Warcross

I have read a few books by Marie Lu, and I have liked some of what she has put out so far. I liked her novel The Young Elites, even though I had problems with it. I've also tried to get into her Legend series, but I have never been able to do so, mostly because I think I am just burned out on dystopias. This one is good, but not as great as I wanted it to be.

I think the best thing about this book is the world that we live in. We follow a girl called Emika Chen, a girl who tries to get by making a living as a bounty hunter using NeuroLink, a kind of software that one finds in consoles that you wear like glasses. You can go into this world to work, play, and even live in a virtual world. (Think those fancy 3-D glasses type games, but now stretch it out to a whole online world, and you get the idea.) Sadly, things aren't doing so well for her. Her mother left years ago, and her father died due to cancer. She is broke, almost homeless, and struggling to make a bounty. The way she tries to relax is by watching Warcross. Warcross is a huge event played at the international level and followed by people all around the world. Think the fandom of those who follow football, american football, basketball, and baseball all rolled into one. It is basically a game of virtual flag, where two teams try and steal each others artifact (aka flag). The first one to get the opposing team's artifact wins.

One day, as Emika is watching an event, she decides to try and hack into a live game. She does this, but not without escaping the notice of the NeroLink's creator Hideo Tanaka. He offers her a bounty job: a mysterious man only known as Zero has managed to hack into some of the most complicated codes that Hideo's company has to offer. Hideo puts her into the games as a wildcard player to join a team, and find the mysterious Zero, and find out what he is up to.

This world is simply fascinating. There are so many elements t this world, it would not surprise me if there were a spin off series. The warcross games are very well made. I can tell that Lu has a background in video game design, because the environments she comes up with are fascinating and fun, mixed in with good game play elements. Yes, it is a tad extreme that the NeroLink system would have such a degree as it does in this world, but if one thinks about the near future, it isn't really difficult as seeing it happen like how Facebook revolutionized communication and business marketing.

Sadly, here is where we get into some of the problems of YA. One being that there just has to be a very contrived romance between Emika and Hideo. It isn't that I'm against love stories set in this world, but I didn't buy this one. I don not know enough about Hideo to understand what he sees in Emika. And Emika just seems to like him because he is hot.

Then there is the main villain, Zero. I guessed the twist about him at almost the 65% mark. There is a scene that we read about that made me say, “Wait a minute, why would they show us this unless..but then...ohhhhh, wait a minute! I bet Zero is...” And low, and behold, I was right. Maybe it is just the case of how I have read so much YA, but I kind of saw it coming far sooner than I think the author wanted me too.

Then there is a twist that I didn't see coming, but not for the right reaons. I'll detail it in a spoiler section: The big twist is that Hideo wants to take over the world using the NeroLink system he has developed. He wants to control almost everyone's mind to prevent them from committing crimes. I didn't really like this because it seemed to be a plot twist that had little basis for it. If this is going to be a trilogy, which I bet it will be, because all of Lu's other series have been three books so far, this is what I want her to expand on in the next book. What really made Hideo come up with this idea? Why?

In the end, this book was fun, but the romance and the ending cliffhangers let it down. Still, I can't wait to read the next book. I give this book a four out of five.