Back of Book: 

Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role-playing game where she spends most of her free time. It's a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It's a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends.

But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer--a poor Chinese kid whose avatar in the game illegally collects valuable objects and then sells them to players from developed countries with money to burn. This behavior is strictly against the rules in Coarsegold, but Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person's real livelihood is at stake.

From acclaimed teen author (Little Brother, For the Win) and Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow and Koko Be Good creator Jen Wang, In Real Life is a perceptive and high-stakes look at adolescence, gaming, poverty, and culture clash.

Book Number: Stand Alone 

Genre: Young Adult | Graphic Novel | Contemporary 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟

"In Real Life" is the story of a girl named Anda who doesn't quite fit in. Her only escape is into her favorite MMORPG. Here she can be a badass leader instead of her pudgy real-life self. I feel that this book had its heart in the right place, but it also didn't wow me. I loved some of the themes, including women being just as capable as men and accepting yourself for who you are, but that didn't hold up the entirety of the book for me.

Another thing that was interesting in this book was the fact that gold farming in video games was such a major component of the graphic novel, yet wasn't really explored in depth. It was an interesting conflict that was whipped together a little too easily at the end.

One of the things that I found most interesting about this book, is the fact that it was adapted from a short story called "Anda's Game." Personally, I found comparing the story to the book more interesting than actually reading either of them. The story is a bit more graphic and for a more mature audience than the novel, so be warned. If you want to read the story, you can follow this link: https://www.salon.com/2004/11/15/anda...

Overall, I enjoyed the art style and the story of "In Real Life," but I feel like it could have been executed better.

Back of Book: 

Anda loves Coarsegold Online, the massively-multiplayer role playing game that she spends most of her free time on. It’s a place where she can be a leader, a fighter, a hero. It’s a place where she can meet people from all over the world, and make friends. Gaming is, for Anda, entirely a good thing.

But things become a lot more complicated when Anda befriends a gold farmer—and Anda soon comes to realize that questions of right and wrong are a lot less straightforward when a real person’s real livelihood is at stake.

From acclaimed teen author Cory Doctorow and rising star cartoonist Jen Wang, Con/Game is an original comic story set in the world of Doctorow and Wang's In Real Life, a sensitive, thoughtful look at adolescence, gaming, poverty, and culture-clash.

Book Number: 1.5 (Short Story that can be found on Tor.com )

Genre: Young Adult | Graphic Novel | Contemporary 

Review: 🌟🌟

I really didn't get the point of this short story. Despite the fact that the world was already familiar, I felt no attachment to anything that was happening. And besides, its a bummer when your accounts get hacked. NOT cool. If you loved "In Real Life" I would take a gander at this, but beyond that, it is very skippable.

You can read the short story here: https://www.tor.com/2015/04/30/con-ga...