Literary Scene

A debut book, a political thriller, and a witchy and wonderous story are this month’s picks

By Ryan G. Van Cleave

Slay
by Brittney Morris

Billed as Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give, Brittney Morris’ debut novel is ambitious, exploring the connections and intersections between community, social justice, and diaspora. It’s the story of seventeen-year-old honors student Kiera Johnson who runs into a real-world internet troll who’s fully committed to trashing the Black Panther-inspired video game she made called SLAY. Equally troublesome is that the troll’s efforts are threating the safe community SLAY provides for Black gamers as they duel online via their Nubian avatars.

Kiera is the best type of story hero. She’s compassionate, tough, and capable, plus her passion for gaming is contagious (even to non-gamers, so say my non-gamer friends who’ve read SLAY). Kiera’s also got a deep love for others that’s beautiful to see in action. Toss in a believable love-hate (mostly love) relationship with her sister, Steph, and I’m a fan—Kiera is terrific.

In a recent interview, Morris explained some of her motivation for writing this book, saying, “I wrote SLAY for Black teens who live between worlds as I did, who feel pressure to be one version of themselves at work or school, and only get to be themselves among people who share their experiences.” She scores on all these points, for sure.

While there are some of the usual first/early-book issues here (some super-chunky paragraphs, a few erratic point-of-view maneuvers, some pacing concerns where things resolve one beat too fast, and the plot hiccup of having Kiera create and run SLAY for years without her friends or anyone else knowing—I work at an art college, and I know the endless hours of coding, bug-fixing, character rigging, etc. that anything short of a huge team couldn’t manage), it’s ultimately an empowering, relevant, and, highly-readable book that will resonate with readers of all ages. And let’s not ignore how the gaming scenes are exciting, the story is sex positive, and it prompts the discussion of our right to safe spaces—three very good things for any book, debut or otherwise!

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

AuthorBrittneyMorris.com

Let Justice Descend:
A Gardiner and Renner Thriller
by Lisa Black

Leave it to a forensic scientist like Fort Myers, FL author Lisa Black to write a thriller that feels authentic in a way that so many books and cop TV shows do not. Let Justice Descend, the fifth in the Gardiner and Renner series, is set in the world of high-stakes finance. Cleveland forensic investigator Maggie Gardiner is called in to figure out how, three days before an election, a US Senator got electrocuted on her own doorstep.

Everyone wants to blame the senator’s rival, Joey Green, a shady city development director, who’s running as the Democratic candidate for her seat in the US senate. Though Maggie thinks him capable of such a thing (“he’s been bribing, extorting, and corrupting his way through Cleveland government for a long time”), she and homicide detective Jack Renner harbor different ideas after finding too much cash in the senator’s safe, which leads to even more suspects and more possible trails to follow.

Ultimately, Maggie and her partner, Thomas Riley, want to put this killer behind bars. Jack doesn’t want that, since his idea of justice is quietly killing those he deems worthy of death—to make the world a safer place, he claims. Worse, a Herald reporter is coming close to figuring out and running with that story. Meanwhile, the bodies continue to drop. Will the alliance of Maggie and Jack hold long enough for them to solve the case? Time is ticking away, and as Maggie notes in her discussion with Riley, other problems are making things tough all around.

“Great,” Riley said, “so now the people closest to the victim are lying to us.”

“Everybody lies,” Maggie said before she realized it, and this time it did feel personal.

The story moves along fairly well, and the forensic science is, as always, as compelling as an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds. While the ending might be less than explosive for astute readers used to sleuthing things out faster than the characters might, this is solid crime story fare.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Lisa-Black.com

Mooncakes
by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker

Let’s start with the obvious—this young adult fantasy graphic narrative is witchy and wonderous, with wildly good art. There are two (essentially) main characters, as well. Nova, who is Chinese-American (and hard of hearing) and dealing with the devastating loss of her parents while living with her two grandmothers. The other is the punster Tam, who’s also Chinese-American, but Tam’s a nonbinary werewolf who recently left their family because that family couldn’t accept them.

Clearly, issues with parents are at the heart of both character’s trauma, so it only makes sense that the come together for deeply-needed support. As Wendy and Suzanne offer in a note at the front of the book, “Mooncakes is a story of reunion—two childhood crushes who find each other again and find out whether their friendship could be something more.” Add in some supernatural mysteries and horse demons and you’ve got conflict aplenty.

Now, let’s consider the less obvious aspects of the book. (1) The specifics of the magic system are a bit underdeveloped (2) The backgrounds of the characters feel a bit thin beyond the obvious elements (see above). (3) There’s a bit of the “insta love” trope in operation here.

Still, there’s much to admire in this old-fashioned love story with a contemporary, magical twist. For anyone looking for a YA tale that fully embraces diversity, this might be an ideal fit.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

ArtofWendyXu.com
SuzanneWakeenWalker.com