IN SUMMARY: In this mixed bag of novel, where the video game logistics don't make sense and the characters are boring, SLAY falls far short of slaying.

MY THOUGHTS:

My biggest problem with SLAY is that the video game itself just doesn't seem plausible.

The protagonist, Kiera, is a hard-working student with high grades and a tutor who created and now maintains SLAY without her parents or anyone else knowing. I had so many questions that made it impossible to suspend my disbelief. Like how Kiera could afford to run and maintain SLAY for three years without her parent's knowledge. She tutors her friend in maths occasionally, but that would be nowhere near enough to maintain servers, run maintenance, buy assets, textures, designs, etc. How does she buy her VR gear? How can she afford a high-end PC? Or the multiple servers down in Paris that run the game? As far as we're made aware the game is free to play, and Kiera herself has no trust fund, and though her parents are comfortable we don't see them bequeathing her an allowance.

Probably more importantly, how does she have the time or the energy? Kiera developed and moderates the game, and it's implied that she creates everything herself (aside from one mod, Cicada, but I'll get to that). She builds the worlds and biomes, she programmes the code, she fixes the bugs and creates the cards used to duel. The duels are grandiose battles in stadiums - did she make all the animations, too? What about the sound effects? Modelling? Even if I accept the fact that she's a mastermind at everything game creation, that doesn't account for the fact that she's still a schoolgirl who has homework and studying and a social life. It's not possible that she manages all these things and gets to bed by nine-thirty.

Bearing in mind this is also virtual reality, so you have to add the development of synchronising motion control and tactile feedback and a stereoscopic display sensors.

Maybe she has people to help out? Well, no, because there's only one other mod, Cicada. How do you have a game played by hundreds of thousands of players only moderated by two people? My Discord server has thirty users and we have more mods than that! How do you manage chat functions and communication, card trades, marketplace, character customisation, complaints/ feedback? Forums? There's absolutely no weight behind the logistics of SLAY that makes it believable as an actual video game.

There's even a part where, as a huge duel is about to take place, all five hundred thousand of the accounts of SLAY suddenly become active as people tune in to watch. All for a game that is supposedly 'not mainstream'. Yeah, right. Club Penguin had over two hundred million accounts, and do you think all of those people suddenly decided to hop back online just as the site was being shut down?

This read like a very idealistic, almost romanticised portrayal of being a game developer. You can't click your hands and boom, "here's my game and thousands of players!". We never see Kiera put work into making/ improving SLAY that would at least assuage the doubts that she could be the game's developer, and we never see her genius level intellect come into play that could justify her wizard-level game creation skills.

Even outside the game there are moments that are hard to swallow. Most things happen just because, like Kiera grabbing a last-minute appointment with a lawyer, or all the high-level players being important in Kiera's life, or a fancy CEO offering them server space, or the right people showing up at the right time. The cast of characters weren't particularly memorable or interesting; I'd say Steph was the best and most level-headed, but I doubt I'll care to remember anyone else in this book. Even Kiera was rather watery in terms of personality.

The ending was unsatisfying. The boy has died and things happen and... that's it. Kiera's life changed monumentally, but it's entirely glossed over. I cannot even fathom that, minor spoiler, Kiera still wanted to give someone a chance of redemption after they posed as a white supremacist online and then doxxed her identity to the entire goddamn Internet. Like... are you serious? Does this even need to be said how ridiculous it sounds to think "they're not so bad" after they did that????

(This is when Steph, who had to talk Kiera out of it, got an upgrade to Character of the Novel...)

Sometimes I also thought the cultural politics of the novel were heavy-handed; it seemed to hand-hold you through on-the-nose explanations of black culture. Cicada is also roped into becoming a device to propel the discussion: one instance has her apologising that because she's half-black, she wasn't "black enough" to play SLAY, and Kiera kindly explains that that wasn't the case at all. I'm not black but as a mixed person, having a non-mixed person explaining that to a mixed person doesn't seem right at all...

I know I've stripped this novel apart, but it was sort of like popcorn; I couldn't stop reading. Ignoring the execution of SLAY, the game itself is brilliant. I loved that the cards echoed elements from black culture. I just wish more was done with it, you know? The characters needed fleshing out, and I would've liked to have seen Kiera show don't tell that she's the game's developer by seeing her actually developing the game.

WILL I READ MORE BY THIS AUTHOR? Yes. This is a debut, so far from perfect, but Morris has potential and I'll be glad to see what she comes up with next.

Some books take a few chapters before you’re really on board with them, and some only take a few pages. I was very few pages into SLAY before I realised I was almost certainly going to love every minute of it and be sad when it was over (spoiler: I did and I was).

The book opens with Kiera desperate to race home in time to attend a battle between two esteemed characters in the game she has created, SLAY. By the time she’s succeeded in this goal we’ve already met her (awesome) sister Steph, her best friend Harper (who’s white and wants to know if it’s ok for her to wear dreadlocks), and her boyfriend Malcolm (the one person she feels she can be herself with). Oh, and of course Cicada, her second-in-command in the game and all round beautiful and delightful person.

Honestly, I loved all the characters in SLAY. Some authors just have that talent for drawing characters who are interesting, complex and engaging. The kind of people you always want to know more about. This is a talent Brittney Morris has in spades. I loved Kiera, of course, who wouldn’t? She’s fun and clever and imaginative and thoughtful. I particularly enjoyed her in the SLAY game. She has so much self-confidence; knows exactly what she’s doing and knows her own value in that world. I loved it!

The rest of the characters are wonderful too, even the ones we see very little of, like Dr John Abbott and his adorable nephews, or Annette Coleman, the lawyer. The ones who are closer to Kiera are even better, of course. Steph is magnificent from beginning to end; Cicada/Claire may be the sweetest person in the entire world, and Malcolm may be painful to read about but he is certainly a compelling character.

Aside from the characters, the story itself is seriously gripping. Kiera has created an amazing safe space for black people all around the world, but a boy is murdered because of a dispute over in-game currency, and all her hard work is jeopardised when the media pick it up and start accusing the game of being racist against white people (that’s not a thing, btw) and a breeding ground for thugs and criminals. Plus a white supremacist has managed to get in and is threatening a lawsuit. The way that 17-year-old Kiera processed and dealt with all this had me glued to my kindle. And the ending was perfection and I loved it!

I also have to mention all the lovely representation in the book. We have queer people, including Jaylen, who’s trans, and they/them pronouns used for a couple of different characters. I also loved the bit where Kiera notices that someone is using a Pride mask she created for Pride month and is happy that it meant something to someone. There’s even a mention of being able to make the game more accessible for disabled people towards the end; hurrah! I’m not, of course, going to comment on the black representation in the book – that’s not something for a white woman to do! But I do have to mention how lovely and positive this book was about online communities. For so many people the internet is a lifesaver; it’s where they can find people like them, and it was so nice to see that represented as well.

Basically, I loved SLAY. The characters, the plot, the story, the representation, the writing… everything came together to create an absolutely delightful reading experience. Also the cover is beautiful. Recommended if you enjoy books about gaming, grappling with ideas, or awesome characters.

This was a gripping and powerful book, and such an important ownvoices read. It was so refreshing to read from Kiera's point of view as a black girl who games and codes. She is a kickass character and the book raised and addressed so many big and important issues. This felt to me like THUG x Warcross and I am here for that combo!