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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Although the art was good, the story is not very original. It's like trying to use concepts like economy, gaming, social justice and feminism and putting them to practise: but in a very tattered way.
It felt, instead of revolutionary and a good entertaining read, a bit forced. As if they sat and thought "what would sell and feel like something people might read?" instead of doing a piece of work that actually was thought out and brought from the heart.
I don't know. Maybe videogames and cutesy comics are something we get a lot of in tumblr and therefore has lost some appeal to me, but after the last comic I read, Into The Wood, and comparing the singularity and amazingness that the comic entailed, this one falls short with a typical ending and a too sweetened message.
It felt, instead of revolutionary and a good entertaining read, a bit forced. As if they sat and thought "what would sell and feel like something people might read?" instead of doing a piece of work that actually was thought out and brought from the heart.
I don't know. Maybe videogames and cutesy comics are something we get a lot of in tumblr and therefore has lost some appeal to me, but after the last comic I read, Into The Wood, and comparing the singularity and amazingness that the comic entailed, this one falls short with a typical ending and a too sweetened message.
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Cute story. The artwork was great. The plot felt a little but rushed but I liked that it was about empowering g girls to embrace their gamer-nerd side.
This is pretty cute!
There are some great things in this book:
1) Anda could be any girl. She's chunky with brown hair and not-white skin. She could represent pretty much any non-standard teenage female, especially any gamer girl (in that she's not the petite, blonde cheerleader type)(which isn't to say petite, blonde cheerleaders don't play video games; I'm sure plenty of them do but that look is not the stereotype for girls who are geeks and this story is not about busting cheerleader stereotypes)
2) Anda has two parents and no Terrible Thing happening in her household. Her parents are concerned that she plays online games but they support her in her endeavors as long as she plays responsibly.
3) OMG! The character creator comes with an option to choose your outfit! Not your class or your job but your OUTFIT! I like to pretend that it's like choosing your style so that every time wearable armor drops, it will turn into Your Style once you equip it! So if your style is punk and you pick up a chest plate and put it on, you have a punked out chest plate. However, if your friend is AsianFusion and puts on the same chest plate, her chest plate looks AsianFusion! How cool would that be? I would totally love that.
um, that's not part of the story. It's just something I saw and got excited over after letting my imagination run away with me.
4) Girls in games and tech (which is sort of the point of this story, actually) A big-name gamer woman comes to talk to Anda's programming class, which is taught by a female teacher. There are at least three girls in the programming class and the guys in class don't seem to have a problem with there being girls learning to program. The students just treat each other as students...as should be. Though, the Geek Squad does get all uppity at lunchtime when a preppy girl tries to bridge their social cultures so there's still inequality that needs to be addressed, but that comes later.
There are also some things that left a frown on my face.
1) Even though everything is spelled-out (literally: The cover says In Real Life with faded white IRL underneath. OMG! IRL = In Real Life! See? Spelled out), it seems that perhaps a reader unfamiliar with games, in general, and MMORPGs in particular, might be confused by a lot of what goes on in this story. To me, that means that this is aimed at a gaming audience, specifically girls who may feel alienated by their gaming peers, and not at the general populace. There's no doubt that gamer girls need to see representation in entertainment just as much as any non-white, non-middle-to-upper-class, non-gender-normative, non-perfectly-able-in-every-way, marginalized individual needs to see representation but it is just as true that the rest of us white, middle-to-upper class, CIS, able-in-every-way, non-marginilized viewers and readers also need to see everyone else being represented so that we maybe stop thinking we're the center of the world (no, I know we don't think we're the center of the world. Well, maybe some of us do. Ok, I am totally the center of my world. But you know what I mean) Preaching to the choir doesn't really help fix issues among the people wandering around outside the church, ya know? My long-winded point being: This is a fantastic, uplifting story for young gamers, especially girls, but it may not do much for anyone else so will not be able to help bridge communication, empathy, other noble feelings and actions between said gamers and those who don't understand the whole gamer community or, more importantly, the female gamer community.
Wow. What a diatribe! Apparently, this is something I feel strongly about. I didn't know. And I don't have any suggestions as how this could have been more user-friendly to non-gamers. I just know that my sister couldn't read this and appreciate it even though she has a daughter like Anda. It would bore her to tears (except for the parts with the parents. She'd like those parts)
2) This part is totally just me going nutso, but, I was a bit weirded-out that the two main female avatars are running around with pink knees. I know that giving pink knees to illustrated children is a thing but this seemed a bit derogatory. I KNOW it wasn't meant to be but, man, it bugged me. To be fair, there aren't a lot of other bare knees with which to compare and when there are other instances of other female avatar knees being pink, they're not consistent. We don't get to see if male avatar knees are pink. Again, this is me jumping to crazyass conclusions and I know that but I still wanted to point out that the damned pink knees bothered the hell out of me. I didn't think it a was a cute, rough-n-tumble kid representation; I read sinister undertones (that probably weren't there) because I was looking at this with way too critical an eye.
3) The whole paid mission idea. So this must be a real thing? I mean, gold farmers are a real thing and that they can mess up a gaming system is a real thing. At the very least, they allow for people with money to buy power, unbalancing what would be the natural flow of the game. However, IRL, people with money buy power, don't they? So...ok, this isn't my soapbox. It's good to know that gold farmers are people, too, and work in sweatshops and their lives suck. I don't understand how killing these farmers is worth real-time money, though, especially when they can just res and keep going. If you can't steal player loot, then there's no point killing the farmer, right?
4) Speaking of, are there still online games that let you loot player corpses? I thought that had gone out the window eons ago? Just an FYI: I am STILL bitter about losing my super awesome cloak of invisibility and other cool attributes (one of two in existence) to a ganker in a MUD. 20 years ago. I carry my grudges long and hard. Anyway, that made me tilt my head and go, "Huh? You can loot player corpses? When did this start happening again? I want my cloak back, you asshole!" Obviously, this book confuses even those who have a passing knowledge of veedeoh games.
5) I'd have liked a little more character depth, not just in Anda but in Lucy, (and, um, NO! Unless you were friends first, outside the game, you don't call each other by your real names ingame! You call each other by your game names. And then you usually become friends with your guildmates and you still call them by their gamenames even when you're not ingame) and in Anda's friends at school. Here's why: relationships matter. Girls have relationships, even geeky gamer girls. It would be nice to see that represented in a positive light, for a change. So many J and YA stories for girls highlight toxic relationships. Why not show the value of a solid, good friendship? But in order to do that, you've got to give characters depth, show the connections between them, and all that other writerly stuff.
Whew. This is getting ridiculous and long. Why do I have so much to say about this book? I think it's because I wish I would have had something like it when I was a young woman. Ok, when I was in college. Though, I probably wouldn't have liked this in college because, at that time, I tried to be highbrow and snotty. I read a lot of Chaucer. I wouldn't have been reading graphic novels. I totally abandoned comics (except Sandman) during that time.
And I'm not even done with my expoundary!
Here are some things I noticed in general.
1) I don't think it's an accident that AndaIRL looks like a Ghibli character.
2) CoarseGold (bwahahaha!) Online looks pretty awesome, actually. It's got a lot of stuff going on - specialized housing, buyable land (apparently), the ability to play invisible (Anda ditches Lucy, saying she has to go to dinner, but just goes somewhere else ingame and Lucy doesn't say, "Um, I see you're still online, dumbass. I thought you were going to dinner")
Dude, I'm going to shut up now. I've rambled for far too long over this.
Main point: I liked it, it's cute. I'd have personally liked it to be stronger in areas. Regardless, I'd still recommend it to people who like video games and/or feminism and/or have children who play online.
There are some great things in this book:
1) Anda could be any girl. She's chunky with brown hair and not-white skin. She could represent pretty much any non-standard teenage female, especially any gamer girl (in that she's not the petite, blonde cheerleader type)(which isn't to say petite, blonde cheerleaders don't play video games; I'm sure plenty of them do but that look is not the stereotype for girls who are geeks and this story is not about busting cheerleader stereotypes)
2) Anda has two parents and no Terrible Thing happening in her household. Her parents are concerned that she plays online games but they support her in her endeavors as long as she plays responsibly.
Spoiler
When it seems she is not doing so, Mom revokes her priveleges. Anda doesn't freak out and go on a murder spree or turn into a vampire, she sulks and deals with it. I liked that.3) OMG! The character creator comes with an option to choose your outfit! Not your class or your job but your OUTFIT! I like to pretend that it's like choosing your style so that every time wearable armor drops, it will turn into Your Style once you equip it! So if your style is punk and you pick up a chest plate and put it on, you have a punked out chest plate. However, if your friend is AsianFusion and puts on the same chest plate, her chest plate looks AsianFusion! How cool would that be? I would totally love that.
um, that's not part of the story. It's just something I saw and got excited over after letting my imagination run away with me.
4) Girls in games and tech (which is sort of the point of this story, actually) A big-name gamer woman comes to talk to Anda's programming class, which is taught by a female teacher. There are at least three girls in the programming class and the guys in class don't seem to have a problem with there being girls learning to program. The students just treat each other as students...as should be. Though, the Geek Squad does get all uppity at lunchtime when a preppy girl tries to bridge their social cultures so there's still inequality that needs to be addressed, but that comes later.
There are also some things that left a frown on my face.
1) Even though everything is spelled-out (literally: The cover says In Real Life with faded white IRL underneath. OMG! IRL = In Real Life! See? Spelled out), it seems that perhaps a reader unfamiliar with games, in general, and MMORPGs in particular, might be confused by a lot of what goes on in this story. To me, that means that this is aimed at a gaming audience, specifically girls who may feel alienated by their gaming peers, and not at the general populace. There's no doubt that gamer girls need to see representation in entertainment just as much as any non-white, non-middle-to-upper-class, non-gender-normative, non-perfectly-able-in-every-way, marginalized individual needs to see representation but it is just as true that the rest of us white, middle-to-upper class, CIS, able-in-every-way, non-marginilized viewers and readers also need to see everyone else being represented so that we maybe stop thinking we're the center of the world (no, I know we don't think we're the center of the world. Well, maybe some of us do. Ok, I am totally the center of my world. But you know what I mean) Preaching to the choir doesn't really help fix issues among the people wandering around outside the church, ya know? My long-winded point being: This is a fantastic, uplifting story for young gamers, especially girls, but it may not do much for anyone else so will not be able to help bridge communication, empathy, other noble feelings and actions between said gamers and those who don't understand the whole gamer community or, more importantly, the female gamer community.
Wow. What a diatribe! Apparently, this is something I feel strongly about. I didn't know. And I don't have any suggestions as how this could have been more user-friendly to non-gamers. I just know that my sister couldn't read this and appreciate it even though she has a daughter like Anda. It would bore her to tears (except for the parts with the parents. She'd like those parts)
2) This part is totally just me going nutso, but, I was a bit weirded-out that the two main female avatars are running around with pink knees. I know that giving pink knees to illustrated children is a thing but this seemed a bit derogatory. I KNOW it wasn't meant to be but, man, it bugged me. To be fair, there aren't a lot of other bare knees with which to compare and when there are other instances of other female avatar knees being pink, they're not consistent. We don't get to see if male avatar knees are pink. Again, this is me jumping to crazyass conclusions and I know that but I still wanted to point out that the damned pink knees bothered the hell out of me. I didn't think it a was a cute, rough-n-tumble kid representation; I read sinister undertones (that probably weren't there) because I was looking at this with way too critical an eye.
3) The whole paid mission idea. So this must be a real thing? I mean, gold farmers are a real thing and that they can mess up a gaming system is a real thing. At the very least, they allow for people with money to buy power, unbalancing what would be the natural flow of the game. However, IRL, people with money buy power, don't they? So...ok, this isn't my soapbox. It's good to know that gold farmers are people, too, and work in sweatshops and their lives suck. I don't understand how killing these farmers is worth real-time money, though, especially when they can just res and keep going. If you can't steal player loot, then there's no point killing the farmer, right?
4) Speaking of, are there still online games that let you loot player corpses? I thought that had gone out the window eons ago? Just an FYI: I am STILL bitter about losing my super awesome cloak of invisibility and other cool attributes (one of two in existence) to a ganker in a MUD. 20 years ago. I carry my grudges long and hard. Anyway, that made me tilt my head and go, "Huh? You can loot player corpses? When did this start happening again? I want my cloak back, you asshole!" Obviously, this book confuses even those who have a passing knowledge of veedeoh games.
5) I'd have liked a little more character depth, not just in Anda but in Lucy, (and, um, NO! Unless you were friends first, outside the game, you don't call each other by your real names ingame! You call each other by your game names. And then you usually become friends with your guildmates and you still call them by their gamenames even when you're not ingame) and in Anda's friends at school. Here's why: relationships matter. Girls have relationships, even geeky gamer girls. It would be nice to see that represented in a positive light, for a change. So many J and YA stories for girls highlight toxic relationships. Why not show the value of a solid, good friendship? But in order to do that, you've got to give characters depth, show the connections between them, and all that other writerly stuff.
Whew. This is getting ridiculous and long. Why do I have so much to say about this book? I think it's because I wish I would have had something like it when I was a young woman. Ok, when I was in college. Though, I probably wouldn't have liked this in college because, at that time, I tried to be highbrow and snotty. I read a lot of Chaucer. I wouldn't have been reading graphic novels. I totally abandoned comics (except Sandman) during that time.
And I'm not even done with my expoundary!
Here are some things I noticed in general.
1) I don't think it's an accident that AndaIRL looks like a Ghibli character.
2) CoarseGold (bwahahaha!) Online looks pretty awesome, actually. It's got a lot of stuff going on - specialized housing, buyable land (apparently), the ability to play invisible (Anda ditches Lucy, saying she has to go to dinner, but just goes somewhere else ingame and Lucy doesn't say, "Um, I see you're still online, dumbass. I thought you were going to dinner")
Dude, I'm going to shut up now. I've rambled for far too long over this.
Main point: I liked it, it's cute. I'd have personally liked it to be stronger in areas. Regardless, I'd still recommend it to people who like video games and/or feminism and/or have children who play online.
I loved that this book highlighted the awesomeness of females in gaming! It also discusses politics and economics, the differences between America and China in terms of economy and classes. I think many girls and teens will be able to relate to this book.
I liked that the main character wasn't a perfect person, she wasn't extremely popular, or a complete recluse. She was kindhearted, personable, and caring.
I liked that the main character wasn't a perfect person, she wasn't extremely popular, or a complete recluse. She was kindhearted, personable, and caring.
Read this because my daughter had brought it home from the library and I've liked Doctorow stuff in the past.
This was fun, I hope my kid enjoys it as much as I did honestly.
This was fun, I hope my kid enjoys it as much as I did honestly.
I really enjoyed this graphic novel. The story is about a girl who joins an online game and learns some hard life lessons. She grows as a person and a gamer and is rewarded for the growth by the end of the story. Great graphical novel and story line. Another book I would not have read if I was not participating in the Read Harder Challenge.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
