Review: Warcross

Warcross by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Every locked door has a key and every problem has a solution."

And that's what I get, from the first time I open my library copy of Warcross. Mystery, romance, sci-fi almost fantasy-like worlds and diverse characters come into play as I try to summarize my feelings in regards to this novel, first in the duo-logy.

First of all, whew what a high I've ridden from this novel, it's literally everything yet everything unexpected and keeping me on my feet at all times, but we'll get into that a bit later.

We first get a glimpse of Emika Chen, our main heroine, in a rough and tight spot as a bounty hunter struggling to pay bills for basic necessities to survive on. The one thing that keeps her going are her dad's words to her about every problem having a solution, and you know to be honest, most of us would probably relate to Emika's situation at one time or another as we grow or are already working adults, and struggle with juggling everything in our lives.

Also the other things that keep Emika going are her friend Kiera and Warcross, the game played by millions worldwide and an escape from their everyday mundane life.

Think Harrypotter and divergent mixed and you get the baby which is a futuristic 21st century Tokyo, Japan where said world exists.

Anyway, after being harassed by her landlord to pay up her bills, desperate Emika seeks to do something to do in order to gain cash by trying to steal a powerup from the game, and illegally selling for some quick dough.

Unfortunately, even the best of the plans go awry such as getting glitched into the game and trying to desperately get out of it, but alas.

After that happy little incident, nothing is the same again for Emika and the rest of the world as she tries to discover the hack in the game, and save the gaming world.

What I Liked: I liked the sci-fi futuristic setting, it gives the reader more of a glimpse towards what could happen in the coming future and the pros and cons of online gaming. Loved the characters and their 3-dimensional build overall in the book, talking about their lives, their goals and ambitions, them actually being human as well and not just solely talking about what their connection in their game was and their overall support for Emika and Emika also being more than one-dimensional and having no feelings, she's a complete person who feels and understands the reality and illusions of her setting. The mystery and romance were also things that I liked, what with who hacked into the game itself and having such intricate but unexpected plot-twists that at times made me say like woah and the budding romance between Emika and Hideo, although thank the lord that the romance wasn't the main focus here as much, I feel this novel did a lot better because it focused on the key objective which was to show Emika and the others stop the gaming world from going into it's own downfall.

What I disliked: Well to be honest, there aren't a lot of things I disliked. One thing was that even if it was easy falling into the futuristic world, it could be hard to understand it at times and just be like: "What are they even saying, is it gibberish?" and "Damn, I feel ancient." to their technology and futuristic ideas, as I was feeling sometimes during the book which I must say, did slow my progress a bit in finishing this book.

Overall: I think I can give this book proudly 4/5 stars for everything it portrayed and with it's own interesting, intriguing plot twists. Such a book is hard to find nowadays, that will keep your mind whirling for days on end.

So PICK THIS BOOK UP RIGHT NOW, I do not kid. Otherwise... What are you doing with your life?

-J.B

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