Warcross by Marie Lu follows a teenage hacker/bounty hunter, Emika Chen, in a futuristic New York City. Emi makes a living by tracking down illegal gamblers in the brain-computer interface game known as Warcross. Unfortunately, her profits aren’t enough to save her from eviction, leading her to steal power ups at the Warcross Championships. She does get caught, but instead of being arrested, Emi gets hired by the creator of Warcross, Hideo Tanaka, to find an elusive hacker known as Zero. Along with that, she also enters the games as a Wild Card player and gets to know her team, the Phoenix Riders. What she realizes too late is that things aren’t always what they seem in a world where technology and reality blur together…
I gave this book 3 stars because while it was a fun read, it was lacking in several areas. I usually love Marie Lu’s books (The Young Elites, Legend, etc.), but I felt like this one didn’t blow my mind the way the others did. The best part about this book was the worldbuilding. I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book so immersed in the gaming world that people focus more on it than the real world. All the unique and interesting technology introduced throughout the story really complimented the issues being presented throughout. The characters were decent. I liked Emika’s personality, but I found myself cringing at her narration style and decisions several times. Hideo was also a fascinating character, especially in terms of his backstory. I found that Emi’s strong moral compass was a nice contrast from Hideo’s moral grayness. However, the plot was incredibly slow. It was hard for me to finish reading the book, especially since there were so many distractions with the romance side plot and Emi being in the Warcross game. I also hated the romance between Emi and Hideo. They didn’t have enough chemistry to make me root for them. Overall, the worldbuilding, prose and characters were great, but everything else could have been more engaging. I would recommend this book to fans of The Eye of Minds by James Dashner, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Renegades by Marissa Meyer. Enjoy!