Did you know that July 8 is National Video Game Day? To help you celebrate, I’ve rounded up six video game books fans won’t want to miss. Read on!
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
In 2044, reality is ugly. The only way to escape is to log into OASIS, a virtual utopia where you can be anything you want. Teenager Wade Watts lives for OASIS, especially when its creator announces a contest to unlock the digital world’s puzzles in exchange for fame and fortune. But Wade’s skills may not be enough to win, let alone survive, with the entire world competing for the prize.
Ready Player One is probably one of the best-known video game books out there. While it isn’t my favorite book of all time, it’s definitely iconic. It lead to a jam-packed movie adaptation and a 2020 sequel from author Ernest Cline. It’s perfect for video game lovers and connoisseurs of 80s pop culture alike.
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In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang
After an inspirational talk at her school, Anda tries her best to establish a women-only guild in an online game called Coarsehold. Playing as Kali Destroyer, she gets paid to wipe out “gold farmers,” minimum-wage workers from overseas paid to harvest in-game product and sell it to novice gamers for real-world money. Things get more complicated, however, when Anda befriends one of these gold farmers, a poor kid who sells the product to rich players with money to burn. Technically, this is wrong, but Anda soon realizes that what’s right is a lot less straightforward when a real person’s real livelihood is at stake.
This sci-fi graphic novel comes from an acclaimed author/illustrator team. Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang’s work combines a thought-provoking story and beautiful visuals into a quick, impactful read.
Walking in Two Worlds by Wab Kinew
In the real world, Bugz is a shy, self-conscious Indigenous girl navigating teenage angst and life on the Rez. In the virtual world, however, her alter ego is confident and even dominant. Feng is an outsider too. Sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, he doesn’t know where he fits in. As the two meet in both the real and virtual worlds, they have an instant connection. In the face of temptations and pitfalls, however, Bugz and Feng must grapple with community trauma, family challenges and real-world issues.
Walking in Two Worlds is a fairly new work of YA fiction. Published in 2021, it flew under the radar but it’s a great read for anyone who’s ever felt like an outsider and wanted to escape the real world.
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Rabbits by Terry Miles
Rabbits is an alternate reality game so vast, it uses the real world as its canvas. Launched in 1959, nine winners have surfaced. Their identities are unknown, as is the reward; could it be wealth, immortality or the actual secrets of the universe? But the reward may not be worth the risk. Players have died in the past, and more lives may be lost in the eleventh iteration of the game.
This book has become a bestseller in the bookshop I work for. Rabbits is a video game book where the entire world is part of the game, and many people don’t even know they’re playing. Terry Miles’ debut is a mind-bending novel full of cults, conspiracies and coincidences that may just be more than coincidences.
Slay by Brittney Morris
By day, Kiera Johnson is one of the only black college students at Jefferson Academy. At night, however, she joins hundreds of thousands of Black gamers in a secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is actually the game’s developer: not her family, her friends or even her boyfriend. But when a teen is murdered in real life over a dispute in SLAY, the game is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. When the only world in which Kiera can be herself is threatened, she must protect her identity and her game without losing herself in the process.
Slay is fun, smart and complex. Brittney Morris deals with heavy topics including white supremacy and hate crimes while keeping things fast-paced and engaging. It’s a fantastic homage to Black culture through video games.
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Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
On a cold day during their junior year at Harvard, friends Sam Masur and Sadie Green reconnect. They go on to create Ichigo, a wildly successful video game that brings them fame and fortune. But it also brings tragedy and betrayal. Over the course of thirty years, Sam and Sadie fall in and out of each others’ lives and experience the ups and downs of success.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was one of the biggest books of 2022. Gabrielle Zevin’s newest novel is more than just a video game book. It’s a story of shared passions and complicated friendships and ultimately one of forgiveness.
What’s your favorite video game book? Check out some of these, then let us know your suggestions below!
Alex Faccibene is a writer, a bookseller, a children’s library assistant, and the author of exactly one viral tweet. Originally from New York, she’s currently living and working in Lancaster, PA. You can find more of her work at alexfaccibene.com
