“A vibrant, action-packed shot of adrenaline.”—Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author “The Hunger Games meets Minecraft.”—Seventeen
From #1 New York Times bestselling author—when a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths.
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 Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty-hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. 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.
In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.
There’s no doubt about it – I’ll always pick up a book about video games. I love this merging of my two top hobbies, and sometimes it works out in my favour, for example Ready Player One or the .//hack manga series.
Warcross looked very promising. The story of a young hacker struggling with debt and facing life on the streets, who accidentally manages to glitch herself into a major competition of ‘Warcross’, the world’s favourite e-sport, when testing a new hack. Emika is instantly caught up in the world of competitive Warcross, where opposing teams have to capture each other’s ‘Artifacts’ to win, and her life is transformed. However, as often goes with rags to riches type stories, not everything is quite as it seems.
I felt like Warcross as a game was well set up, and easy to visualise for the reader. Online games such as MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas) are really big at the moment, so it was also very relevant. And like Ready Player One, the use of Virtual Reality meant that Marie Lu could write Emika as if she was doing all the actions herself, rather than just controlling a character.
This was an enjoyable novel, but as soon as there was a whiff of romance I began to lose interest in the book. The romance was too convenient and quick, and the ultimate plot twist at the end was incredibly predictable as a result. Apparently it is a series, but could probably have worked as a standalone novel too.
In a sentence: a fun idea for a novel involving a video game I would definitely play, but ultimately let down by the romance and predictable ending.
