Even though I'm not the target audience for this book, I enjoyed it very much. I'm so glad I was able to read this very relevant and impacting novel.
Kiera Johnson is a hard working high school student by day and an avid gamer by night. When she has a hard time finding a game that is relatable to her and other young black people, she creates the online game SLAY, which is meant to be a haven and a connecting point for black people everywhere. No one but her developer Cicada knows who she is, not even her friends and family. Her boyfriend Malcolm doesn't approve of video games, and he's very opinionated about the way black people should conduct themselves. When the murder of a young man occurs over SLAY, Kiera doesn't know what to do or who to turn to. Soon after that, a hateful online troll begins spamming her and others in the game in order to destroy it. Kiera will have to use her courage and the help of her friends and family to fight for her game and her way of life.
This was such a great book. I'm not a gamer myself, but the social issues and relationship struggles raised were enlightening and so important for this current time. The writing is descriptive, the characters and setting are realistic, and it was very easy for me to sympathize with Kiera as she fought through the awful circumstances of the murder and the trolls. It's so sad that things are this way now, and that's why I think it's very important for young adults and even older adults to read this book and others like it to gain insight into the different ways people have to live and what they have to deal with on a daily basis. I didn't care for the profanity, but other than that, I believe this book has lessons worth learning.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. A positive review was not required, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Before this devolves into a rant on stupid Adobe products, let me first admit that I couldn't read the entire book, as the first page of each chapter was entirely invisible to me. That said, I did very much enjoy what I did read, and Slay was exactly as good as expected where expected.

Very cool story about a fictional indie MMO? Check. Smart black girl protagonist with a messy love life? Check. Moral dilemmas involving but not limited to racism and the realistic ways these are resolved? Check. Slay is both the name of this novel and of the underground video game created by our heroine, Keira Johnson a.k.a. Emerald, and the development partner she's never met, ign Cicada. Keira is a 17 year-old honors student who attends Jefferson Academy as one of the few black students there, along with her younger, popular (and arguably more sensible) sister, Steph. Her boyfriend is Malcolm, who Steph calls a hotep because <i>that's exactly what he is, Keira, Jesus</i>. Keira's best friend is Harper, a white girl with an annoying younger brother, Wyatt, Steph's age.

A little over three years earlier, Keira got the idea for a cool card game/MMO that trades on the idea of Black Excellence. She taught herself how to program and went into partnership with someone she met on a message board, Cicada, to host, run and develop the game. Since then, Slay has become an underground phenomenon, a safe online place for black players the world over to game in peace without having to worry about the discrimination and hate speech rampant in so many other MMOs. But then a teenager is shot and killed in a dispute over Slay, bringing the game to mainstream attention. Accused of being racist (meh) and exclusionary (yeah but so?), Slay sparks off a firestorm that only worsens Keira's guilt over the death to begin with.

As if that weren't enough to stress over, Keira is waiting for an acceptance letter from Spelman College. Malcolm has already been accepted to Morehouse, and is waxing poetic about the life they'll lead together in Atlanta. Keira finds herself conflicted and unsure as to why (insert Steph's voice yelling "YOU KNOW WHY") but the controversy over Slay pushes all thought of her love life to the back burner, especially when a troll shows up in the game and threatens to tear down everything she's worked so hard to build.

The Black Panther parallels are obvious: Brittney Morris has stated that that was a direct inspiration and it shows, lovingly without being derivative. Ms Morris has also stated that she didn't know a thing about coding when she started writing Slay. To this former IT person, that very much shows as well. The idea of only two people running a game as complex and popular and allegedly beautiful and detailed as Slay is probably the most fantastic part of this otherwise quite grounded story. I was also a little eh at the idea that the VR gear necessary to play didn't automatically make this game the purview of the relatively well-off, which leads to another issue I had: how very American it all is. Ms Morris tries her best to include elements of African heritage from all over the world, and while some parts succeed, others feel more worthy of a "well, you tried." One of the coolest things about the Black Panther movie is that America is neither the default nor the gold standard: I understand how hard that would be to translate to an American-based YA novel tho. That said, the most affecting parts of the book were when we got to look at the home life of Q.Diamond, and when Keira <font color="#ffffff">fiiiiinally saw through Malcolm's bullshit</font>. This is an excellent book that addresses a lot of real issues, and I'm super glad I got to read it.

What I'm not super glad about was the publisher's decision to distribute advance copies using Adobe Digital Editions. I get it, Amazon is evil, but at least their mobis are easily readable and portable across platforms. ADE's acsm standards are hot garbage. First off, ADE is incredibly user-hostile, to the point that I had to download a separate eReader on my phone in order to open the acsm link at all. Then I discovered that the first page of every chapter is missing, due to ADE being unable to handle drop cap illustrations. Unbe-fucking-lievably, I was told to open the acsm on my PC to be read with Acrobat, to which <i>I should not need two different programs on two different devices in order to access the same fucking text, Adobe!</i> Please, publishers, for the love of God, stop handing these people money until they come up with a product that actually enhances the reading experience. Mobis expire too, if you're that concerned about timing out reading permissions. Adobe sucks. Please stop torturing your readers by forcing us to use their terrible products.

Kiera is one of only a handful of black students at her high school in suburban Seattle. But she's got a secret. No one knows she's Emerald, the creator of SLAY, a virtual reality online game where players create kings and queens who duel each other by drawing cards based on elements of black cultures around the world - open only to black players who have the secret passcode. But when a boy is murdered in real life over coins in the game, SLAY becomes international news.

I tore through this book in about 48 hours. I was completely riveted by Kiera, her friends and family, and the deft way this book handles the nuances of navigating the world as a black person. Everything from the pros and cons of black-only spaces to code switching to conflating black power with black male power and more is covered in SLAY, and in a natural way that doesn't feel like a Very Special Episode.

And the game itself - so cool! You do have to suspend disbelief a bit to accept that a game with hundreds of thousands of players is run by only two people and kept a secret from the entire non-black world, but the battles were so fun I decided I could look past it. I've never read anything like this book and I can't wait to recommend it to everyone.

This book needs to be a staple on educator’s bookshelves. There is a lot of incredible representation in this book that is empowering and motivating. There are powerful statements in this book that I think young women (especially women of color) will be able to take away.

The students who I work with have weekly coding lessons. I think it’s important to have representation for female coders since there is that stigma.

This book also did a fantastic job of making comparisons to historical events in relation to today’s climate of marginalized groups. It was eye-opening to read about the feelings of the characters in this book and I think this book would be a great way of discussing these topics within the classroom.

I also enjoyed reading about the culture. The SLAY cards and their meanings were great to read about and the use of them within the game was impeccable.

My only “issue” with this book is that I felt it dragged in some places. I worry that some students may put it down because of that but I would still encourage them to continue because it is a quick read otherwise.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW*

I love the ending! I was not expecting the twist and thought it was such a great was of showing the opposing feelings going on within the book.

I loved the story and how it’s about being yourself in face of adversity.. The character dynamics really build as the story goes which draws the reader in.

I am so thankful for books like this. Yes, the characters in Slay have to deal with race issues, but along with that, this is a book about a black gamer girl trying to be who she wants to be in this world. It is another voice sharing about being a black girl in the current world.

Slay helps the publishing world / book industry take another step toward filling in a narrative that has been missing.

I always say books like this are not for me, even though I enjoy them. Because they aren’t. They’re for all the kids of color that haven’t gotten to see themselves in every aspect of the media as they’ve grown up.

But I guess maybe they are a little bit. These stories are a reminder to me as a white, middle class woman that sometimes equality doesn’t mean everything is for you. A reminder that sometimes I need to get out of the way. A reminder that sometimes I need to be quiet.

I am excited to add this book to my classroom library.

This book is completely as advertised, in that I only found out it was being marketed as "'Ready Player One' meets 'Black Panther'" AFTER I'd read the book, and I'd already been making those comparisons in my head the whole time. And while I'm not well positioned to comment on much of the content and framing of this book, I had a really fun time reading it, and I think Morris builds several bridges between black activists and their well-intentioned but often still deeply privileged and problematic white allies. There's a lot of nuance here that I'll be happy to dig into in future re-readings.

This book was everything I expected & more. I hit the YA reads hard this year and I must Slay is in my top five favorites. I’ve been a gamer my entire life and to have a book that focused on a Black girl gamer, is a dream. I have 2 pre-orders in one for my daughter and one for her school library.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster & NetGalley for gifting this copy in exchange for an honest review. Y’all this one is a MUST have on your shelf.

Slay by Brittney Morris is an absolutely gem! I did not want this book to end. Slay follows high school student Kiera, who developed the game SLAY in an effort to carve out a space for Black gamers, after having to deal with the racism prevalent in the gaming world. Soon this safe haven for hundreds of thousands of Black gamers comes under intense scrutiny, after a gamer is killed as a result of a conflict in relation to the game. The once secret safe haven for Black gamers is soon plastered all over the news and called “racist” and “discriminatory”. Kiera is now forced to deal with the consequences, all the while trying to hide her identity as the game moderator Emerald and fighting a troll in the SLAY game.

I could not put this book down. I loved that so much Black culture was packed into this book.  I loved all the references to Black expressions and I also loved how this book uplifted Black people of all shades, genders, sexualities, and personalities. Kiera was a very relatable character that exhibited so much strength. I also loved the strong voice of her sister Steph, and seeing how their relationship as siblings developed over the book. This book made me feel all the feels from happiness, pride, anger, and frustration. I also enjoyed having various perspectives from the other SLAY players sprinkled throughout the book. It really helped express the impact that the game SLAY had on the community of Black Gamers. Speaking of the game SLAY, Morris did an amazing job building the world of SLAY. The descriptions of the virtual reality game had me wanting to create my own character within SLAY and dual myself. I need this to be a real life game! Overall, I was blown away by Slay. It's definitely one of my favorite reads of the year. I just love how much it celebrated Blackness and the variance within the Black community, while also exploring the experiences of racism that Black gamers and Black people in general experience on a daily basis.

Thanks to Partner NetGalley for the digital ARC of Brittney Morris’s SLAY in exchange for an honest review. The book releases Tuesday, September 24.

“What if someone made a [video] game that was just for black people?” (13).

This question is at the heart of the brilliant YA novel SLAY, by Brittney Morris. Kiera Johnson, a seventeen-year-old student at the elite Jefferson Academy, is one of a handful of students of color, along with her sister Steph and her boyfriend Malcolm. Kiera is the quieter of the sisters, and adept at code switching, a talent that Morris establishes from the first line of the novel. Kiera and Steph are feminists and brilliant women who are keenly aware of issues at the center of black culture. Through the novel, they discuss the merits of African American Vernacular English (AAVE), make commitments to attend HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), and resist their white friends attempts to make them the monolithic voice of blackness in answering their questions (like whether a white person wearing dreadlocks is committing an error of cultural appropriation). Kiera considers these topics as she strives to be a good daughter, to dampen the tension between her sister and boyfriend, and to lay the foundation for a successful future.

Beyond her public life, however, Kiera has a hidden identity as Emerald, the creator, developer, and co-moderator of SLAY, a video game “where every word [she] speak[s] reflects the black goddess [her boyfriend] sees in [her]” (9). Malcolm, however, disapproves of video games, which he thinks encourage black people to “waste their lives” and serve as “distractions promoted by white society to slowly erode the focus and ambition of black men” (10). Kiera feels, partially because of his disapproval, that she cannot let anyone in on her secret. Instead, she and Cicada, her co-moderator, work in hiding to develop the game and to expand its cards, which reflect elements of black history and culture from around the world. Their creativity, based on experience and thorough research, has resulted in a phenomenon for hundreds of thousands of players that is open only to black people.

When a young black man is killed because of something within the game, SLAY becomes the center of a public debate that Kiera tries to navigate from her secret life. She must decide what responsibility lies with her as the media--and her friends and family--consider the implications of a video game that excludes anyone who is not black.

Morris’s book, dedicated “To everyone who has ever had to minimize who you are to be palatable to those who aren’t like you,” grabbed me from moment one. The novel moves sequentially through Kiera’s journey as she struggles to act responsibly as SLAY’s creator and to stay true to her intentions; it also includes vignettes from players within the game, allowing the reader to see the role SLAY plays in each life. The discussions at the novel’s center are compelling and thought provoking--I’d absolutely love to teach this book, which offers such nuanced situations for the reader’s consideration. I am so excited to see the conversations that arise when Brittney Morris’s SLAY is published! I recommend that you order your copy immediately.

What price must one pay to have a safe haven they desperately need?

Brittney Morris found a way to tackle tough topics in a fun environment through 'Slay'.

Kiera Johnson lives two lives. By day Kiera is a minority high school student surrounded by people who could never understand her. At night she becomes Emerald who is a queen inside the gaming world of SLAY. With her VR headset on Kiera can let go of her worries and finally be her unfiltered self.

My favorite part of 'Slay' was the actual game, SLAY. It’s a virtual reality not only made of but for Black gamers that celebrates Black culture in the best ways possible. Gamers duel with cards and each one is based on an important factor of being Black. There’s a Black Jesus card, hussle card, and even a mom’s mac and cheese card! While reading through each description, SLAY felt fresh and unique especially after I’ve read many gaming books before.

I really enjoyed learning more about this game Kiera created. I’ll admit that there are a few questionable points within the plot. At times it was hard to believe that one seventeen-year-old girl created something as massive as SLAY with only one other moderator. Considering Kiera has a social life including a boyfriend and is a top student it makes you curious to how she manages to do it all? But despite this, I still found 'Slay' to be an enjoyable read.

It helped that Kiera is an easy character to root for. Reading through her POV was an eye-opening experience and readers are sure to connect with her want for a safe haven. With each character, especially the SLAY gamers, there is a sense of belonging within them. It was touching to read how thousands of people found a piece of themselves in this community. This made 'Slay' a special book.

When a gamer is suddenly killed the night before a big duel, SLAY becomes a hot topic in the media. The world begins to criticize the game over many factors especially whether it is in fact racist or not. Kiera is put in an impossible situation and has to fight for this world she loves. There’s a lot of action and twists (many I could never predict) up until the book comes to a satisfying close.

Overall, 'Slay' is a must-read for gaming fans. This is a strong debut for Brittney Morris and I’m looking forward to her future work! Her writing is captivating and heartfelt. 'Slay' is an important read for all teenagers and I hope everyone takes a chance on reading this book even with its faults. It will be released on September 24 so make sure to grab your copy then!

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

Slay was an absolute fun read! It focuses on Kiera Johnson, the 17-year-old creator of a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) called Slay that promotes black excellence and serves a haven for African American people of all sorts. During the day, Kiera is one of four black students that attends Jefferson Academy where she is often forced to be the spokesperson for all African Americans. At night, she’s able to escape into the beautiful world of Slay as Emerald and be unapologetically her. When a player of her game is killed everything takes a turn and for better or for worse the game must be saved.

I fell in love with the book as I got closer and closer to the end. The ending was so unexpected and I really enjoy books that keep you guessing and Slay did just that. The novel oozes black excellence and empowerment while highlighting the subtleties and microaggressions of racism that people of color often experience, the struggle of finding and understanding one’s self, battles of friendship and so much more. I would definitely recommend this as your next read!

"Slay" has to be one of the best books I've ever read. It kept me turning my digital pages all the way to the end. Morris weaves an exciting narrative that explores the nuances of cultural differences, acceptance, and what happens when a community has an opportunity to celebrate it's achievements, mourn it's losses, and bind together through it's differences. I hope this novel has the same impact on the reading community that "Black Panther" had for movie goers and comic book lovers. I cannot recommend this book enough. A definite purchase for my library.

I can't say I'm the target audience for this book, but that didn't keep me from wanting to dive in and play Slay.

I was immediately intrigued by a high school girl developing such a popular game and keeping it a secret from everyone she knows.  And the game!  A safe place where players don't have to hide and can enjoy the freedom to be who they truly are.  Such creative imagery - the characters in the game, the dueling cards, the world within Slay - I can see how this would transfer easily to the big screen.  

Something else I enjoyed are the relationships between Kiera, her sister, Steph and their parents, and Kiera's friendship with Cicada - all loving, humorous, and very relatable.  Her relationship with Harper is a tad strained at times, even though they've been friends since they were children.  Having read The Hate U Give, there are parallels between Starr and Kiera in the way they felt they could never truly be themselves around their white friends.  

When the troll infiltrated the game, I was so ready for him to get what he deserved.  The buildup is tense, infuriating, and completely offensive - and then there's a twist and the situation is dealt with in just a few pages.  I felt a little cheated, like the payoff wasn't big enough.

Even if you're not a gamer, Slayer is an exciting, suspenseful read with some powerful and timely messages.  

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Hands down one of the best YA books this year, SLAY is all about facing opposition with a side of powerful friendships, black pride, and STEM skills. Kiera has a secret: she's the creator of SLAY, an MMO with a massive arena where black gamers can duke it out. This has become an escape for Kiera since she goes to a nearly all white school and feels frequently confronted with her race...but in the game, she can blend in.

Except lots of people in the book slam SLAY as being racist and discriminating with its focus on black player -- and then the duels happen IRL when a man is killed for a dispute in the game.

And everything Kiera has fought to build is now threatened.

I absolutely LOVED the fact that this books about gamers and STEM. And it's about a girl into those things. And I also love how Morris deals with race in this book, showing how it's both an internal and external struggle (outside of and within the black community as well).

I'd actually put this at 3.75 stars, very close to 4. It didn't start that way for me but by the end I was anxious to find out what was going to happen with this duel and with Kiera's relationships with the people close to her. There's so much depth to this book that seems like it could just be a videogaming story but there's lots to discuss/think about due to Morris' layering of themes. And she doesn't provide easy answers for some of the bigger questions such as "Is Slay racist?" Characters are built up enough that they all have good and bad parts with no one coming across as completely good or evil. In fact, they all have plausible motivations for the stupid things they do/say which makes it much more difficult to totally hate any of them. Kinda like real people. And although my students won't bother to read the forward, I love Morris' back story on what inspired her to write this book and I love the idea of Slay which seems like something that is needed in real life.

I just found that this was not the book for me. Thank you to Netgalley for giving me this book to read and review in return. I guess I got intimidated by the cover and title, that I didn't know what I was getting into. I recommend this to any one into the political sense of things.

Brittney Morris’s Slay is a thought-provoking YA novel focusing on empowerment, STEM, and unconditional friendship.

Kiera Johnson has secretly developed a Massively Multiplayer Online Game called Slay, where hundreds of thousands of black gamers duel each other in virtual arenas. It is a card-based game that takes its characters and style from black culture all over the world. From 8-3 she goes a predominately white prep school in Bellevue, Washington, but after school she is able to escape into her creation. In her classes and with her white friends, she is forced to be the voice of her ‘people,’ yet the in the game she can be anonymous Emerald, loved and looked up to for her ingenuity.

Senior year is zipping along and classes are pretty easy. She’s just waiting for her acceptance letters… yet, also dealing with the pressure from her boyfriend, Malcolm, to choose a historical black school in Atlanta. He has a lot of ideas about how African-Americans should act and how they will be able to succeed. Kiera both admires and is annoyed by his constant diatribes.

The turning point in the novel is when a young man in Kansas City is murdered because of a conflict that started in Slay. The story goes coast to coast and even the international press picks it up. Kiera’s game is called racist because of the instructions for users to only invite black players. Her anonymity is threatened and the consequences may just be more deadly than she thinks.

I just love what Morris does with Kiera’s character and the strong group of friends and family that surround her. She is a seventeen-year-old who is having so many conflicts thrown at her every day. Yet, she uses her amazing creativity and mathematic knowledge to code a home for so many in countries all over the world.

Highly recommended for all high school libraries and anyone wanting jump into VR and the our scary real world.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon Pulse, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

Seventeen year old Kiera is an awesome student, with an attentive boyfriend who cares about her and his heritage maybe even more, and she is a queen in the Virtual Reality Game, Slay. She is also one of only three African Americans at her school, where she is often asked to answer for everyone of her heritage, and is always having to act more like the rest of her classmates. But everything changes when a boy, playing Slay is killed over game coin, and all of Slay's secrets come out including that Slay is only for people like her, African Americans. Slay is the only place Kiera feels she can be herself and now people are saying the game is discriminating and racist. Kiera has a huge secret, she made Slay, and now she is scared.

This is such a awesome story line, it is a place I could never go but I would hope if I ever got to have a conversation with Kiera she would entrust me with some codes to hand out at my discretion. I think we all can use a place where we can totally be ourselves without worry or hate. It was nice to loose myself in this world for a while but there where times I wanted to just yell, "what are you thinking" to some of her friends for some of the questions or things they would say. This isn't just a thinking book although it will make you do that, it has its fair share of action and a lot of it, as well as suspense, and twists that will take you right up to the end, oh yeah there is some cool tech stuff too. This is a stay up late at night because you can't put the book down kind of book. By the way, do you eat meat?


This review will appear on my blog on Sept 24th 2019

Kiera Johnson is one of four black kids in her high school. Her white friends are clueless, and often ask questions that require Kiera to be "the voice" of all things black. She spends her days trying to walk the line between both worlds. By night, Kiera is the secret creator and moderator of the VR game SLAY, designed to celebrate black culture. When a boy is killed over a dispute in the game, Kiera's identity and her game are in danger.

SLAY will appeal to a variety of readers, and tackles racism in ways I haven't seen in other books. There are a lot of video game elements, which may be a turnoff to some, but Kiera's humorous tone and the vast inclusion of cultural elements made me truly love this book.