Reviewing Warcross by Marie Lu

“They believe that objects have souls. The more love you put into one, the more beautiful it becomes.”

Warcross…had a lot of potential. The premise was really amazing and the plot was well-written, but it honestly fell short for me.

*This post may contain spoilers. Pretty sure there aren’t though…but just in case xD.

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Title: Warcross
Author: Marie Lu
Series: Warcross
Rating: ★★ (2.5 stars)

Re-readability: ★ (0.5 stars)

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 players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing 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.

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Thoughts:

This book was AMAZINGULLY full of potential (so amazing I spelled amazingly wrong XD). The execution was amazing, the characters were amazing. There was only ONE THING though, and that was that it was too predictable. I could honestly tell who the antagonist, Zero was a long time before the grand reveal, which goes to show how far your initially faint suspicions can take you. Plus, in my opinion, the OTP had very little chemistry. Hideo, the main male lead was hot, rich, and cool but there wasn’t really much backstory or buildup to the moment when he and Emika really fell in love.

Now…Let’s see how much I remember of the book from reading it like a century ago:

Emika…don’t remember anything about her unless you’re talking about hair. Yes! Rainbow-colored hair. So specific and uh yeah.

Hideo…Hideo was a rich, cool genius who invented Warcross…and he was also very misguided.

…and were there any other characters?

Well…as you can see, the book wasn’t really that memorable (or I just have a really really bad memory…or this book was pushed aside by Strange the Dreamer, which I’m literally going to link every single review because everyone needs to read it!!)

In any case, this was a decent book. The pacing was actually quite nice. I just LOVE my plot-twists and this book was just meh.

REALLY loved the plot from like the first ten chapters though. Until Emika met Hideo and they started getting touchy. Until that. Their relationship felt really abrupt to me for some reason, but maybe that was just me………

In any case, if you’re into gaming futuristic dystopian novels, you might just love this novel! Try it out and let me know how it is in the comments!

Recommendations:

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

• Have heard that this book is really really amazing for a gaming dystopian novel, but haven’t gotten the chance to try it out yet! A movie adaptation recently came out too! 🙂

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

• Such a great dystopian novel! Romance wasn’t really the focus of this dystopian series but it was still really really great!

Circle: Two Worlds Connected (Kdrama)

• Just saying…but Circle really embodies some of the moral ideas that were included in Warcross. Plus, Circle is GOOD.

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Honestly said “really” like fifty times in this post which is totally fine. Totally.

Also was too lazy to actually categorize everything, so let me know how you guys like this setup? If any of you are not too lazy to talk to meeee (the laziness makes for two of us lol). Anyways, I’ll feature some comments in my next review!!

Feel free to recommend some amazing novels to me and the other people around you!!! Join us on discord to talk about novels!  (I hope that link works) Have a great week everyone and stay awesome~!