Warcross: 4 stars

Author: Marie Lu
Length: 353 pgs.

Wow this book was fun to read!

The action starts immediately, with author Marie Lu introducing us to the world that Warcross exists in via the life of the main character Emika Chen. Emika is a hacker who makes a paltry living by working as a bounty hunter. She’s notified by police when someone is wanted for betting on a virtual reality game called Warcross. Real betting on this game is illegal and Chen spends her time tracking down the people who are wanted for this reason. In the beginning pages, she’s on the search for one such fugitive, and we immediately see the differences between her world and ours.

”A smattering of students and tourists sit at the tables. When I point my phone’s camera at them, I can see their names hovering over their heads, meaning none of them have set themselves on Private.”

Warcross is a way of life in this world – most people play it, or use the virtual reality world as a means of relaxation and escape from real life. It was created by 21-year-old billionaire Hideo Tanaka, and culminates in a yearly Warcross Championship. Emika, after being cheated out of collecting a reward on a bounty, skulks home to watch the opening ceremony with her roommate. During the ceremony, she decides to use her hacker talent in a way that accidentally ends up placing her on the radar of every single person who is watching the ceremony- including Hideo Tanaka himself.

Emika’s immediately whisked off to Tokyo at the behest of Tanaka, who informs her that someone’s messing with his Warcross code and sabotage is suspected. He’s got other hackers on the case, but Emika agrees to help locate the person-or persons-responsible. As a cover, she’s enlisted as a rookie pick for the Warcross Championship and finds herself thrown into a completely different life, one filled with media attention, a lavish apartment and clothes, new Warcross teammates who may or may not be the guilty party she’s searching for, and danger.

Can she survive in the championship long enough to get the job done? Can she trust her teammates? Who’s trying to sabotage Warcross-and why?

In the midst of all this mystery and drama, we get to witness the tampered reality that Chen exists in. With the help of special new contact lenses released by Tanaka, everyone basically walks around in a virtual reality version of the real world. It’s delicious and half the fun of the book to see brought to life the vibrant world Lu’s created.

Another interesting aspect is the introduction of the Dark World. It’s the virtual reality version of the dark web, and Emika finds herself there a few times in the book with very interesting outcomes.

Now, about Hideo himself. When he and Emika first met and I started seeing the indications of a potential love match, I found myself rolling my eyes. I thought it would be an unnecessary addition of a cliché storyline, I just hoped it wouldn’t get overly cheesy. By the middle of the book, though, I was rooting for them to get together. The chemistry was palpable and I wanted more than Lu was giving me!

”I’m very aware of our proximity to each other, as if I could feel the ghost of his presence against my skin."

This is my first book by Marie Lu, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust her not to take this sweet little romance away from me. I won’t reveal the answer to that here!

I spent a few nights staying up late reading this book. The action of the Warcross championship combined with the bounty hunter storyline and the semi-relationship that was developing between Emiko and Hideo kept me chomping at the bit for more.

Fair warning that this book ends with a cliffhanger. In a series we never get what we want in the first book so it is what it is. I was saddened and a bit disbelieving at the events that unravel within the last few pages, but it was definitely a fun read overall and I loved it. Better yet, I can add Lu to the list of writers whose other books I need to read!