The Ruby Code

By: Jessica Khoury

Narrated by: Andrew Russell, Taylor Meskimen

From Jessica Khoury comes a high-action sci-fi adventure about a video game AI come to life. Warcross meets Ready Player One in this thriller set in a high-tech near future.

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.

©2023 Jessica Khoury (P)2023 Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC AUDIOBOOKS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

So goodddd!!!

Everything was so spot on and made me want to listen to it more! I would recommend this book too anyone who loves video games! :)

Amazing

Loved the book, the voices felt right, and the overall story was a great listen

A dystopian tale... with a hopeful ending!

All the best interactive world building of Ready: Player One, without the 80s kitsch! Brilliant!

Interesting concept

The idea behind the story was good, but the characters seemed superficial and the story rushed.

A Compelling Adventure

This was a fantastic story! It was entertaining and and easy to listen to, while also tackling some tough topics and bringing in some good lessons. Both narrators also did a fantastic job! If you haven’t already, I also highly recommend reading the Mystic School of Musicraft. This same author creates a truly magical tale in that book as well!