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LIBRARY JOURNAL -- Meg Chancellor's world is fallingapart-her mother has walked out, her father's best friend Cal is sexuallyabusing her younger sister Annie, and her father will do nothing about any ofit. So Meg finds a new online world of paladins and princesses where she canbecome the hero she needs in real life. Eventually, the two worlds cometogether, with Meg taking control and finding hope. Grayson's (Batman)parable first appeared as a GLAAD Award-nominated Vertigo miniseries in 2001 andis set in the mid-1990s when MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) role-playinggames became popular. Meg and Annie are the most multidimensional characters,both fighting their way through their problems in different ways. Bolton's(The Books of Magic) masterly gray-scale brushwork with only touches ofcolor depicts the “real” world, while Phillips's (Criminal)blocky, vividly colored fantasy art creates the online realm as a confusing yetcompelling place. VERDICT This coming of age that can happen at any age revealsour heroine finding power and peers while exploring her own gender fluidity.Seekers age mid-teens and up will empathize and learn from herquest.-MC