Book Review: IRL: In Real Life, Graphic Novel
Author: Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang
IRL, simply read,
is a story of a young girl who gets hooked on gaming, meets people on the other
side of the world and is exposed to a culture she never comprehended. The graphic novel sets out to explore the
multiple dynamics of online gaming on a global scale. From Gender inequality, social
economics, bullying and employee rights, this novel attempts to open the
conversation of such topics through a medium completely familiar to young
adults today – online gaming.
While the novel is a great conversation starter for these
topics, it fell short on character development and narrative depth. It attempted to address too many issues in
one short novel and instead left me feeling unsatisfied with the moral compass
of it all.
The introduction by author Cory Doctorow was insightful and
led me to trust that great thought and care had been taken to develop a unique
endeavor for a YA graphic novel; while his intentions were commendable, the
graphic novel did not level up to my
expectations.
Teen Readers Advisory
Valerie
Orillia Public Library
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