Glitch Kingdom
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The teenage daughter of an executioner and the traitorous prince she can’t kill must reluctantly join forces to dethrone a paranoid queen after discovering they are trapped in a video game in Sheena Boekweg's fast-paced YA debut, Glitch Kingdom...
Ryo was the golden boy, the prankster prince, but with one stroke of a pen he has lost everything. Dagney and Grigfen were happy as minor members of the court, but when their father, the king's executioner, is branded a traitor, they each must deal in death in order to survive.. McKenna, queen of the enemy realm, has inherited a mission of conquest by assassination, but worries she's not up to the role.
But behind the crowns and masks hides a secret… All of these teens are actually players in the newest, shiniest, most immersive virtual reality video game, competing against each other for a highly coveted internship with a prestigious game developer.
But now this life-changing opportunity has suddenly become a deadly trap. A glitch in the software has locked the players inside the game, and they’ll need to escape before the fantasy world corrupts around them. The only way out is to win.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Teens trapped in a virtual reality fantasy RPG must find a way to escape in this adventure reminiscent of Ready Player One. They were supposed to be competing for an internship at a popular gaming company; instead, the players are dying due to a system glitch that has caused lethal pain levels. To fulfill the game's conditions for victory and escape safely, the last few survivors, among them players Ryo, Dagney, and Grigfen, must reunite the scattered pieces of a legendary suit of armor and place Ryo on the throne. If they don't, the wicked queen a fellow player unaware of the harm she's causing will murder them all in her own quest for victory. As the rotating first-person narrative shifts between the digital game's world and the real world, Boekweg affectionately evokes video game tropes, such as smashing objects for loot, leveling up, and pursuing side quests. Her inclusive cast includes Bluebird, a black girl who has muscular dystrophy and hacks her way into the game; Ryo Takagi, who is Asian-American; and Dagney, who is plus size. While the tale's tight focus limits exploration of its backstory and aftermath, this work focuses on characters' growth, and their interactions and romances, while rehashing the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Ages 13 up.
