In Real Life

Reviewed by: Mary Lehmer - Freeport Community Library, Freeport, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: June 10, 2015

Review

This graphic novel is about a young girl Anda, that is an awesome gamer. She gets invited to play be part of an MMRPG (Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game). Once in the game she befriends another women player and the 2 begin killing in-game gold farmers. Anda gets to know one of the in-game gold farmers and realizes that what she is doing is wrong and tries to help one of them.

This was an interesting read. The drawings are terrific and the basics of the story are good, but if you are not a gamer, there is not enough explanation of what in-game gold farmers are- these are players that earn in-game money that other players can purchase for real money. What the story line does get across is that the real people behind the gold farmers often live in poor conditions with little pay. Overall this is a good graphic novel that tries to open up the readers’ eyes to a part of gaming many people are unaware of. I would give this almost 4 out of 5 stars. For ages 12 and up.

Overall Book Score: good