There’s also a couple of plot twists towards the end, one I didn’t see coming and one I had a bit of an inclining about as I got further into the book. Though as the story progresses and she begins to get closer to her target, we see her begin to grapple with right and wrong and wanting to protect the people she’s come to care for as there is a found family element of sorts to this story. She could be seen as morally grey since she is a hacker but she uses her skills for good. Emika is an interesting character, with a unique voice. There’s plenty of action from the start to keep you reading and the quieter moments are really well done and keep the plot running nicely as well as adding some character development. But things change when she glitches into the opening game of the Warcross Championships and not only ends up working as a Bounty Hunter / Spy for the game’s creator, Hideo Tanaka, but she becomes a player in the Championship games as well. The story is told from the perspective of Emika Chen, who is an incredibly skilled hacker of the virtual reality game, Warcross and also works as a Bounty Hunter to help the police catch illegal gamblers. However, Warcross has a good pace to it and although you’re learning about certain aspects of the world and the technology it focuses on, it doesn’t feel like Marie Lu is just throwing information at you and the moments when you’re discovering more about the world, it’s written in such a way that it doesn't feel overwhelming.

Sometimes the first books in series can be a little slow and heavy on the world building and giving the reader a lot of information. This is the first book in the duology and it really didn’t disappoint me at all. Okay, so let’s get into the review and fair warning friends, my review of the first book is a long one, so pace yourselves… I will do my best to make this double review as spoiler free as possible in case anyone reading this wants to pick up the series but doesn’t want to know the plot twists and ending before they read it ~ I mean who would right? As you may have seen from my June Bookish Wrap Up, I decided to do more extensive review of Warcross and Wildcard by Marie Lu.

Warcross book series