In Real Life by Cory Doctorow (ARC) - Review

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I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Anda spends most of her free time playing Coarsegold Online, an MMORPG, where she can be a hero, meet people from all over the world, and make new friends. Things get complicated when she meets a gold farmer in the game. A poor Chinese kid plays the avatar who's job it is to collect valuable items in the game and sell them to players with money to burn. That's strictly against the rules of the game, but Anda quickly begins to realize that these things are less straightforward when a real person's livelihood is at stake in real life.

I don't know how, but this is the first story by Cory Doctorow that I've ever read. I know, I can'be believe it either. Either way, In Real Life is a pretty great graphic novel. It's a lot of fun with all with quite a sense of adventure and it's good seeing Anda begin to come into her own as the story progresses. Doctorow also uses this story to discuss more difficult topics, like poverty, culture clash, harsh working conditions, and exploitation. The author manages to successfully work with a fair bit during the short amount of time we're with these characters and he makes it really engaging while he's at it. By the way the art style perfectly fits the tone of the story, both in the game and in real life scenes. Overall, In Real Life is a good introduction to the work Cory Doctorow. If you like the work of Noelle Stevenson and Gene Luen Yang, then I have a feeling you may also enjoy this new graphic novel. I know I will definitely be back for more of Doctorow's earlier novels.

Thanks again, NetGalley!
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I read this graphic novel ARC on January 8, 2018 and my review is also on Goodreads.