Warcross
Warcross - Marie lu
Blurb: When a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths. For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game - it's a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally.
When Emika hacks into the game illegally, she's convinced she'll be arrested, and is shocked when she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer.
He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.
My rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:
Warcross ia a pretty amazing book! I’m starting with that because I thought it would be a rubbish book. Some of the people I talked to said that the book was boring and slow. The book was captivating and the world building was absolutely phenomenal. I loved all the characters and their relationships with each other. As I am writing this I am seriously considering a re-read of the book. Although, it would have to wait till I’m in the UK because I’m packing and getting ready to travel at the moment.
Let’s start this review of with the characters. I loved ALL of the characters and I thought they were amazing. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve liked a book where I’ve liked all the characters.
Emika was an amazing lead. She is a hacker who is trying to making a living through modern day bounty hunting. Emika also has some really awesome Rainbow hair!! She also lives in a really crappy apartment with her roommate and her landlord is a meany. So with that being said, you wouldn’t expect her to be living in Tokyo in a fancy bedroom that is triple the size of her original place? Well, Emika broke the rules of the game, Warcross.
Warcross is a game that is a little like a real-time alternate reality. It does play out a little like a VR game but it happening in the real world. Actually, when you think about it, it’s a little bit like Ready Player One, except with Rayban glasses.
Well, with that being said, Emika hacks into the game and the owner of the game, Hideo, notices her and brings her in for a special mission. Let’s just say a 10 million offer was on the table, so who would say no? She went all the way to TOKYO! Imagine being Emika in that moment. She looked up to Hideo since he created Warcross and he invited her to Tokyo! Everything about her character and the way she saw everything made me love her. She is a very strong female lead and she doesn’t let anyone stand in her way.
Hideo is also another strong “lead”. He has a British accent so I fell in love with him. He created Warcross. Hideo might seem like he is tough but he is really a sweet and sensitive boy who needs all the love he can get. He is also full of lies and mysteries! I’ll let you read the book to find out what he has done! Dun dun dunnnnn.
The rest of the characters were amazing and super diverse. Some of them were team captains, others were team members. Emika was chosen to play for the Phoenix Riders and their team captain, Asher is an amazing captain and he cares about his team. His team is also really diverse and they are all really accepting of Emika and they all form a really nice relationship.
Zero is the main villain of this book and we don’t know much about him. I won’t say much about him and his motive. Emika was called in to find out more about Zero. As readers, we are following Emika finding out more about Zero, so we are basically learning the same things as Emika. I liked this element of the book because it gives the readers the option to make the same or different decisions. Maybe its just me who saw it like that, but I definitely made the same decisions.
Marie Lu’s representations of all the different characters were amazing and she is an amazing writer because I feel in love with all them. Seriously, it takes a lot for me to love all the characters.
The world building in this book was amazing. Seriously, when Emika first drove through Tokyo I felt like I was there and seeing it for myself. The descriptions were amazing and I loved every word of it. Not only Tokyo but the visuals of the Warcross game levels were beautiful. It was almost like you were playing the game yourself. Honestly, even if you don’t like the story you should just read this book to experience the “gameplay”.
Let’s talk about that ending! Seriously, it was amazing, wonderful, plot twisty and beautiful. The plot twist might have been seen miles away but I didn’t think it would play out like that. I figured out who Zero was a a few chapters before but I definitely didn’t expect what happened after that. I won’t say anymore because I think you need to read it yourself to experience the shock that went through me and the majority of readers. You know when you are having an amazing dream and then all of a sudden it feels like you are falling and then you wake up because you hit the floor? Yeah that is what that ending felt like. The dream was shattered.
Even with people saying it was boring, I still went ahead and read this beauty. The characters, world building and plot were unique and amazing. It is an incredible book and I can’t wait till the next one.
I also think that this book would make an amazing movie (if done correctly). It has an amazing plot that I think would be loved by many people who don’t really read books. This book should be everywhere and I can’t wait to re-read it. I want to experience it all over again.
I think I have rambled on enough so I think I will leave you here. You should definitely read this book if you love Ready Player on, Sci-Fi and fantasy. Actually, you should just read it even if you don’t like those things.
I am now going to see about fitting this book into my reading “schedule”
See ya’ll later bye!!
