Review: In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang

Published October 14th 2014

“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.”

I loved this graphic novel. It was so wonderful and fantastic and all the other positive words that I can use.

I loved the artwork and all the colors that were used. It really made each page fun and exciting.

I loved the concept of the novel as well. It really showed that not everyone is as fortunate as some and right and wrong are sometimes are so black and white.

I loved, loved how wonderfully this graphic novel showed female gamers in such a positive and realistic way.

Anda was such an awesome protagonist. She was super relatable and well written.

The only thing that I wish was different was the length. It was pretty short and it could definitely have been longer.

Overall, I recommend this graphic novel to everyone. If you regularly read graphic novels or you’re just starting out, pick up In Real Life. It’s so much fun and has beautiful artwork. I’ll be rereading this for sure.