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A review by bibliophile80
Warcross by Marie Lu
3.0
Ugh. I hate negative reviews. I wanted to love this book. I’ve admired the cover design and the premise for a really long time. I’d recently read “Ready Player One” and “Otherworld” and it made sense to add this to the gang. I listened to the audiobook. The narrator was fine, nothing special but she didn’t turn me off the book. When my library loan expired before I was done, I had to get back on a waiting list, and I almost forgot I hadn’t finished it. It was that predictable, nearly boring. Things that made me cringe or ask (sometimes out loud) “What the hell?”:
Tedious repetition of her noticing or pointing out her own rainbow-colored hair.
A little too much telling: we know she fell asleep at the table but she beats it into us again and again; wearing the same clothes as last night.
Lazy writing: “I can’t remember when we start kissing.” This is the problem with present-tense narratives. If you’re telling it in “real time”, then you are currently remembering and you can’t argue that you can’t remember.
“Plastic red egg”? Wrong order of adjectives.
“The last thing I saw was the sight of my father...”
Is this YA? Gambling website and gang sign and red numbers seem to suggest the reader would have a decent awareness of the seedier side of the world.
Inconsistency: “settle into the silence” but then the voice of the tv announcer is heard.
“there is always a pattern to the way they move, however randomly.” Well, is there a pattern or is it random? Can’t be both.
Some parts were admirable. Diversity felt authentic and organic. Variety of ethnicities, lack of overpowering gender stereotypes, character uses a wheelchair without drawing attention to disability.
I think I could’ve accepted the predictability in plot if the writing were cleaner and the main character slightly less annoying. I’m happy to skip the sequel(s), though I’d still like the cover image as a poster on my wall!
Tedious repetition of her noticing or pointing out her own rainbow-colored hair.
A little too much telling: we know she fell asleep at the table but she beats it into us again and again; wearing the same clothes as last night.
Lazy writing: “I can’t remember when we start kissing.” This is the problem with present-tense narratives. If you’re telling it in “real time”, then you are currently remembering and you can’t argue that you can’t remember.
“Plastic red egg”? Wrong order of adjectives.
“The last thing I saw was the sight of my father...”
Is this YA? Gambling website and gang sign and red numbers seem to suggest the reader would have a decent awareness of the seedier side of the world.
Inconsistency: “settle into the silence” but then the voice of the tv announcer is heard.
“there is always a pattern to the way they move, however randomly.” Well, is there a pattern or is it random? Can’t be both.
Some parts were admirable. Diversity felt authentic and organic. Variety of ethnicities, lack of overpowering gender stereotypes, character uses a wheelchair without drawing attention to disability.
I think I could’ve accepted the predictability in plot if the writing were cleaner and the main character slightly less annoying. I’m happy to skip the sequel(s), though I’d still like the cover image as a poster on my wall!