Walking in Two Worlds
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
An Indigenous teen girl is caught between two worlds, both real and virtual, in the YA fantasy debut from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series.
In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe.
Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma.
But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his YA debut, Kinew (The Reason You Walk, for adults), who is Midewin, centers powerful Anishinaabe teen Bagonegiizhigok "Bugz" Holiday, who's "walking in two worlds"—the real and the virtual. On the reservation where she lives with her family, including her elected Chief mother, Bugz is navigating insecurities about her body, her friendships, and her brother's cancer diagnosis. In the Floraverse, a sophisticated near-future virtual reality gaming world "modeled after living, growing things," Bugz is famous, earning micropayments from fans and dominating against the misogynist, racist alt-right group Clan:LESS, who make it a goal to take Bugz out of the game entirely. Using her nation's knowledge to marshal living beings in the 'Verse's natural landscape, Bugz pits herself against the group's artificial technology. But when Feng, part of Clan:LESS, leaves his real-life home in China to escape political persecution, and joins forces with Bugz, she must face her own fears about betrayal and loyalty, and Feng must decide where his loyalties lie—with his new love, Bugz? Or his seemingly loyal friends in Clan:LESS? This smart, entertaining speculative novel gives readers a unique and moving portrait of young life—and the possibilities for gaming life—from a tribally specific corner of the world. Ages 12–up.
