A new month brings a new issue of
Locus Magazine, and the
July issue features a review of
Slum Online.
Locus is a paper magazine, so the review isn't online, but here are snippets from it:
The novel (translated from its original 2005 Japanese publication) certainly depicts a way of life that is both science-fictional and increasingly common, with a main character who spends more time in his virtual life than his real life, and who has sufficient emotional investment in both worlds to blur the line between them.
...
Etsuro walks the streets of Shinjuku with Fumiko looking for the blue cat, and Tetsuo stalks the slums of Versus Town in search of Ganker Jack, but in both cases, he’s really searching for a sense of direction, purpose, and self-worth. While not published as a young
adult book, Slum Online would certainly appeal to readers similarly
wrestling with identity on the cusp of adulthood.