Wildcard by Marie Lu

Wildcard by Marie Lu

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Hardcover: 341 pages
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Release date: September 18, 2018

Series:  Warcross #2

Source: Library

Reviewed by: Kara

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now that she knows the truth behind Hideo's new NeuroLink algorithm, she can no longer trust the one person she's always looked up to, who she once thought was on her side.

Determined to put a stop to Hideo's grim plans, Emika and the Phoenix Riders band together, only to find a new threat lurking on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Someone's put a bounty on Emika's head, and her sole chance for survival lies with Zero and the Blackcoats, his ruthless crew. But Emika soon learns that Zero isn't all that he seems--and his protection comes at a price.

Caught in a web of betrayal, with the future of free will at risk, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?

Emika Chen seems to be caught in the middle of a high-stakes match, one where she could pay her life as a price. Rather than repudiate Hideo for the revelations in the last book, Emika makes a different choice. Instead, she tries to understand the human emotions and motives behind Hideo and Zero, discovering a much bigger plot than she ever dreamed. Wildcard kept me on the edge of my seat in anticipation! Where the first novel was building the idea of the game of Warcross and Emika was discovering her team, her mission, and an entire new "arena" of players, this next novel went past the game and contemplated hard questions of morality, choice, freedom, and society's system of punishment. This had less worldbuilding and gamification of the first book and covered more exploration of the characters.

Emika, who had been very used to depending only on herself for most of her life besides her father and maybe her roommate, had become part of a team even if she was mostly working on her own. However, her choices and their effects come to pay a price on her team and they push Emika to open up, to trust them. Here, she finally has a chance to show them whether she does or not -- with the revelation of her "kidnapping", Hideo's plans for the Neurolink, and her adoption into the gang. Emika also has to question her feelings for Hideo. Do they change now that she knows his plans? Does she question his motives? For instance, does Hideo not realize the consequences of his actions? The effect he has had on the populace? The choice of life that he's taken away from people? Emika has to weigh who holds the real power? Is it Hideo? Is it Zero? Is it someone else? It's a new question of Machiavellian power--do the ends (Hideo's algorithm saving everyone from bad choices) justify the means (controlling them and taking away their capability of freedom)?

There are a lot of answered questions and strings wrapped up satisfyingly, like the identity of Zero and what happened with his kidnapping. I like that this goes deeper into questions of humanity and actions, but also contains a lot of twists I never saw coming. We get more Hammie, who I love for some reason, and more Tremaine and Roshan (I loved this subplot btw.)...

Without sharing any spoilers, the one thing I'm still not sure I followed well was the, er, villain of the series and the motives behind it and the hidden dots that Emika puts together. Maybe I just didn't anticipate things well, but I think there should have been a little more stitching together. Who knows? Maybe I just need a re-read! I will say that my husband is reading this series right now on audiobook, and it kept him engaged over 8 hours of driving so much that he grabbed his earbuds and is now reading this second book. It's incredibly engaging and I recommend to anyone who enjoys videogaming or who liked Martha Wells' recent Murderbot series or Ready Player One. Can't wait to see what series Marie Lu embarks upon next! What did you all think?

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Posted by Kara at 07:00

 G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, game fiction, Marie Lu, Science Fiction, Warcross, Wildcard, young adult  9 People left their mark

Warcross by Marie Lu

Warcross by Marie Lu

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Science Fiction
Hardcover: 353 pages
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Release date: September 12, 2017

Series:  Warcross, #1

Source: Library

Reviewed by: Kara

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty-hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. To make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead 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. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

If Marie Lu wrote it, I'll probably read it, so I've been waiting on this book for months, especially since it is a virtual reality gaming book. And look at this beautifully designed cover! I am blown away. It looks like a maze or block or symbolic for interlocking code.

Before I go further into the review of this book, I'll also say I recently completed Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, which you've probably heard about because the movie's coming out in 2018. (For years, I've also heard everyone rave about this book). For the sake of comparision, it is about young man who plays another virtual reality game called OASIS and goes on a scavenger hunt within it for the recently dead creator's "keys" to his vast fortune.

Right off the bat, it's hard to not draw similarities from Warcross to Ready Player One.  Warcross might be about virtual reality, but it draws less off of games we have played before (unlike RPO, which mainly talks about games from the '80s) and creates its own world and game. The game part that is actually Warcross is complicated to explain. Warcross the game is rather like a version of ultimate capture the flag but "you" are a real player, and there is vast world-building and special abilities you can obtain in-game and trade. (Side note: when explaining this, I get an image of versions of old Halo games for capture the flag.)

Another difference is that Warcross virtual reality can be a lens through which you can interact and exist in the real world. Things are revealed in your surroundings as you go about your daily life, and Warcross points are awarded for doing things in life. (RPO has this too, but on a much smaller scale.) This is about where the similarities begin and end between the two books. If you're a big fan of RPO, sure, you might like this. If you hated RPO but are still interested in gaming books, it's different enough that you really might like it.

I really enjoyed the creativity of this book! The hardest thing to grasp for me though was the visual representation of the hacking. I'm a gamer too; I understand that there are limitations for describing video games in print. I think this is one thing that will divide readers. It's harder to relate to and see in your mind because the game and the representation of hacking within it are brand new.

Emika is an creative, determined, yet uniquely vulnerable heroine. She has no family because her father has died and her mother left them some time before. She is crawling with debt, mainly left from her father, and due to an infraction at school, is banned from computers for two years, unable to work at something she's actually gifted at: hacking. Instead, she is a bounty hunter within Warcross and her captures keep getting taken out from under her. Her luck, though, has finally run out and she's facing homelessness and extreme poverty until she performs a hack within the Warcross Championship game. This accidentally glitches her into the game where everyone can see her instead of her [null] hacked character. Emika is whisked off to Tokyo where she's facing multiple new experiences and challenges she's never encountered before. She's part of a team, which functions like a family of sorts, she's got a steady job with money though it's a secret, and she's romantically interested in Hideo Tanaka, the wealthy enigmatic creator of Warcross. Because of her loss and her self-reliance, she is a strong female character, but then, for such a strong female, you might be wondering why she falls so hard and so fast for Hideo, an insta-love situation. As a reader, I thought this was off-putting, but when you consider it, it still can be believable. Emika's rather a loner, having had few friends growing up and still fewer in her poor state, plus with the loss of her family. It doesn't change her strong character, but it does allow that she has areas with little experience and obvious vulnerability. No spoilers, but Emika does gain some perspective by the end of the book and grows emotionally.

Speaking of the ending, the twist at the end I guessed, but still very much enjoyed reading and understanding some character development. In the next book in the series, I would like to see Emika have more interaction with her teammates and have them grow to be more well-rounded characters. Not that they were flat, but they didn't have as much depth because Emika wasn't opening up to them. I thought they were intriguing side characters and want more! I'll be looking forward to reading the next installment and seeing what new exploits in virtual reality Marie Lu is able to dream up.

Favorite quotes:

"No one chose you," I snap.
"And have people been so great at choosing their leaders?" he snaps back.
"But you can't do that! You're taking away something that makes us fundamentally human!"
Hideo steps closer, "And what is it that makes us human, exactly? The choice to kill and rape? To war and bomb and destroy? To kidnap children? To gun down the innocent? Is that the part of humanity that shouldn't be taken away? Has democracy been able to stop any of this?"

Favorite Easter egg moment:

"Serene would be nice, Mr . . . Car."
"Fred," the car says.
"Fred," I reply, trying not to feel weird about talking to a bottle of champagne in an ice block. "Hi."
. . .
"I'm George," the bodyguard says as the car starts to drive us forward.

Read an excerpt.

Watch the book trailer.

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Posted by Kara at 07:00

 G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, Marie Lu, Science Fiction, Warcross, young adult  4 People left their mark