Walking in Two Worlds

By: Wab Kinew

Narrated by: Joelle Peters, Wab Kinew

Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

An Indigenous teen girl is caught between two worlds, both real and virtual, in the YA fantasy debut from bestselling Indigenous author Wab Kinew. Perfect for fans of Ready Player One and the Otherworld series.

In the real world, Bugz is a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe.

Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma.

But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.

©2021 Wab Kinew (P)2021 Penguin Teen

Critic reviews

2022, Aurora Award - Best YA Novel, Winner

2022, First Nations Communities Read Award, Long-listed

2023, Red Maple Award, Nominated

"With dizzying action set in virtual reality, Walking in Two Worlds is at once exhilarating, clever, and poignant, seamlessly blending traditional knowledge with science fiction for an important entry into the genre of Indigenous Futurism. It doesn't just walk in two worlds, it sprints." (David A. Robertson, award-winning author of the bestselling The Barren Grounds)

"Walking in Two Worlds is overall a powerful reading experience, thought-provoking, and emotional by turns." (Quill & Quire)

YA Commercial Fiction

I enjoyed parts and pieces of this book, but did not enjoy the whole of the novel. Specifically, the dynamics, interactions, and relationships building between the protagonist and her family and friends were aspects I found to be interesting and engaging. On the other hand, I found the protagonist's arc to be disappointingly shallow and her growth to be stunted... perhaps this will be a thread that is continued in the next volume(s). Chapters taking place in the 'verse did nothing for me.