That was better than I thought it would be in the beginning, with some wonderfully heartwarming scenes by the ending that had me feeling things. However, I'm still hung up on how the novel doesn't really go into Keira's creation of SLAY. There's no denying that she has computer programming talent, but it makes it seem like the process to create a VR video game is simple, when in fact, it's definitely not. I wish I had gotten to see her process of creating it or at least read something about a young female of color coding an entire video game because it's rare that we see women, let alone women of color, do STEM. That could have been a wonderful facet to the novel, but it wasn't even touched upon.

As well, I was confused between Malcolm and Keira's perspectives on issues about race; it seemed that sometimes their opinions were conflicting even within themselves, like the author forgot who believed in what at points.

My favorite part was definitely anything with Cicada (she sounds amazing and I want to be her best friend) or the dueling. A game like this sounds like so much fun to play and I love how rooted in her culture it was.

-Book Hugger

I received a copy of this via NetGalley from the publishers in exchange for an honest review