Reviews

My second attempt at a Marie Lu's book since the Legend series is a strange experience.
Though I never consider myself a hardcore gamer, I spend quite a lot of time on games or reading about games. So I was elated to hear a series by Lu would focus on online games. Unfortunately, after reading this book, I'm so perplexed I cannot articulate my feelings. I will try to focus this review on three aspects of the book:

BEWARE! SPOILERS AHEAD!

I) The world building:

As Lu spent too much time on letting Emi play spy, she did not devote enough time to explain the most important part of this book: Warcross. I have serious trouble comprehending how the game works. Based on the description and the clues dropped here and there, I believe this game has the following characteristics:

1) The game is a kind of MMORPG where the player can play solo or form teams but in the case of the tourament, the players must play in teams with members having different roles.

2) Rank doesn't seem to limit the player's abilities much (at least the architect), therefore, despite having a low rank (Lv.29 at the beginning of the tournament), Emi can still play like other high ranking players. Normally, there are huge differences in character stats (HP, LP, power, speed, agility and so forth), that's why players strive to rank up . Of course, there are situations where characters can level up with special materials or by completing special quests (especially in card-based character games) so that low ranking players can have very strong characters. However, given the way Warcross is constructed (where you play with one character instead of card-based characters), I would think leveling up is the way to strengthen your character (STRANGE).

3) Emi can level up by visiting real places or completing tasks in the real world, but she doesn't seem to level up during training simulation and none of her teammates is bothered by the fact that she is only Lv 28 or Lv 29? Won't they want to find a way to level her up quickly? (STRANGE).

4) Even at low rank, her character can use all types of power ups, without limitation? Wouldn't this game be boring for high rank characters because they don't seem to have much advantage over low rank characters. I would think there are power-ups that should only be limited to high rank characters.

5) Lu neglected to mention in details how the power-ups work, especially when they obviously play a huge role in this game. Do power-ups only work in one specific world in the game or they can be transported across worlds or a mixture of both? If power-ups can be used across worlds, then other players in the tournament should be able to bring along a lot of power-ups, yet why not use them? So far, I don't feel other characters have used their own inventory of power-ups (or at least that's not mentioned in the story). Then again, we have the problem of the size of the inventory. Usually, there are restrictions on the size and the levels of items characters can carry based on their ranks, otherwise, no one would bother with ranking up if low-ranking players have access to the same things as high-ranking players.

II. The characters:

As usual, Lu's heroine Emi is resourceful and intelligent though her brilliance and hacking skills seem too exaggerated for my liking. This is the same problem I had with SAO (Sword Art Online) and Ready Player One, the halo on the main character is simply too great. They can do everything, is a genius and don't struggle like normal players, too easy.

Tanaka Hideo, on the other hand, is way more likable for me than Emi (at least at this point in the story. It's likely he's lying or not telling the whole truth so, fingers crossed for me). Some reviewers find Hideo "bland" but that blandness is what makes him a perfect hero for me. I like the fact that he planned every act, construed all his beliefs to meet one purpose: his brother. I know many people may not agree with him but I do. In fact, if this were a game and not a novel, if I could be Emi, I would stand on Hideo's side and help him. After all, what he wanted was what everyone wanted, yet no one was courageous to do anything about it.

Hideo maybe stripping people of free will but hey, when do we EVER have free will? And why are we so pressed on having complete free will? Maybe that's because deep down we know we never truly have free will.

Before the Internet, there are so many ways the government are watching us.
In the Internet era, every move we make, every breath we take are monitored by CCTV, by internet softwares, etc. Ads, commercials (modern marketing), education, politics, etc. all serve to control the way we act and think. The fact that we can choose doesn't mean we have the free will to choose, it just means we FOOL ourselves into thinking we have the free will to choose. One way or the other, people never truly can exercise free will, we will always be controlled by our environment, by our government, by each other. Why not then let ourselves be controlled by an AI?
Also, I think there is a slight misunderstanding here about AI. Although the algorithms maybe written by the programmar, AI is more than its developer. It gathers and processes so much information it's beyond a single human brain. So technically what Hideo is aiming for is a world where people are controlled by objective machine and not subjective human's influence. He is just trying to take subjectivity out of the equation.

III. The plot

While I like the plot and certainly think Lu has done a great job integrating the game aspect and the espionage aspect, I think it would have been even better had she spent a little more time on both so that we could have a clearer view of the game.

Also, I think she made Zero too predictable. When Hideo first mentioned his brother (who is even more a genius than him) vanishing and later she mentioned the appearance of Zero, it didn't take a genius to figure out Zero is Hideo's brother, Sasuke. After all, to hack into a game as popular and dominating as Warcross, you either need a main character halo (like Emi) or be a bigger genius than Hideo (his brother). I think it would be more exciting if she had made Zero into a different character but then we find out he isn't the true Zero and the true Zero is Sasuke.

I'm looking forward to the next book (but not as enthusiastic as I had been with Warcross. Hopefully, this will not turn into a love triangle as I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES! But I have a bad omen this would. A girl can hope and may my wish come true.

crow43's review against another edition

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5.0

This was kind of a reread for me, although I never finished it. I remembered where I had left off when I picked it up the first time, chapter 15. I picked it up again and made it through the end!

I have so much thoughts and feelings into this book. Reading it was like as if I was Emika Chen ^o^ The plot twists were so vast and unpredicitable like I didn't know what would happened. I had a few theories, one happened to be right when I reached to the end. I was so happy, sad, confused with this book. I couldn't believe how much technology was so invested into this. The way virtual reality was explained and compared to the real world. How people control what they want to see, how its used for their escape and for gameplay in Warcross. With NeuroLinks and more advanced technology later on! The way the hacking systems that Emika Chen went through throughout the book was genius! She's smart and knows how to get around. Being called in to investigate a problem with Warcross, she knew she was made for the job as a hacker and bounty hunter~

At first I was all for Emika and the creator of Warcross, Hideo Tanaka together. Then things took a sinister turn when the true intentions were revealed. The other characters were amazing too! I was so unexpected with Emika Chen's rival, to be turned out the other bounty hunter and actually wanted to help knowing the truth of the "dictating plan". DJ Ren was my next favorite character, being his laidback self and into the music. Hammie was like a go to gal, someone you can rely and trust, as well Roshan being there to guide and help too. Asher at first I thought was abit cocky and he had his ways of being tough on his team to win.

Hideo Tanaka's plan, using Emika and his way of fixing flaws in everyone, to destroy Zero who wanted to stop him. I'm not so sure who's the one right in this. All I know for sure, both sides: Hideo and Zero have their own goal to the NeuroLinks, to control the human brains (crime free) or to stop it all together to save people from being controlled.

Overall the writing style was good, very descriptive with the settings and characters, I thought each chapters were really well written, flesh out for me to understand. I had an audiobook with it as well ^w^ I look forward to reading the sequel to this, it will be my next read! Sorry if my review seems to be all over the place >.< My rating is 5/5 stars!

Favorite Quotes:
Every locked door has a key
Everything's science fiction until someone makes it science fact
It's too easy to lose yourself in an illusion

mistydawnwaters's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5
Cool futuristic tech, great premise, but poor execution on everything to do with emotions.

emilynsopp's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

Interesting but a bit vague. This was super fast moving and the world and story were very interesting. However, I feel like I’m missing a lot. The characters, Hideo especially, seem shallow. The world and game descriptions were sort of surface level but still very interesting. The twist at the end wasn’t groundbreaking but hopefully sets up for a good sequel.

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