Short summary from Scholastic:
When his uncle disappears in an AI game gone wrong, Yared must search the galaxies—and find his place in a forgotten empire!
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From Kwame Mbalia and Prince Joel David Makonnen comes an Afrofuturist adventure about a mythical Ethiopian empire. Sci-fi and fantasy combine in this epic journey to the stars.
Yared Heywat lives an isolated life in Addis Prime -- a hardscrabble city with rundown tech, lots of rules, and not much to do. His worrywart Uncle Moti and bionic lioness Besa are his only family... and his only friends.
Often in trouble for his thrill-seeking antics and smart mouth, those same qualities make Yared a star player of the underground augmented reality game, The Hunt for Kaleb's Obelisk. But when a change in the game rules prompts Yared to log in with his real name, it triggers an attack that rocks the city. In the chaos, Uncle Moti disappears.
Suddenly, all the stories Yared's uncle told him as a young boy are coming to life, of kingdoms in the sky and city-razing monsters. And somehow Yared is at the center of them.
Together with Besa and the Ibis -- a game rival turned reluctant ally -- Yared must search for his uncle... and answers to his place in a forgotten, galaxy-spanning war.---from the publisher
304 pages 978-1338665857 Ages 9-13
Keywords: science fiction, action/adventure, monsters and ghosts, robots, wars and conflict, African American, African author, African American author, Africa, African folktales, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old, 13 year old, diversity, diverse books, part of a series, reluctant reader
Meet the author: Ethiopian prince Joel David Makonnen https://princeyoel.com/bio
