Marie Lu is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I was excited for Warcross since its announcement back in 2016. Flash forward to June 2017 when Warcross was the hottest book at Book Con and Marie Lu herself gave me an ARC in her autographing line. I read Warcross back in June and fell in love. With the book finally out for everyone to read (let’s me honest, I’m more than ready for a reread already), here all of my Warcross thoughts and feels.

Summary: The virtual reality game Warcross has taken the world by storm. While most users use the game to escape from reality, others play the game in hopes of making a profit. Teenage hacker and bounty hunter Emika Chen spends a lot of her time hunting down people who play Warcross illegally in order to support herself. When she not so accidentally glitches herself into the opening game of the Warcross Championships, she not only captures the attentions of millions of people, but also the creator of Warcross, Hideo Tanaka. Impressed by her hacking skills, Hideo needs Emika to come to Tokyo and solve a security problem within the game. However, this world full of gaming, fortune, and more reveals that Hideo’s problem is more than Emika could have ever imagined.

My Rating: 5/5 stars

Cover Lust?: Absolutely

**Warning : There are spoilers for Warcross below**

My Thoughts:

Right from the start, I was completely in awe of the Warcross world and how virtual reality has really taken over everyday living. One of the many things that struck me when reading Warcross was how Emika’s world was so similar to ours. With our own technological advances, such as virtual reality headsets, Emika’s world doesn’t seem to far along from ours. While it can be a bit daunting to think about, I wouldn’t mind having an electric skateboard! I also really enjoyed some of the branding in Warcross, like how Coca-Cola and and Gucci sponsor the games.

One of my favorite scenes in the novel was when Emika arrives at the Phoenix Riders’ dorms and meets the team. I absolutely adored how Nintendo still exists in the Henka Games world, and I would love to compete against Roshan and the team in Mario Kart.

AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CAUGHT THE HAMILTON REFERENCE WHEN ASHER INTRODUCES HAMMIE TO EMIKA?? I freaked out when Asher refers to Hammie as his right-hand girl! Anyways, I loved the support network Asher, Roshan, and Hammie provide for Emika, and I’m interested in seeing more development from Tremaine in the next book. From the moment we meet him, I totally sensed some sort of past between him and Roshan, outside from being ex-teammates.

Emika was such an amazing main protagonist and I couldn’t imagine not having any narration from her. With the novel being set in such a digital world, I really enjoyed experiencing Emika’s more human and personal side when it came to thinking about her dad. It was interesting to be able to go into her Memories and actually get a sense of her father, while making me more sad for her. Even though Emika was my favorite character in the novel I loved absolutely Hideo, especially when it came to exploring his past (not to mention his good looks and smart fashion sense). While I do not agree with his decisions at the end, I can understand where he is coming from. Talking about the ending, while some have called it predictable, I did not think that Zero was fighting against Hideo for the right reason! I figured that Sausake would make some sort of appearance near the end and that he would be Zero, but I thought he would be the ‘bad guy’. Even though, l I don’t agree with Hideo’s algorithm, it’s so hard for me to call him the bad one because he’s doing out of his love and regret for his brother.

Have you read or are planning to read Warcross? Share your thoughts and feels in the comments!