimes difficult for me when a book is description-heavy. I‘m not a gamer, but I still enjoyed the gaming aspects, & the real-world lives of the characters hit on a lot of important topics. (Also, hi, everyone! I‘m slowly coming out of a reading slump)

Keira Johnson is one of a handful of Black students at her high school and she‘s often asked by white kids to speak for the entire Black population. What they don‘t know- what no one else knows- is that Keira has created a popular RPG online video game based on Black culture and for Black people only.

When a violent act occurs outside the game, Keira finds herself and her game under intense scrutiny, and her game and refuge hangs in the balance.

Has anyone tried this #bookbox yet? I‘m looking for a BIPOC subscription service to try, and I like the looks of this one. Any subscribers yet? #Hues #HuesBookBox #BIPOC

December ended up being a great book month!

This was wonderful! Kiera is a straight A student at a predominately white school, who creates a virtual reality game called SLAY that showcase African American history and culture. When a SLAY player is killed over the game, her real world and virtual world collide. I was pleasantly surprised with this story and how race is portrayed in this high schooler‘s life.

This book was great! Super creative use of a virtual reality game that used African-American history as deck cards and explored race relations as well. Loved the audiobook narrator's performance too.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 183 #bookstoread #tbrpile #bookstagram

This was such a fun, engaging and important book to read. While I found some things unrealistic (like how a seventeen-year-old keeps a game of that size a secret), I was too captivated by Kiera, the unapologetic celebration of Black culture, and the important dialogue around the causal racism that happens every day to really care about the technicalities of the actual game. I found this book to be inspirational and also just really entertaining.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This book was stunning! I devoured most of it in two days! Love it, go read it

I loved this book. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first started reading. However, Kiera is an amazing and strong character. Kiera develops a game called SLAY which is a place where "Black gamers deserve to have a safe arena in which they can play freely without having to deal with racial slurs and the threat of violence to them should they win a campaign." This book is creative and intelligent and one of the best YA books I've read this year.

Spending this quiet Sunday reading Slay, which I'm really liking, and hanging out with Hamilton. He seems to want to be under the blankets this weekend. This is the perfect way to spend a Sunday. 💜 #catsoflitsy

This book is everything 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2988222634 so relevant to issues happening today but deals with it in a way that doesn't beat you over the head. I couldn't put it down and when I did I kept thinking about it to pick it back up.

Currently reading

Just doing regular #bookspin and #doublespin this month, as school has started, but I‘m excited either way!!

Love, love, love this book! The main character is Kiera, a high-school senior who designs a virtual reality video game. Her game is called SLAY and it focuses around Black culture. She keeps her real world separate from her game world, but it's hard to keep it a secret especially when she's up to half a million subscribers. Also, just found what I'm pretty sure is the author's Pinterest inspiration board (squee!): https://pin.it/3cpKHpS

Wonderfully executed YA that blends a video game world with real life. I loved the descriptions of the game play in this story, and I love that the author attacked stereotypes and prejudices commonly heaped upon black people.

I'd play SLAY if it were a game. 😀

Five stars! I really liked this book. A fun and engaging book about a black teen girl (in Bellevue!) who has developed a huge online MMORPG, and then becomes shocked and troubled when someone in the game gets killed in real life. The book focuses on Kira (hope the spelling is right, I listened to this book) and her relationships as she navigates who to tell about her stresses. This book surprised and delighted me.

This was AMAZING. It started off a bit slow — I felt my eyes glaze over a bit with all the technical explanations of video-gaming in the first couple of chapters — but once we fully entered the world of SLAY & the conflicts began, I was utterly riveted. Kiera‘s struggles as a young Black girl were beautifully rendered against the backdrop of the game, & her triumphs were bittersweet & satisfying. Heroic characters, fascinating plot. ★★★★☆.

#currentlyreading | THAT COVER THO 🤩🤩

I loved this book! It is an amazing YA with a lot of topics to cover.

Book #29: Loved this YA book about online gaming and race!

Weekend reading starts on Friday night. #slay #amreading #bookstagram

What a book and a wild ride, fantastic book, and made me SO angry at points #BlackLivesMatter

I like video games and this seemed different, refreshing from other YA video game plots I‘ve read. Started out a little slow for me but it picked right up and it was good!! Read this in about a day.

I was a little apprehensive about this book at first, because I know nothing about gaming and thought that I wouldn‘t connect with the story, but was I ever wrong! I really enjoyed SLAY – it was entertaining, I loved how strong our main character, Kiera, was, and I loved how it tackled issues facing the Black community and Black gamers.

This is a long overdue #NetGalley read. I finally decided to listen to it and the audiobook is very well done!

This book is phenomenal! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
#ReadYourSign #Emerald ♉️

“By day, I‘m an honors student at Jefferson Academy.”

Really interesting look at gaming, respectability politics, and of course a super fun story about a VR games with duels and friendships and sisterhood.

What a fantastic addition to the world of young adult lit! Great story, great characters, unique premise, and it addresses all kinds of topics about race, gender, and relationships. I loved this! #YAL #ReadBlackAuthors

“By day, I‘m an honors student at Jefferson Academy. At night, I turn into the Nubian goddess most people know as Emerald.” #FirstLineFridays

I can use this for the #ReadYourSign prompt a book with your gem heavily mentioned!! #emerald