Description
"A highly engaging journey of connection and transformation and an innovative read for this present age."
-Rita Williams-Garcia, Newbery Honor author of One Crazy Summer
Welcome to The Vale, a world that grows by the power of imagination
A magical new phenomenon from the New York Times bestselling author and executive producer of the Loveboat, Taipei series (adapted to the Netflix film Love in Taipei).
Thirteen-year-old Bran Joseph Lee has spent half his life building the Vale, an immersive, AI-generated, virtual-reality environment using technology created by his inventor parents. It's a lush fantasy world complete with a Blue Forest, a Castle, and adventures with his mushroom-obsessed Elf named Gnomly-a much better place to spend his days compared to his real life, where his parents have suffered through the failed launches of one invention after another.
Bran wants nothing more than to see his Elves come fully to life, a hope that seems on the brink of reality when he enters the Vale in a multi-million-dollar competition to fund its further development. But instead, things in the Vale begin to go wrong: The sunlight is fading. A beautiful girl appears from nowhere. A wizard is stealing from the Vale's inhabitants. And the strangest part of all is that none of this is the young inventor's doing.
Can Bran and Gnomly uncover the truth of what is happening before both their worlds are destroyed?
Look out for The Vale-Origins, the short film prequel to The Vale starring three-time Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, coming to film festivals and screenings near you!
"Exposes both the wonder of AI and its pitfalls, and the elastic boundary between. Storytelling at its best!"
-Kathi Appelt, National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honor author of The Underneath
About the Author
Abigail Hing Wen is a tech leader, filmmaker and the New York Times bestselling author of the Loveboat, Taipei series. She executive produced the Paramount+ book-to-film adaptation Love In Taipei, a romantic comedy starring Ashley Liao and Ross Butler now out on Netflix August 9, 2024. Abigail holds a BA from Harvard, where she took coursework in film, ethnic studies and government. In her career in tech, she has negotiated multibillion dollar deals on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, worked in venture capital and hosted Intel's Artificial Intelligence podcast. She and her work have been profiled in Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC News, Forbes, Fortune, Cosmopolitan, Bloomberg, Google Talk, People en Espanol and the World Journal, among others. Abigail lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yuna Cheong works in various mediums, including digital illustration, sculpting, and traditional painting. Her artistic style features vibrant colors and imaginative storytelling that captures the essence of people's stories and emotions. Yuna has done design and fabrication work for clients and projects such as Citi, Make Us Visible, Pedalpalooza, Netflix's stop-motion animation feature film Wendell and Wild, short animated film Brim Broome Boulevard, and various commercials. Yuna currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Brandon Wu is a character designer whose work has appeared with Disney Television Animation, Netflix, and Cartoon Network. Drawing from his Asian American heritage, Brandon aims to bring an inclusive approach to character design. When he's not drawing, Brandon is looking for new books to collect or playing the one song he knows on the piano. He studied at CalArts. The Vale is his debut as a novel illustrator. He is based in Los Angeles.
Reviews
Praise for Abigail Hing Wen:
"An entertaining and heartfelt debut..."
-Kirkus Reviews, on Loveboat, Taipei
"Taipei in the summer provides a winning backdrop to this joyful debut."
-Publishers Weekly, on Loveboat, Taipei
"Abigail Hing Wen's Loveboat, Taipei is a poignant and honest examination of first love, family obligations, and that strange place between high school and college...a unique story from an exciting and authentic new voice."
-Sabaa Tahir, #1 New York Times bestselling author of An Ember in the Ashes
"Equal parts surprising, original, and intelligent, Loveboat Taipei is an intense rush of rebellion, romance, and complex family dynamics."
-Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Caraval series
"Beautifully wrought and lovely."
-Anne Ursu, author of the National Book Award longlisted novel, The Real Boy
Book Information
ISBN 9798890130310
Author Abigail Hing Wen
Format Hardback
Imprint Third State Books Inc.
Publisher Third State Books Inc.
