''SLAY'' is a young adult novel by American author Brittney Morris published in 2019.

Plot

''SLAY'' tells the story of Kiera, a black high school student who develops and maintains the online game SLAY, a VR multiplayer world where players duel using cards giving them powers based on

black culture Black culture can refer to: * African-American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinc ...

. Being tired of online racial harassment in video games, she creates the game for black gamers. When a player is killed in real life by another player, the media criticizes SLAY for being racist by excluding white players. The story is told from multiple perspectives, including that of Kiera, her co-developer Claire, who is a

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

student in Paris, John, a professor of African American studies, and players of SLAY.

Major themes

''SLAY'' has been called "an incredibly raw and real depiction of modern black identity struggles", and is referenced as an example of a novel exploring black girlhood. It explores online harassment and racism in

Video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s contrasted with the pleasure of online gaming. The novel also portrays black and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

gamers. The book has been described as "

Ready Player One ''Ready Player One'' is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American author Ernest Cline. The story, set in a dystopia in 2045, follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality gam ...

meets

The Hate U Give ''The Hate U Give'' is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-yea ...

Reception

The novel was published by Simon Pulse after a bidding war between multiple publishers. Writing for the ''Book and Film Globe'', Sharyn Vane called ''SLAY'' "a gaming-themed thriller and a compulsively-readable exploration of the many facets of black culture." Writing for

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

, Jordan Snowden wrote that "'SLAY' is a book I wish I had when I was younger; not only does this young adult novel tackle big conversations in an approachable way, it features a strong, self-assured, intelligent young black woman as the main character."

Awards and nominations

''SLAY'' was nominated for

Young Adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

Best Novel in the 2020

Ignyte Awards The Ignyte Awards are an annual literary award for the best science fiction, fantasy, and horror works and achievements of the previous year. Established in 2020 by writers L. D. Lewis and Suzan Palumbo as an off-shoot of '' FIYAH Literary Mag ...

. It has also won several other awards.

External links

''SLAY'' book trailer on YouTube

References

{{Authority control American young adult novels English-language novels Books about video games Novels based on video games Fictional video games Novels about virtual reality Novels set in Seattle Novels set in Paris Massively multiplayer online role-playing games in fiction Literature by African-American women 2019 American novels Novels about racism Novels about the Internet Novels about transgender topics