This is a spoiler-free review! The version I am reading is an ARC -- any changes made for the final publication are not reflected in this review.
I have been a fan of Marie Lu's Legend series for a long time, and I finally decided that it was time to pick up Warcross from the spot on my shelf after years of starting at it. At first, I was not really vibing with the main character, and I will put the blame on myself since there is a six year age difference between us, and I have not been reading too much young adult books, especially science fiction or dystopian. But since I am in my young adult novel renaissance, I made my piece with Emika, our female lead.
Lu does a very good job of expanding on Emika's backstory -- you will first feel as you do not know anything about her, but each piece of information you learn about Emika comes at the perfect time. I will admit that I felt frustrated when she was first introduced, but she definitely grows on you within the first 75 pages. Our 18-year-old lead is living in a beaten down apartment with a roommate who barely contributes to Emika's story. With being thousands of dollars in debt and behind in rent, Emika uses her Warcross skills as a bounty hunter catching criminals in order to get by.
By chance and total accident, Emika finds herself being propelled into an entirely new league of champions of Warcross after hacking into an international championship, and catches the eye of the game's creator, 21-year-old billionaire Hideo. From there, we follow Emika as she becomes a wild card in a game that captivates millions of players and audience members as she helps Hideo on a very important task working on a security issue. I will say that I guessed what the reveal was and still loved every second of Emika working her way toward it. I loved that from right off the bat, we could tell that Hideo and Emika were going to become much closer than anticipated as she becomes his personal spy inside the tournament.
Hideo's personality is very stoic in the beginning, which is expected as everyone around him seems to only want to be in his presence in order to get ahead or level up in Warcross. He also has so much rizz and really knows how to let Emika know what he wants, which had me doing cartwheels across the room. Lu allows Emika and Hideo's opposing personalities to compliment one another as they each let their guard down around each other, something they have not done for many years. Both with tragic pasts and hackers to track down, their romantic relationship was something so great to see. I absolutely loved the way that Lu was able to incorporate virtual reality and real life in their vulnerable states, and the way that Hideo opened up to Emika had my heart swooning.
The players on Emika's Warcross team were so much fun to read about, especially as readers are learning about them just as Emika meets them for the first time. Yes, she can look up their information, but there really is no better way to get to know your team members that actually learning their skills while in the game. Hammie had me cracking up because she was always so unhinged, and Asher's captain skills definitely came out to play in and out of the tournament. There is a ton of drama and scandal throughout the book, and coupled with the excitement of the Warcross games, it made for a very entertaining read.
I genuinely just had a great time reading this -- it is a super quick read and really captivates the reader once you get into the inner workings of Warcross and Emika acting as a spy for Hideo. There were so many times that I caught myself giggling and kicking my feet over Emika and Hideo's development, and I just loved how well they complimented each other without one overpowering the other in the relationship. Lu surprised me on just how much I enjoyed reading this, but it should have come at no surprise, considering how much I enjoyed Legend and the rest of the series. I will definitely be finishing the duology!
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