Review: Wildcard

Wildcard by Marie Lu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"When the world is murky, guide yourself with your own steady light."

And that is completely and absolutely true as you should never give up, no matter what happens in the world.

Sigh I will definitely miss Hideo and Emika after this....

But continuing on, this book was no better than the last one, I must say. Usually sequels suck and don't have as much energy neither the same enthusiasm that was running in the first book, but this book nailed it if I do say so myself.

So again we have our heroine Emika now discovering exactly who is behind the hack in the game itself and tries to save the world again this time with the help of her new and former Phoenix Rider team.

Getting into this was already hard what with the gaming world at the most vulnerable from the consequences of being saved or not before, but now it threatens more than just the gamers, it threatens the world and the conscious mind, knowing not what to do especially when the whole world is not in control of themselves anymore and you're the only one who's able enough to stop the destruction for the future.

That is a serious gamble, but Emika and her team have no choice if she has to save the whole world's back once again.

What I liked: I liked the action more this time as I was able to understand more clearly what was exactly happening unlike the last time. The dynamics between Emika and the rest of her team is much stronger, more united and I enjoyed that, it being the crucial thing to take down Zero and his team for ruining the game and of course the mind. We finally get more insight into Tremaine's troubled relationship with the Riders and Roshan himself, also the team's lives more closely and Hideo's own troubles are more clearly explained, which makes it more favorable towards a very intriguing plot set out. The fourth thing was that they showed that even with the removal of technology, the world wasn't in complete despair, although a bit distraught, they still moved on, and being able to communicate thoroughly that technology can have it's flaws and advantages but PEOPLE DO NOT DIE WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY (Parents were right on that), so a good message as well.

Things I didn't like: Well, there was one teeny tiny thing that I am sure other reviewers also talked about while writing their own reviews, that Hideo I thought had a much shorter role in this book comparing to the other book before. Considering he had a huge crucial role in dealing with Zero and the overall ruining of the game later on, it's unfair to be honest to almost reduce him to short cameos in the book throughout. Kinda wish she had given more fame time in the book, would have made the book more tolerant to read in that sense.

Overall: I think this book did an absolute fantastic job in delivering a sci-fi teen, romantic, suspense and a thoughtful message in a plot set like this.

So definitely a strong recommendation of 4/5 stars for this duology overall.

I hope y'all enjoy this series.

-J.B

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