Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Girl Gone Viral


by Arvin Ahmadi
Viking 2019. 402 pages. Young Adult

In an imaginative near future not too different from our own, coding wiz Opal Hopper must become the internet’s next big sensation in order to win a contest and meet the person who may have answers about her father’s disappearance. A small data hack and a lot of coding later, her virtual reality channel is revealing the ways that internet uses personal data for less than noble ends, garnering the attention of some powerful internet moguls who may not be the type whose radar you want to be on.

An engaging and at times too close to home narrative about the consequences of living our lives online, this cautionary tale feels apt for teens in the information age. Opal’s plight to find out the truth about her father is as compelling as the twist and turns through a virtual world where reality is shrouded by the imagined safety of online anonymity. A gripping read for fans of Ready Player One, Warcross, or the Black Mirror series from Netflix.

RC

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