The Ruby Code

Khoury (the Skyborn series) layers a future New York City and a role-playing fantasy adventure to create an inventive techno-thriller reminiscent of Ready Player One. White-cued 13-year-old Ashton “Ash” Tyler, beset by bullies at soccer and his widowed mother’s cruel boyfriend at home, increasingly retreats into virtual reality games. After Ash helps a man who is being assaulted, the man gives him a box that turns out to contain a single-player VR game, Glass Realm. As Ash plays, he encounters a shopkeeper named Ruby who seems strangely unlike a non-player character. Alternating chapters follow white-haired, red-gold-eyed Ruby, a resilient teenager gradually resisting a voice ordering her to stay on script. Ash’s arrival helps her to break free, and together they follow a quest to seek the truth about Ruby’s past and her true nature, an arc that soon takes on a new urgency around real-world events. Intrusive drone surveillance and dangerously immersive VR add a cyberpunk feel to a grim setting. Khoury loads tremendous heart into explorations of free will and sentience throughout this fast-paced cross-genre read, which is accessible to gamers and nongamers alike. Context clues suggest racial diversity in the secondary cast. Ages 8–12. Agent: Lucy Carson, Friedrich Agency. (June)