The Vale

"Ambitious . . . themes of family, friendship, and personal integrity shine."
--Kirkus Reviews

"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

Author: Abigail Hing Wen
Publisher: Third State Books
Published: 09/16/2025
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.06lbs
Size: 8.35h x 5.43w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9798890130310
Audience: 08 - 12


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2025

About the Author
Wen, Abigail Hing: - 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 on Netflix. 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, and more. Abigail lives with her husband in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Cheong, Yuna: - 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.Wu, Brandon: - 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 and is based in Los Angeles, California.