Cover of “The Ruby Code” by Jessica Khoury.I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “The Ruby Code” by Jessica Khoury! Here’s a quick summary so we know what it’s about:
“Bullied at school and home, Ash finds respite from his unhappy life in virtual reality games. One night, he spends his meager savings to help a stranger, who thanks him with a copy of an old fantasy game called The Glass Realm . While exploring the game, Ash meets a seemingly humble shopkeeper named Ruby. But from the start, Ruby seems different than the other townsfolk―especially when she and Ash stumble across an in-game quest designed not for the player, but for Ruby to solve.
When Ruby begins developing powerful abilities that can rewrite the very code of the game, they realize she is far more than a pre-programmed side character. Following the quest left for her in The Glass Realm , the pair discover that Ruby is actually a sentient AI who’s been hidden inside the game. Originally built as a weapon, her developer stole her from his employers and hid her away, hoping to keep her safe. That safety vanishes when Ash and Ruby are targeted by the powerful shadow organization who funded Ruby’s development, and who would use her to spark a world war to rack up huge profits.
Caught in a deadly game that blurs the lines between real and virtual, Ash and Ruby must flee for their lives. If they lose this game―they might just doom the world.”
Plot Development: 5 out of 5 stars
Think of this book as taking some heavy inspiration from the movie Spy Kids 3 and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. The main boy, Ash, meets Ruby after playing a game that a stranger gave him early in the story. However…Ruby isn’t a normal NPC. She’s an AI, and her backstory has bigger secrets that she nor Ash ever expected.
Though there is much adventuring in the virtual world, it also bleeds into the real world. Ash is forced on the run after agents of Synthos pursue him and Ruby. This goes as far as forcing Ruby to erase Ash’s existence from the online world. This was in order to keep his tracks covered. After things are resolved, she does restore his identity and existence online. It was fun to see the back-and-forth momentum between dealing with issues in the virtual and real worlds.
Character Development: 5 out of 5 stars
Ash and Ruby were so fun to read through the whole book. They learned a lot about themselves and each other. They also were supportive of each other when going through all their difficult situations in the book. Ash had his own internal struggles about his own self-esteem, what power and choices he has to help himself and others. It was great to see him grow stronger as a person. Ruby, meanwhile, learned to embrace more of herself, her past, and stand on her own two feet as her own person.
There are two main antagonists. One of them is obvious Matthew Hague, head of Synthos. Matthew worked with Ruby’s creator, and planned some diabolical things (though I won’t share what that is since that’s a major spoiler). He was smart and cunning as a villain, and I appreciated him being such throughout the book. He kept Ash, Ruby, and me as a reader on our toes.
The other main antagonist is Luke, Ash’s mother’s boyfriend. He doesn’t have much of a role in the main plot, but he takes over Ash’s subplot. He’s a very realistic depiction of an abusive parental figure. He came off as a great person on the outside to others (specifically Ash’s mom). However, he was terrible to those who know him better behind closed doors (Ash in this case). He’s also shown to be manipulative through how he treats Ash and how he planned to treat Ash’s mother if Ash didn’t behave according to his standards.
We don’t get to read Ash later dramatically revealing everything about Luke to his mom. We read Ash discussing the incident post-confrontation briefly in the last chapter and the aftermath. This thankfully ends with Ash’s mom dumping Luke and moving out with Ash to a new place. However, I think this made sense given that most of the story’s emphasis was on Ash dealing with the main plot problems. Ash’s dealing with Luke’s horrible actions was ultimately a sideplot that added to the main story, albeit a good one.
Worldbuilding Development: 4 out of 5 stars
The worldbuilding of the virtual world and how it affected the real world, and vice versa, was fun to read. I also enjoyed the book slowly revealing how Ruby was created and what affected her programming too. It wasn’t too overwhelming for me to understand.
However, I wish that the book explored a bit more of the game’s world. There wasn’t a lot of time given tot hat before the story dove deep into the main plot. I wasn’t necessarily confused by the concepts introduced later on. But I wish they were introduced a little sooner so I could more easily understand the main story as it kept going on.
Overall, I’m rating this book 4.5 out of 5 stars!
This was a really fun read overall. It will definitely appeal to sci-fi fans and gamers alike, in terms of readers!
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