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 kiracanread on

5 of 5 stars

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Slay is an incredible, poignant read based on the use of modern technology and internet communities, making it relatable to most current, young audiences. There is a focus on the diversity of gaming communities which I found to be really interesting, as I personally know how toxic gaming communities can be, although not the experiences of a black gamer, so I got to see this from a new perspective. I really enjoyed the concept of this book, and I think that Brittney Morris is an incredible writer, I loved the writing style and I really can't wait to read more from them. Slay kept me hooked from beginning to end, there wasn't a single moment where I wanted to stop reading and I read the book extremely fast because I couldn't bear to put it down, it flowed so well and was just so enjoyable to read.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 16 July, 2020: Finished reading
  • 16 July, 2020: Reviewed