Wildcard (Warcross)

Great ending to the Warcross series of two books. Engaging characters and plot that takes some twists along the way. Fast-paced and fun read. If you liked Ready Player One, this one is similar but different enough to still be very enjoyable. If you are a parent looking at this for your child, language was pretty tame (compared to others in this space!). Only one "bedroom" scene and it was not graphic. You know what happened but there isn't a long play by play.

Wildcard by Marie Lu picks up where Warcross left off, a science-fiction adventure that blurs the lines between reality and virtual reality. I enjoyed reading Wildcard! I thought it was a lot of fun. While it didn't grab me as much as Warcross, I thought it was well-written and well-paced. There was a lot of action in Wildcard, which made it easy to consume in just a couple sittings. After Warcross ended, I wasn't really sure which direction the next book would take. Wildcard really focused on Zero's story. You learned about his history, his creation, and his motives. I thought his story was both fascinating and heartbreaking on several levels. I liked learning about his evolution as a character. Wildcard was interesting because you battle with a lot of morally gray characters. From Hideo to Zero himself, the characters weren't morally black or white. Typically their motives were good, but their actions were bad. I appreciate characters who blur the traditional lines of "right" and "wrong." They're more relatable, and I find them to be more engaging. While I liked the story concept in Wildcard, I didn't think the story was as smoothly delivered as Warcross. Parts of it felt forced and awkward. While that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book, it was something I noticed while reading. I liked the ending of the book, especially Zero's outcome. Zero really forced you to think about what's real and not real. I also liked how Wildcard ended for Emika. I've always enjoyed her as a character, so I was pleased with the ending. The characters in Wildcard were richly written. Each character was unique with their own quirks and preferences. After Warcross, I became attached to Emika and Hideo, and this continued into Wildcard. If you haven't read this duology yet, I highly recommend you do so! These books are quick reads, so do yourself a favor and add them to your TBR!

Wildcard was a novel I anticipated to read after having read Warcross. After the amazing first part to Emica's story, I was interested to see what Lu would do next for this character and how she would utilize her video game technology in this novel. The novel was full of interesting and unexpected revelations, and i was intrigued to know more and more about the characters and the fate Lu had for them. I read this novel in a hurry, as I did with Warcross, in order to have enough of the novel read for Marie Lu's author signing event. I got through over half of the novel in the span of three days. I did not want to stop and wanted to continue listening to this story on Audible. I did not finish this novel until after the signing event but was surprised near the end. This novel gave an ending to the characters' story in a way that the reader/listen does not expect a third novel. It may not be a satisfying ending for some, but I found it to be just right. Both Warcross and Wildcard were novels that I extremely enjoyed and will be revisiting them and re-reading both of them when I have more time and I am not in graduate school. I want to re-visit both these novels and spend more time with these characters. I want to relive the adventure these characters have to offer. Once more, I recommend both these novels to anyone interested in novels that incorporate video gaming technology.

I thought I loved Warcross but Wildcard takes the cake! I devoured the hell out of this book ya’ll! This picked up right where Warcross left off at and it threw you right into the action. I loved being reunited with all the characters again. The relationship between Emika and The Phoenix Riders was really warming my heart. It was great to see Emika go from being a loner and actually letting people in and relying on her friends. I know that a lot of people didn’t like the relationship between Emika and Hideo, but I was that other 1% who was actually cheering them on. I’m going to be honest, Hideo messed up. He should have been honest with her and honest with himself. However, everything wasn’t black and white when it came to him. I did like the way he cared for her and her for him. The action and suspense here kept me reading way past my bedtime. There were so many plot twists that were happening that I was reeling almost the entire time I was reading. The world building was just as great as in Warcross. I’m still kind of upset that we don’t have this kind of technology here. I loved Marie Lu’s descriptions and everything felt so vivid. Now I will say that I did expect more from the ending. It didn’t wrap up as nicely as I wanted it to, but I still got a bit of the ending that I wanted. I hate that this duology is over, but I can’t wait to see what else she writes!

My 16 year old loved this book. He read the whole thing in a day.

Actual rating 3.5 stars. There was certainly more action and espionage in ‘Wildcard’ than in ‘Warcross.’ Where ‘Warcross’ is about Emika fitting in, ‘Wildcard’ is about how isolated she really is. The only person she can trust is herself. Her world is deconstructed and it’s up to her to piece it back together. Even though I enjoyed the story, and there is plenty going on in the plot, I wasn’t as engaged with Emika’s plight as I was in ‘Warcross.’ Which is unusual considering it’s in my favourite genre and Marie Lu managed to up the stakes on all counts with this sequel. I’m thinking it has something to do with Lu’s writing style… a more succinct and descriptive construction may have kept my interest? I put this novel down a number of times… or maybe I was just having a “moment?” I will re-read this duology at a later date and investigate this issue further. But for now I’m attributing this phenomena to Lu’s writing style. Which is nothing in judgement of ‘Wildcard’ as it’s subjective and down to personal tastes. Emika was a fun protagonist. She is resourceful and street savvy. Though we don’t get as much of the secondary characters from the debut, this novel deals with only a few core characters in her orbit. There are a lot of unexpected twists in the plot, and maybe a few of them did not have the gravitas I was expecting. It is certainly unique but did not entirely resonate with me. But I could definitely see this working really well on the small screen as a television series. The pacing is great, there is a lot of action and interesting characters. The overall tone of this duology is predictable – we want to see Emika triumph over Hideo and an evil corporation… though this is deconstructed fairly quickly - and though the theme is resolved - it is achieved in an unexpected way. So while we get the closure we need, it eventuates in a different form. I’d recommend this for those who like light science fiction and YA, it is similar to novels like ‘Ready Player One’ and ‘Armada’ with the use of virtual reality, technology, evil corporations vying for control, and the protagonist as a part of a rebellion to even the status quo. A fun read with a mix of futuristic technology and the implications of their presence on society, but I think I wanted a little more sophistication with the writing. A good solid read for the genre and demographic it is targeted towards.

Har läst första boken och den va väldigt bra. Råkade tyvärr köpa denna på engelska men säkert lika bra som första! Inget fel på boken som man köper.

same as in picture. amazon never disappoints

Mary Lu is one of my fav authors and her books are simply perfectly written. Its a must have!

Things to know in this book- You'll get to know more about Zero, what exactly happened that led to Sasuke's disappearance, what happens to the algorithm finally. Things change drastically in this bok. It is no longer concentrated on the Warcross game but on the back story of Hideo and Zero, and like saving everyone. The book is interesting from page one and is totally gripping till the end. Power-packed action scenes and surprising connections and revelations fill the gaps. Good ending to the series. Emika's character could've been stronger in this book.