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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The description on the front cover says it all: A lovely graphic novel for gamer girls of all ages.
First of all, let me comment on the artwork, because that's absolutely cool!!! Maybe it's just the gamer in me, but the health bars and the loading sign just gave me all the feels. But, I think this book aims to tackle more mature and social/political issues: feminism and poverty, above all. It aims to be an eye-opener, while still keeping the light theme with the events happening during in-game. I just felt that it ended too fast and the story was a bit rushed, but that's what you get from graphic novels, I guess (you don't have much room to put all your thoughts in).
I enjoyed it because I was a gamer girl once upon a time. But I seriously think if it was something I'd enjoy had I not been into online games before...
First of all, let me comment on the artwork, because that's absolutely cool!!! Maybe it's just the gamer in me, but the health bars and the loading sign just gave me all the feels. But, I think this book aims to tackle more mature and social/political issues: feminism and poverty, above all. It aims to be an eye-opener, while still keeping the light theme with the events happening during in-game. I just felt that it ended too fast and the story was a bit rushed, but that's what you get from graphic novels, I guess (you don't have much room to put all your thoughts in).
I enjoyed it because I was a gamer girl once upon a time. But I seriously think if it was something I'd enjoy had I not been into online games before...
I really liked IRL! The art style was really nice and the colours where just lovely. The story was really cool, with a great gaming world and I thought it was super cool.
Would recommend :)
Would recommend :)
This was definitely a "lite" version of the heavy and dramatic concepts covered at length in [b:For the Win|7241373|For the Win|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436386750s/7241373.jpg|7359191], with the additional aspect of it being about a teenage girl who takes a chance on playing a MMORPG as a female character, rather than the male barbarians and warriors she and her friends usually choose for their avatars. She joins a guild of like-minded ladies, but runs into complications when she befriends a Chinese "gold farmer" who plays the game for a living under very poor working conditions. She wants to help this person, but what can she do?
I understand that it gets into a bit of a "white saviour" thing here, but remember its intended audience and point. Doctorow is trying to get first-world kids to think about the exploitation of third worlders. If you want to read about it more from the point of view of the exploited and what they are doing to help themselves, pick up [b:For the Win|7241373|For the Win|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436386750s/7241373.jpg|7359191].
Very interesting, great art, and I read it poolside at a fancy hotel on the 4th of July and it was extreeeeeemely relaxing. Also, bonus points for having the main character be a woman of size whose weight is not played for laughs or even really mentioned.
I understand that it gets into a bit of a "white saviour" thing here, but remember its intended audience and point. Doctorow is trying to get first-world kids to think about the exploitation of third worlders. If you want to read about it more from the point of view of the exploited and what they are doing to help themselves, pick up [b:For the Win|7241373|For the Win|Cory Doctorow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436386750s/7241373.jpg|7359191].
Very interesting, great art, and I read it poolside at a fancy hotel on the 4th of July and it was extreeeeeemely relaxing. Also, bonus points for having the main character be a woman of size whose weight is not played for laughs or even really mentioned.
The story ended up being something completely different than what I thought it would be, but ends up providing an interesting perspective on the whole "white savior" token.
If I could rate the art style by itself, however, I would give this book five stars.
If I could rate the art style by itself, however, I would give this book five stars.
It was the artwork that drove me to this. I really just was attached to it visually. I read the premise and thought "why not?"
Now this wasn't a bad story but it doesn't stand out either. There was a few places where it felt like it was lagging. Maybe it was because some of the events felt a little to "PSA" for me.
Now this wasn't a bad story but it doesn't stand out either. There was a few places where it felt like it was lagging. Maybe it was because some of the events felt a little to "PSA" for me.
In the end, I did enjoy this book. with this said though, I was disappointed. I was very excited when I checked out this book from the library, convinced I would like it after a considerable amount of research. However, although the art was nice, the story was lacking, bland, dull. I wished for more world building in the world of the video game and a more complete end to both storylines. I would read this book again, I love the author's other books, but, I was disappointed.
On first glance, the art is brilliant and inviting, making simply looking at it a pleasure. The message is engaging as well, a solid story about how making connections with people, even ones you think are quite different from you, can profoundly and positively impact your life.
A strong, fun midgrade/YA graphic novel with a super interesting, accessible angle re: privilege, economics, cultural and class differences, workers' rights, etc.