Slay by Brittney Morris

Slay

by Brittney Morris

'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?

(P)2019 Simon & Schuster

Reviewed by layawaydragon on

5 of 5 stars

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Read for free on RivetedLit.com on Dec 15th 2019.

This was fucking amazing. Immediately engaging, I didn't want to put it down, each character jumps off the page, love the multiple POVs, so much knowledge and humor and love. No issues, no qualms, no ifs or buts about it. The toxic manipulative romantic relationship is realistic and handled so well. Also, trans* inclusive. I cried at the end.

The hype is real and deserved and I'm sure they could make it a kickass movie.

I'm so so glad this was published and I hope it does amazingly forever and we get so many more books like this!

And if ya'll don't get it, that's your own fault.

Re: Unbelievable Set Up w/ Game:
Your biasracist upbringing is showing. The bar always gets raised to impossible heights for black women, which is bullshit. And it happens without thinking, without realizing it for most people. So you have to consciously let it the fuck go!

And no, no one's buying, "I'm like this for every book regardless." Except other racists. Look around you.

Re: Kiera & Game Being Racist:
WOW, the caudacity. Racism = Prejudice + Power. Social politics 101. It's not possible for Kiera to be racist against white people. She is not even prejudiced against them, just tired of anti-blackness in this society, which comes by the hands and out the mouths of whites most of the time. Malcolm is prejudice with obvious cause against whites and sounds like a black separatist. I don't want to label him as such for sure since it isn't directly stated in text. And honestly, that's fine! Can't blame him. No body's getting goddamn burned or run over by black separatists.

And no, Kiera creating a safe space isn't fucking racist. Just like BET and Spanish channels aren't racist. Just like having women only spaces isn't sexist. Just what fucking hole have ya'll ignorant ass motherfuckers been living in?

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  • 22 December, 2018: Reviewed