Author(s): Brittney Morris

Teen Fiction

'We are different ages, genders, tribes, tongues, and traditions ... but tonight we all SLAY' Black Panther meets Ready Player One. A fierce teen game developer 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 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?

Anastasia's Review -

'Slay' by Brittney Morris follows the story of 17 year old Kiera Johnson. Kiera lives two seperate lives, by day she is an honors student at (predominantely white) Jefferson Academy. At night she submerges herself into her game 'Slay' in which she is a strong and respected leader called Emerald. The catch is that you have to be a person of colour to play the game. However when a young boy gets killed due to a monetary element within Kiera's game she has to go head to head with the criticism that her game may be racist. Will Kiera be able to fight to keep the only place in which she feels accepted? 

-> Read to find out 

(15+)