Warcross

This was a 3-star book for me up until the last 15 pages and just wow.

I'm usually great at predicting endings of books but even I didn't see that coming. I'm shook.

But in other news, for the first time in two months I FINISHED A BOOK!!!!

Also the main character is named Emika Emi and I wanna know who let her have that name? It's mine. She can't have it.

Anyways, Me, Emi, and not the Emi in the book have actually finished a book. I actually remembered how to read!!! I'm just as surprised as you are.

I had my problems with it, obviously. I wanted to give it 3 stars for most of my read. But that might have to do with the fact for the two months I've been in this horrendous slump, I've spent more time then I probably should admit watching a group of dudes who suck at video games play video games. I'm not used to finding enjoyment if people playing video games well. If that makes sense?

Also Ready Player One exists and my brain really latched onto that mentality.

I might write a review. I might not. Who knows? Do people even miss my reviews? It's been two months.

The first three-quarters of this book is amazing, then it kind of goes downhill. There's a romance in here. It's very obviously telegraphed and it reads a bit like bad fanfiction. There's a shift in the tone of the writing from a ‘tough-as-nails' heroine to a softer ‘girl-in-love' child. It's jarring. Unfortunately, when it starts heating up everything else is derived from it, and if you're not buying that romance you're probably not buying what's going on with the end.

The bad guy is a bit telegraphed too. I called that one immediately.

That being said, there are several things I really like about this book.
1. The world and technology: I love that it takes place in a not so distant future from our own with technology that we almost have now. And I like the few details we get about that technology. I'm definitely not a Neurologist, but I can totally buy the description of how Warcross works.
2. The ‘bad guy': He's not bad just because he's evil and has unfathomable motivations. He has motivations that we understand or can at least relate to.
3. The action: I'd read a book just about the action.

Fast paced and fun, with plenty of competition, good world building, and a bit of steamy romance. The characters were mostly well developed but the plot twists telegraph pretty early on. There's enough to enjoy here for both gamers and nongamers. Medium interested in sticking around for the next in the series.