Top 5 books on future tech and video game fiction, chosen by star YA author Triona Campbell

As a young adult fiction writer and creator of TV series Gamer Mode, Triona Campbell knows a thing or two about fiction inspired by tech. Here she picks five favourites.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin is the youngest of three siblings, all of them the result of government genetic experiments aimed at creating the perfect leader to defend Earth from alien attack. Transferred to a Battle School, Ender moves up the ranks by winning war games, but what if they aren’t simulations? 

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams 

Arthur Dent is the last human, having survived the destruction of Earth. The series follows his hilarious misadventures as he and an alien, Ford Prefect, hitchhike around the Galaxy looking for the answer to the ultimate question (of life, the universe and everything).  

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 

Wade Watts is a teenage orphan on a quest to win a contest created by the deceased creator of ‘The Oasis’ – a virtual world used by people to escape the horror of their everyday lives. Wade must risk everything, but dark forces with other plans are closing in.

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The Warcross series by Marie Lu  

In a futuristic New York, Emika Chen hacks into Warcross, a VR combat game created by young billionaire, Hideo Tanaka. Fearing jail if she refuses, she accepts an offer to become his spy and uncovers a sinister plot with major consequences. 

SLAY by Brittney Morris

A young developer has to protect the popular role playing game she created – SLAY. But as the game is labelled a racist, violent hub for criminals, she must keep her secret identity hidden while protecting the game, harnessing what it means to be black in a world intimidated by blackness. 

The Traitor in the Game by Triona Campbell (£8.99, Scholastic) is out now. You can buy these titles, from The Big Issue shop on Bookshop.org, which helps to support The Big Issue and independent bookshops.
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