I opened up Warcross with high expectations, as it was written by my favorite author, Marie Lu. I'm a fan of video games and young adult science fiction novels, so this book was right up my ally. And I must say, this book did not disappoint.
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SYNOPSIS
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The book started out well from the point of view of an eighteen year old girl, Emika Chen going about her job as a bounty hunter. She honestly seemed awesome from the beginning; just an all around cool character who rides an electric skate board and has rainbow colored hair. However, we begin to notice her life isn't as good as she would like, as she is very money cautious -- constantly thinking about how much money she has left and how much money she needs but doesn't have. At that same point, we see how math oriented she is considering she is counting out everything in her head, always having numbers on her mind. But its not until she hacks into one of the most secure video game competitions, Warcross, that we actually know just how talented she is. She accidentally ends up sending herself into the competition where Warcross fans, competitors, and her idol, Hideo Tanaka, the creator of the game, can see her.
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The game is immediately shut down and after she takes of the VR glasses, someone calls her. Thinking its the the company or the police trying to arrest her, she doesn't pick up. The next morning she finally answers the calls and realizes it was one of Hideo's workers offering to take her to Tokyo and eventually offer her a job.
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*SPOLIERS*
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I loved nearly everything about this book. The only thing I didn't like was that darn cliche that seems to find its way into every YA book, "I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding." I mean I'm ok if it happens once in a book, but I swear Marie Lu used it at least five times in Warcross. Every time she used it, my heart broke a little, but was able to forgive her since that was my only complaint in this book.
My favorite part of Warcross was the plot twist at the end. Not about how Zero ended up being Hideo's brother, but about how Zero was actually the good guy and Hideo is bad and probably going to be the antagonist in the next book. I'm really looking forward to the next book because of this dynamic. Think about, and antagonist your in love with, pure genius. Not to mention some sibling rivalry when I'm guessing Emika will start falling for Sasuke.
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CONCLUSION
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All in all, this is my favorite book of 2017 if not my all time favorite. The book had extremely good pacing along with the perfect blend of action and romance. Unlike most YA books, the romance didn't seem overpowering but actually helped the plot move forward and create some really good conflict. I highly recommend this book to anyone especially people who like video games and YA novels.
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Tell me what you thought about Warcross in the comment section below.
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