Review by Evelyn Hussey
Tundra Books, Penguin Random House, January 2024
247 pages, Hardcover, $23.99 CAD, 9780735269033
Young Adult, ages 12+
Fiction, Science Fiction
Indigenous
This review contains spoilers of Wab Kinew’s first book in this series, Walking in Two Worlds.
The combined effect of the dueling floral racers was of a tower of concentric red and blue spirals shooting up to the heavens at rocket speed. This double-helix recalled the shape of a giant strand of DNA, and it pushed the three ever higher into the clear sky above the Lake of the Torches.
During the flight. Feng whispered to Bugz, “Don’t you think you should rei him in? What if he gets out of control… a singularity sort of thing?”
Nearing the edge of space, Bugz simply smiled at Feng and looked back at the bot she was engaged in this back-and-forth with. She didn’t see a virtual being or an AI, much less a threat to her online world.
Bugz only saw her brother.
In the sequel to Wab Kinew’s first Indigenous futurism novel, Walking in Two Worlds, we are thrown right back into the action with protagonist Bagonegiizhigok “Bugz” Holiday. Bugz, an Anishinaabe teen, is the creator of a virtual reality universe (called the Floraverse), where she, along with hundreds of thousands of users around the world engage in battles, games, and anything they can imagine. Bugz is the most powerful player and the maker of the rules of the universe.
In the first novel, Bugz battles a misogynistic gaming group called Clan:LESS, where she makes friends with Feng, a former member of Clan:LESS and Uyghur Chinese teen, who then becomes her boyfriend. Together they defeated Clan:LESS, who threatened them both in the Floraverse and also the real world. In The Everlasting Road, Bugz is older, and facing real-world hardships: her older brother, Waawaate, has just passed away after losing his battle to cancer. Bugz is overcome with grief and anger, turning to virtual reality to cope. Using her skills and knowledge of the Floraverse, she creates an Artificial Intelligence bot-version of Waawate, who she can now interact with in-game. Bugz is overjoyed at being with her brother, but is unwise to the bot’s growing power and the threat it holds to Floraverse. As Feng watches Bugz ignore the threat the Waawaate-bot holds, their relationship is threatened, too. Bugz must act in both the Floraverse and the real world to save everything she’s created, as well as deal with the hole that has been left after her brother’s death.
Wab Kinew has created a beautiful world that intertwines virtual reality and Anishinaabe culture in a wonderful way. Descriptions of the Floraverse are stunning and I felt myself get sucked into the ‘Verse, captured by Bugz’ adventures. Chapters often ended on cliffhangers, and I was unable to put the book down. This book is action-packed and the reader soars along with Bugz and Feng through the Floraverse. As well, the emotions Bugz experiences are real, and she acts as one affected by grief: angry and devastated by her loss. It is only through self-reflection and character growth that Bugz exhibits resilience after this tragedy. I would have loved to see a similar emotional depth explored in her relationship between with Feng, as it felt less likely that Feng has no reaction to moments where Bugz ignores him. This contributes to an overall feeling that Bugz’ relationships to those around her felt as though they could have used some more development.
Overall this book had excellent world-building that captures the reader’s attention immediately.There is a lot of virtual reality and Floraverse jargon that can be difficult to understand. Readers must be very detail-oriented to follow the timeline of events as the slipping between the ‘Verse and the real world occurs rather quickly, and it can be hard to keep track of, as the lines begin to feel blurred. The Everlasting Road is an exciting sequel to Kinew’s first novel, and I recommend this series to fans of futurism and action novels.
Evelyn Hussey is a BA Psychology student minoring in Creative Writing at UBC. She loves reading memoirs/creative nonfiction as well as realistic fiction. When she is not reading or writing she spends her time rock climbing, binging true crime content, or with her beloved dog, Dipsea.
YOUNG ADULTING 