I absolutely loved Warcross! This book features a futuristic world where technology has advanced through a virtual reality game that is popular with every person around the world. This virtual reality is so unique because it uses the human brain to create extremely realistic worlds. Our main character, Emika Chen, is an awesome hacker who finds herself in public view after accidentally glitching herself into a major Warcross professional match which leads to her being pursued for a job opportunity by billionaire, Hideo Tanaka, the creator of Warcross. She learns more about the world of Warcross and her relationship with Hideo develops in new ways but there is a looming threat over both that she must work to uncover. I loved reading about this world, the idea of this virtual reality honestly made me feel extremely anxious because it is used in a fun game but that kind of technology could so easily be dangerous in the wrong hands and that was always a worry for me. I don't know how everyone in the world was convinced to try out this kind of technology because if I was there, I would definitely have concerns. Emika as a main character was fantastic, I absolutely loved her. Her hacking skills were so cool and I loved getting to see that. I really can't wait to see more from her in the rest of this series. I also really loved Hideo. He is so intelligent and hearing about each new idea he comes up with is baffling, the contact lenses were especially impressive, even if each new idea also seemed kind of terrifying. The Warcross games themselves were incredibly well written, I found myself really invested in the games like I was actually watching them happen and I was tense for Emika while she played each round. There is this underlying tension of Emika working to find this hacker who wants to destroy Warcross and I really liked the bounty hunter element of the story as well. There was so much going on in the story but it all worked and it was so enjoyable to read. I knew who Zero was going to turn out to be pretty quickly but the twist at the end came out of no where, I did not see it coming at all and I loved that. I like to be surprised, even if it hurts my heart like this one did. I can't believe how this story ended but I am so intrigued and I cannot wait for the next book and to continue this story. This is excellent and people who love adventure and games would love this book.

Marie Lu is at her best with "Warcross." Worst thing about it is having to wait for the next book!

In the future, millions login and play Warcross every day, a virtual reality game that for many is a way of life. Teenager Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who gamble illegally in the game. During a Warcross championship, Emika takes a risk and hacks the game - but accidentally glitches herself into the championship - and is seen by everyone watching. Emika is shocked when the young and handsome creator of Warcross, Hideo Tanaka, offers to hire her to look into another hacker who could compromise the future of Warcross. Emika goes undercover and enters the championship as a Wild Card player, and discovers someone is planning to sabotage the game. As she digs deeper, she uncovers a vindictive plot that could not only compromise the future of Warcross, but could hurt those she loves. THOUGHTS Marie Lu’s newest title should find a niche with fans of Ready Player One, but also appeal to fans of her immensely popular Legend series. Warcross is a smart, thrilling read for older middle school and high school students.

Warcross by Marie Lu is an amazing novel that I would highly recommend to anyone. It has suspense, action, a mystery that matches it´s content and very well-written characters. I enjoyed myself immensely and I really liked the aspect of virtual reality and how the tournament worked. I would gladly review the second book as well and I shall put in an order for this terrific book at once! Marie Lu has done it again and written a truly mesmerizing ya book! Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this before it was published!

I hate to say it, but I was pretty disappointed with Warcross. In fact, I would say that it was my least favorite of all the Marie Lu books that I've read. Honestly, if there was a formula for YA novels, this book is it. A quirky, "different from other girls" MC who is down on her luck and has resorted to criminal activity in order to survive is "whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune." Which I wouldn't even mind if I felt that somehow this was a new spin on a classic trope, but there wasn't enough new about it for me to be able to ignore its derivative plot.

To be frank, this book is so different from what I'm used to from Marie Lu. The development of the characters and the world-building were lacking and I was left with more questions than answers. I never had a moment of satisfaction, or even a single feeling of an awe while reading. It's one of those books where I was rooting for the antagonist because I found it difficult to cheer for the main characters.

That being said, I don't hate this book and I don't regret reading it... for the most part. I was interested in Emika and Hideo's backstories, and I was involved in the plot enough to want to know what happens at the end. And even though I'm not sure what kind of turn this story will be taking, I'm curious to see where this duology leads. Therefore I'll probably read the next book, but I also really hope it will be an improvement from this one.

Full review link below

Um, this is one of my favorites of 2017. Maybe ever. There were some unexpected twists and turns that I kept me turning pages (swiping!) quickly. The technology aspect was fascinating and not too techie. Marie Lu is definitely one of my favorite YA writers. I can't wait for the sequel!

This was my first Marie Lu book and it did not disappoint!! I was instantly pulled into the story and the game that I was just reading it too fast. I was also able to listen to the audiobook which is also really well done! Since finishing this I will definitely be reading her other books! Marie Lu has delivered us action, romance, and intrigue! I definitely need the next book in this series. This has to be one of my favourite books of this year!

Warcross is such a unique book with a great plot because it's a story about Emika who has hacked into the most famous game out there. She then hacks into the system during the opening games only glitch herself into the system. Then competes in the game itself as a spy to find out a security problem. I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end. There were so many twists and turns that you will not be able to put this book down. Emika is a very likeable character. She is smart, fierce, and even has rainbow hair! I really like how much she develops as a character. Her backstory is so interesting that I was on the edge of my seat!

Overall, Warcross is a must read! While it may appeal to gamers it can be loved by everyone! Looking for a fast paced book you will want to grab the book immediately because Marie Lu is now on my list of favourite authors because her writing is incredible! Now to wish I had the sequel!!

I really didn’t expect what happened in the ending.
This book was soooo good!!!
I don’t understand anything about videogames and such, but I totally got immersed in the world that was cleverly built.
Totally recommend this book.
I’m so hoping that the sequence is so good as this one! :)

Books about virtual reality or gaming are generally not for me. I enjoyed Marie Lu's first trilogy but had trouble getting into her second series. Happy to report that overall, I did like this!

I enjoyed the futuristic Tokyo setting and the intrigue. The virtual reality stuff seemed cool, even if I couldn't quite grasp all of it. My imagination just doesn't work well on sporty (confession: I skimmed most of the Quidditch scenes in HP) or tech-y stuff, and this game seems like a cross between both. So Warcross seemed sort of like a virtual reality capture the flag to me.

The plot involved a lot of mistrust and suspicion among different characters, which added a nice level of suspense.

I figured out the Zero mystery pretty quickly. There was some backstory about one of the characters and I was like: well, of course that's connected. I kind of wanted to be wrong because I love it when a book can completely outwit me. I didn't love the romance in this one, but there's hope for a triangle, and I will definitely read the next book to find out if that happens.

Warcross is my favorite sci-fi of 2017, hands down, and I'm afraid no review can do it justice. Whenever I had a moment to read, I tore through this book, entranced by the world of the game. Emika was smart, strong, and fun to root for. The plot was fun and fast-paced, while still feeling like the stakes were real and imperative. I think Marie Lu has written her best book yet, and I'm really excited to see what else she does with this world. Is it 2018 yet?!?

Even though I had a lot of mixed feelings about The Young Elites Trilogy, I was really excited to read this new book by Marie Lu. I am happy to report that I was not disappointed this time. This is a very exciting and fast paced read that was hard to put down. I still can’t decide if I like the cover though. It is interesting, but not sure it is enough to make me pick it up and take a closer look.

I loved Emika almost from the start. Here is a girl who even when things are looking very bleak, keeps going forward and trying to make things better for herself. Yes she makes lots of mistakes, but she keeps going no matter what. She also has a strong moral compass that mostly steers her in the right direction. Her hacking skills are amazing as well. I really liked her memory about how she got into coding, she just started looking at it like a puzzle that needed figuring out. I can get into that. Her relationship with her father was very sweet, but also forced her to grow up quickly. Her experiences and her inability to trust people gets in her way sometimes. I get it, I’m a lone wolf too, but I know when to ask for help. She often pushes away people who can help her and has a hard time being a team player.

The other characters in the book are well done as well. The other players on her team, as well as the others she encounters, are all smart and loyal to their teammates and to the game. I especially liked Hammie, the other girl on Emi’s team. She is a thief in the game, and I love that she can see moves before they happen. She almost seems to know what someone is going to do before they do it. Hideo was an enigma almost from the start, I wanted to like him as much as Emi did, but I always felt there was something off about him.

The plot is amazing. I like the Warcross game, although the rules were hard to follow at times. The whole idea of a virtual reality game becoming so popular is an interesting concept. I also liked the descriptions of the darknet as a virtual world, where the criminals hang out. Some of the other tech mentioned throughout the book is also amazing and just advanced enough to make it believable. Some of it is similar to what we have now, just more advanced. The whole book is very fast paced and hard to put down. The ending was not a total surprise to me, but still not what I was expecting. The next book will be amazing as well.

Overall, a kick-ass plot with characters that you will root for.

This book is definitely one of my most anticipated reads this year because (uhm... duh?) it's Marie Lu. I willingly dived blindly into this Warcross world because I trust that Marie Lu would be writing an elaborate one. And I'm not wrong; the world building was intricately written, so vivid, I could almost imagine myself playing Warcross. You'd think that a book filled with technical terms would make someone yawn, but this book made it easy to like futuristic technologies. Since I have a background on computer engineering, everything I read is a new way to look at something I've learned in the past. One fun nugget that I love about this is: Marie Lu truly knows what she's writing as she have been immersed in the video game world.

One of the biggest thing that I love in this book is our main character, Emika Chen. She's a smart, strong-willed, determined, independent, young woman, who knows how to code — which makes my computer engineering heart trembles.
Hideo Tanaka, the Warcross creator himself, is a character that I couldn't fully like because 1) he's a prime example of tsundere*, which I don't really like, and 2) I find him shady af. He's this mysterious type of character that would make you wonder if he's a protagonist or an antagonist. Marie Lu surely knows how to keep us on the edge of our seats. The other supporting characters were such a fun and diverse (and I mean diverse) addition to this book. They all played their roles beautifully and I couldn't wait to read more of them. I'd love to read more of Kenn Edon, though.

Overall, this was such a great book to start a series/duology. It's been weeks since I've read this but reminiscing about it still makes me feel giddy and excited. I don't really have anything to compare Warcross to since I haven't read anything similar to this but it definitely opened a big, new realm of reading possibilities for me.
I highly, highly, recommend this one to everyone. You like sci-fi? Read this. You don't like sci-fi? No worries, you would after reading this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for the opportunity to read and review Warcross by Marie Lu! Emi is a young bounty hunter that lives on her own. She desperately needs a bounty or she's going to be evicted from her apartment in less than three days. She's smart enough and quick enough to capture a criminal for the police but they give the money to someone else! She goes back to her apartment, despondent, and resigns herself to enjoying the last hours she has with a roof over her head. She hacks into Warcross and her image shows up in the internationally played and viewed game. This catches the eye of the Warcross creator, Hideo, who gives Emi a very well-paid job offer. I appreciate that Marie Lu lets readers know, through dialogue, the correct pronunciation of Hideo's name. I have heard many students/library patrons discuss name pronunciations in the past, unsure of how to say the name. The game background descriptions are detailed and aesthetic while the game is action-packed and the stakes raise higher and higher for the characters. 5 stars for a new sci-fi read from Marie Lu!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book for voluntary consideration.

The first 2/3 of this book is pretty awesome. Fast-paced, well-written, entertaining. It starts to fall apart when the reveal approaches. I guessed the antagonist ridiculously early on...and the antagonist's reasons and methods are confusing and don't make much sense. The insta-attraction between Hideo and Emi is forgivable because it's not the main focus of the story. In such a long story, I wish we had a better chance to get to know the other teammates. They're fairly one-dimensional.

Overall, it's a fun read, which is why I am still giving it four stars. However, I'm not sure I'm going to return for the sequel.

Just no words for how much I loved this...I don't quite know what to do with myself- I can't wait to read more.

Intentando llegar a fin de mes, la cazarecompensas y hacker Emika Chen se filtra en la partida más importante del año de Warcross, el juego de realidad virtual que se ha convertido en un fenómeno mundial. Excepto que algo sale mal, ella aparece en mitad del juego y causa un escándalo.

En lugar de ser arrestada, Emika recibe una irresistible oferta del creador del juego, el genio billonario Hideo Tanaka, quien necesita un espía en el interior del torneo para descubrir un fallo de seguridad. Una vez en Tokio se encuentra en un mundo de fama y fortuna, pero pronto su investigación descubrirá una siniestra trama con enormes consecuencias para Warcross.


¡Tengo tantas ganas de empezar que no sé por dónde hacerlo! Supongo que por Emika, nuestra protagonista, una hacker adolescente con el pelo de colores y muchos tatuajes. Al principio del libro está en una situación precaria: tiene antecedentes penales, sin estudios, trabaja de cazarrecompensas para la policía y está a punto de ser desahuciada de su piso. Por eso decide arriesgarse a hackear un partido importante de Warcross, el juego online más famoso del mundo, para robar un objeto que luego podrá revender. Por supuesto, todo sale mal.

El juego lo creó Hideo Tanaka, el inventor de las gafas de realidad virtual que revolucionaron la tecnología y el mundo entero. Warcross es una especie de atrapa la bandera donde cada equipo tiene cinco jugadores con distintos papeles (el arquitecto, el ladrón, el escudo...) y deben trabajar juntos para arrebatar la joya que flota sobre el capitán del equipo contrario. Es una de las partes más divertidas del libro y le da unos toques de acción geniales.

And everyone—everyone—played Warcross. Some played it intensely, forming teams and battling for hours. Others played by simply lounging on a virtual beach or enjoying a virtual safari. Still others played by wearing their glasses while walking around the real world, showing off their virtual pet tigers or populating the streets with their favorite celebrities. However people played, it became a way of life.

Cuando Hideo le pide a Emika que se una a la competición de Warcross para ayudarle a descubrir un complot para hundir su empresa, nos lanza de lleno a una historia con un ritmo impecable y llena de personajes intrigantes. Como siempre Marie Lu ha incluido un cast súper diverso sin que parezca forzado y los equipos de Warcross incluyen muchas personas racializadas, queer y un capitán va en silla de ruedas. La camaradería entre los Jinetes de Fénix, el equipo de Emika, es genial, pero aún mejor resultan sus relaciones con los demás jugadores. Algunos son amigos que se enfrentan en la competición, otros sólo rivales, algunos incluso exparejas y hay material para muchísimo drama adolescente.

La investigación y las sospechas de Emika sobre quién está atacando a Hideo se mezclan con las partidas de Warcross, que les encantarán a los más fans de los videojuegos (incluyen una carrera en patinete volador al más puro estilo Mario Kart y una batalla de mechas que no podía faltar). Con estas dos tramas se intercala la relación de Emika y Hideo, que aunque es frío y cerrado poco a poco aprende a confiar en ella y le deja ver momentos de su pasado y por qué creó Warcross. Del mismo modo aprendemos mucho más de Emika de lo que se ve a simple vista.

El mundo futurista también es una pasada. Describe cómo sería Tokio visto a través de la realidad virtual, que la gente usa para alterar su aspecto, y al principio también vemos una versión casi distópica de Nueva York, donde la policía está tan desbordada que tienen que contratar cazarrecompensas adolescentes para atrapar delincuentes. Además de las gafas de realidad virtual aparecen vehículos inteligentes y no podía faltar el patinete flotante de Emika, un clásico de la ficción futurista.

Y porque esto lo escribió Marie Lu, preparáos para los giros argumentales y la moralidad ambigua, que sinceramente es lo que a mí me da la vida.

I haven’t read any books of Marie Lu before but I’ve been hearing so many great things about her works. So I was quite expecting a lot from this book and even though I didn’t give it a perfect 5-rating, I wasn’t disappointed at all.

I totally enjoyed reading Warcross. At first, I couldn’t help comparing it to Sword Art Online (which I totally love) but Warcross is so much more. I’m not usually into sci-fi novels but this book was an exemption and I’m really glad that I gave it a try.

One of the things that I love about this book is that it has a very diverse cast of characters. From different ethnicities to LGBTQ+ community and not to mention a character with disability.

Emika Chen, the main character, is definitely my favorite. She’s a total badass. I love her rainbow dyed hair (that I wish I can also have), her sleeve tattoos (and they’re meanings) and the fact that she’s a bounty hunter and a very skilled hacker. I love her determination and for not being afraid of who she is. Her decision at the end made me love her even more.

Now let’s swoon over talk about Hideo Tanaka. He’s the young billionaire behind the virtual reality game Warcross. He’s undeniably genius and *ahem* hot. I loved the mystery that surrounds his personality. He somehow reminded me of Light Yagami (Death Note) during the last part of the story.

I loved the chemistry between Emika and Hideo but it’s totally okay with me even without their romance. I would love to know more about the side characters especially Hamilton, Roshan and Zero.

The futuristic world that the author has created using her excellent style of writing is very fascinating and impressive. I loved the details and even though the concept (of Warcross) is not that unique, the author still did an excellent job on creating her own distinctive story.

I love that this book is written from Emika’s perspective. I have to admit that some of the coding and tech-related stuff didn’t make sense to me but it’s totally fine because I wasn’t focusing on those things. I think it also helps that I’m familiar with some online (strategy) games like Warcross. But I’m seriously hoping that we can have this kind of gaming in the future. With our current technology, I think it would be possible. I’m already imagining myself walking on the street with my virtual dragons flying above me (I still have the GoT hangover obviously.)

The last pages were intense and overwhelming (in a good way, I think) because of all the revelations. One of the major plot twists was quite predictable and I wasn’t sure if it meant to be like that. But some of them were really unexpected. I had mixed feelings about the ending though. It’s satisfying and annoying at the same time. I actually thought this is a stand-alone. Now I need the sequel!

Warcross is very entertaining, gripping and overall amazing. Highly recommended whether or not you’re into sci-fi novels.

Warcross isn’t a book that I would normally pick up, to be honest. I’m not a huge science fiction reader, nor am I interested in video game books, but I’ve already read and loved one book by Marie Lu…and the hype did get to me a bit, so I had to read it. The hype is justified, because I loved this adventure!

Warcross is set in a world where virtual reality has become mainstream. Even businesses and cities cater to it. Most people spend all of their free time in the virtual world and in Warcross game.

I liked Emika a lot. She was tough and good at what she does. She had a complicated and sad past that made her interesting. I liked that she didn’t take crap from anyone, but she still had a soft side. She was easy to root for. Emika’s teammates were a very diverse group. Marie Lu does a wonderful job adding in wonderfully diverse characters without it feeling forced. I loved seeing them interact and clash. I’m excited to learn more about everyone in the next book.

There’s also a bit more romance than I was expecting. Wow! Was it full of steamy chemistry! *heart eyes* That’s really all I’m going to say about that for now…Sorry to be vague, but I don’t want to give anything away!

The game was so creative and captivating. The players-characters-were literally thrown into a video game. There was so much action. It was so thrilling. I had no idea what was going to be thrown at them next or how they would ever get out of it. Virtual reality isn’t just limited to the game in this world. People wear their glasses all the time. Whole cities and businesses have incorporated virtual reality into everything. It’s just part or the fabric of this society. I found it a little jarring and unnerving. It definitely made me think about our society’s obsession with our phones and how we miss the world around us because we’re always looking down. Emika’s world felt very possible.

Warcross was just a fantastic read! There were just a couple of places where I felt like the plot dragged a little, but other than that I was totally hooked! The wait for book 2 is going to be a tough one!