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togidemi's review against another edition
3.0
HIS NAME IS SASUKE. SASUKE. I'M GONNA PISS MYSELF.
Really this book is a 3.5 because I DID have fun reading it. The setting of Warcross the game, while pretty generic as far as fictional online games go, was fleshed-out and adequately cool, and Warcross the novel had the AUDACITY to be about a rainbow-haired tattooed Asian #hackergirl skateboarding around Tokyo, which is already six things my simping little weeb heart adores. I even love those little weeb snippets of Japanese that made me cringe, GOD. But the cast was pretty bland and the buildup to the ending felt far, FAR too abrupt. It was definitely built up to, I guess - Emika would even mention the details foreshadowing it as she processes the new plot twist, like, "SEE! THIS WASN'T SUDDEN! IT WAS FORESHADOWED" - but yeah no still felt too damn sudden.
I guess all I can say for this book is it's very mediocre for, like, sci-fi, but pretty good for YA. I have no idea what this says about sci-fi or YA, but yeah. Fuckin' Sasuke.
Really this book is a 3.5 because I DID have fun reading it. The setting of Warcross the game, while pretty generic as far as fictional online games go, was fleshed-out and adequately cool, and Warcross the novel had the AUDACITY to be about a rainbow-haired tattooed Asian #hackergirl skateboarding around Tokyo, which is already six things my simping little weeb heart adores. I even love those little weeb snippets of Japanese that made me cringe, GOD. But the cast was pretty bland and the buildup to the ending felt far, FAR too abrupt. It was definitely built up to, I guess - Emika would even mention the details foreshadowing it as she processes the new plot twist, like, "SEE! THIS WASN'T SUDDEN! IT WAS FORESHADOWED" - but yeah no still felt too damn sudden.
Spoiler
Tremaine bounty huntering even when he was a champion player? Hideo suddenly wanting to rule the world? Fuckin SASUKE returning the memories to prove that he's not totally a bad guy?? YOU KNOW WHAT SPEAKING OF SASUKE yeah literally the moment Hideo revealed his brother was MISSING and not DEAD I immediately knew he was Zero. So. That was a very underwhelming twist.I guess all I can say for this book is it's very mediocre for, like, sci-fi, but pretty good for YA. I have no idea what this says about sci-fi or YA, but yeah. Fuckin' Sasuke.
vampire_mother's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very good read. I also am a bit angry about the whole Hideo situation. Soon a review on the blog
library_of_fairy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
willrefuge's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 / 5 stars.
Oh, and the ending; I totally called it. A few decent twists, though and a quick moving plot made it easier to get through w/o calling it quits.
Oh, and the ending; I totally called it. A few decent twists, though and a quick moving plot made it easier to get through w/o calling it quits.
maggiebook's review against another edition
4.0
Brief overview:
Our main character, Emika Chen, is a down on her luck 19 year old with a big heart. One day she hacks into the world-wide popular game of Warcross and is discovered by the world and Warcross's creator, Hideo Tanaka. Her life is completely changed when she is invited by Hideo a 21 year old genius billionaire with a dark secret to solve a mystery surrounding the game.
Characters: I found the cast of characters very believable and diverse.
Plot: The story grabbed me from the beginning and kept me engaged to the end. Marie Lu is a former game designer so she is able to make Warcross sound like something that could be. I had an issue with they way a couple of scenes played out as they didn't make sense in the scheme of things but they didn't put me off the story. Going into this book I didn't know it was a first in a series, my mistake, so the ending was a bit frustrating although now I am happy to here there are more books coming. This book has been compared to Ready Player One but I think this definitely stands on its own and has little similarities.
Final thoughts: An enjoyable book which I recommend. Looking forward to more in the series.
Our main character, Emika Chen, is a down on her luck 19 year old with a big heart. One day she hacks into the world-wide popular game of Warcross and is discovered by the world and Warcross's creator, Hideo Tanaka. Her life is completely changed when she is invited by Hideo a 21 year old genius billionaire with a dark secret to solve a mystery surrounding the game.
Characters: I found the cast of characters very believable and diverse.
Plot: The story grabbed me from the beginning and kept me engaged to the end. Marie Lu is a former game designer so she is able to make Warcross sound like something that could be. I had an issue with they way a couple of scenes played out as they didn't make sense in the scheme of things but they didn't put me off the story. Going into this book I didn't know it was a first in a series, my mistake, so the ending was a bit frustrating although now I am happy to here there are more books coming. This book has been compared to Ready Player One but I think this definitely stands on its own and has little similarities.
Final thoughts: An enjoyable book which I recommend. Looking forward to more in the series.
taliesinrex's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was solidly written and had a cool premise, and I loved the central driving mystery as it was initially presented. The world Lu creates is also interesting, and her prose does a great job of presenting a really vibrant, immersive vision of it - both the virtual world of Warcross itself and the reality that Emika lives in. There's an obvious Ready Player One comparison and I think that in terms of thoughtfulness and writing this blows RPO out of the water.
Overall, I did find myself a little dissatisfied with this by the halfway point and while I did not realize this was a series going into it, the ending cliffhanger felt a bit rushed and lazily executed. For me, a lot of it boils down to the character writing and how events of the book were prioritized. We get a good picture of Emika as a person early on, and a pretty good idea of Hideo (or the image that he can afford to present to the world), but even so it seemed like there were things they revealed to one another as the book went on that didn't fully align with what the book was trying to say about them at large; it seemed like maybe some of these details were supposed to be clues to part of the larger mystery but were implemented in a kind of inelegant way. Their romance was fine and I thought it was well-written (I saw people saying it was insta-love but it didn't read that way to me?) but it seemed like a disproportionate amount of time was spent on it versus on Emika's investigation and interaction with the game of Warcross. Hideo's turn towards the end felt inevitable, which I don't think is bad - I don't usually knock things too hard for being predictable - but the reasoning behind it was flimsy to me.
I also felt that the supporting characters - Emika's Warcross team members and Tremaine - were a bit flat and I really wanted more time with them to learn more about them as people rather than the occasional mention of their siblings or a past relationship. This especially was troubling in the wake of Emika's "liar-revealed" moment as we didn't see much of their dynamic, and then following the quick change of scene afterwards any tension seemed to have been resolved immediately.
I know I did a lot of talking about my dislike of certain elements, but for the most part I did have a good time reading this book. It is well-written, and drew me in with some really interesting world ideas. While I had issues with how the events of the narrative were structured, I thought the pace kept a great momentum and really did keep me wanting to read on. The Warcross matches Emika takes part in never feel trite or overly derivative, and I think the narrative pace and Lu's writing style both lend themselves to making these fun to read about. Similarly, concepts like the Dark World and the Memory Bank - both pulled from familiar knowledge of modern internet and technology - really come alive on the page. In summary, I think Warcross could have benefited from a clearer vision and some restructuring to allow for its characters and mystery to really shine, but is still an enjoyable read.
Overall, I did find myself a little dissatisfied with this by the halfway point and while I did not realize this was a series going into it, the ending cliffhanger felt a bit rushed and lazily executed. For me, a lot of it boils down to the character writing and how events of the book were prioritized. We get a good picture of Emika as a person early on, and a pretty good idea of Hideo (or the image that he can afford to present to the world), but even so it seemed like there were things they revealed to one another as the book went on that didn't fully align with what the book was trying to say about them at large; it seemed like maybe some of these details were supposed to be clues to part of the larger mystery but were implemented in a kind of inelegant way. Their romance was fine and I thought it was well-written (I saw people saying it was insta-love but it didn't read that way to me?) but it seemed like a disproportionate amount of time was spent on it versus on Emika's investigation and interaction with the game of Warcross. Hideo's turn towards the end felt inevitable, which I don't think is bad - I don't usually knock things too hard for being predictable - but the reasoning behind it was flimsy to me.
I also felt that the supporting characters - Emika's Warcross team members and Tremaine - were a bit flat and I really wanted more time with them to learn more about them as people rather than the occasional mention of their siblings or a past relationship. This especially was troubling in the wake of Emika's "liar-revealed" moment as we didn't see much of their dynamic, and then following the quick change of scene afterwards any tension seemed to have been resolved immediately.
I know I did a lot of talking about my dislike of certain elements, but for the most part I did have a good time reading this book. It is well-written, and drew me in with some really interesting world ideas. While I had issues with how the events of the narrative were structured, I thought the pace kept a great momentum and really did keep me wanting to read on. The Warcross matches Emika takes part in never feel trite or overly derivative, and I think the narrative pace and Lu's writing style both lend themselves to making these fun to read about. Similarly, concepts like the Dark World and the Memory Bank - both pulled from familiar knowledge of modern internet and technology - really come alive on the page. In summary, I think Warcross could have benefited from a clearer vision and some restructuring to allow for its characters and mystery to really shine, but is still an enjoyable read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Terminal illness
Minor: Kidnapping
eggjen's review against another edition
5.0
Oh my gosh, where has this book been all my life??? Devoured it. Also, I totally called the ending but was also completely wrong at the same time.
cardanivy's review against another edition
5.0
will write a review when I can wrap my head around that ending but now I want to say WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKK AND ALSO FUCK YOU HIDEO FUCK YOUU CHUTIYE KAMINA KUTTA SALA NARAK JAKE SADH BENCHOD