Review: Warcross by Marie Lu

Been excited to read this book for ages. I have read almost every book by Marie, and I have loved them all. Was a little bit nervous about this one, because I wanted to love it so so much. And oh, I ended up enjoying it so much. Yess. Had a few small issues with it, but nothing big, and mostly this book was perfect.

I found this writing to be flawless. Yesss. It was such a joy to read this book. It's fast and easy to read as well, which I loved lots. And I fell in love with this creative world right away. I'm not sure how I will be able to describe it, so will only mention parts of it. I wish is that this book had been even longer. I needed more.

I don't know what to say about where this book takes place. In an alternative reality, maybe. Not much different from our world. Difference is the virtual reality. The glasses that everyone wears for most of the day, to take part in the games and all the different worlds. It was so exciting to read about. And a bit different. And I loved every moment of it. Not able to describe it well enough, but it's easy enough to understand while reading. And it is so much fun too. I wish we had this kind of virtual reality too. Hmph. How rude. Would have been amazing. I loved that it was possible to do almost anything in this unreal place. I loved how they are hosting a big game called Warcross each year, were young people compete in virtual games. Not sure what they win, though.

There is so much that I enjoyed about this book. The writing, the characters, the world. Everything about the virtual reality. All of it was just very interesting to read about. Eee. This book is told from the point of view of Emika. And oh, I adored this girl to pieces. Some parts of her bothered me a tiny bit, but most of her was perfect to me. She's fierce and badass yet sweet and a bit unsure as well. I loved reading her memories about her father. I loved how awesome she was at hacking. I just adored everything about her.

This book tells the story about how Emika ended up hacking the biggest game in this world. And how now everyone knows about her, even the most known person in this place, Hideo. Emika ends up getting a job offer, and ah, I just loved everything about that. I loved how she fangirled for Hideo. I loved reading about her taking part in Warcross, reading about all the games. I'm unable to describe it any better. And so I will just say that the plot in this book was unique and oh so exciting. Few small faults, but there weren't many.

What I loved the most about this book was the growing relationship between Emika and Hideo. They first meet in an interesting way, after she hacked his game. Then they spend more time together, while slowly getting to know each other. And slowly become friends, then more. Okay, maybe not that slowly, but still. It was so sweet to read about. I ship them like crazy. And they fit together so well. Sigh. Romance was the best part and I want more so badly. The sharing of the past was heartbreaking and sweet. Loved it.

There is a bunch of awesome characters in this book. I loved Hideo and Emika the most, but I also really enjoyed getting to know her teammates. They were interesting to read about, and seemed like they could all be amazing friends for Emika. Ahh, I hope so. And hope there will be more about them all in book two. Then there was the bad guy, aka the villain. A boy named Zero. A hacker that Emika is trying to capture. We don't get to read much about this Zero person at all, just a few glimpses. He did not seem nice. Hmm.

And here is the reason for why I'm not fully loving this book, for why it's a four star. I feel like there will be a love triangle in book two. Nothing at all about it yet. But, yeah. At the ending Emika is unsure what to do next. Once choice could end in a triangle. And god, I hope not. Please don't. Emika and Hideo are perfect together. Please don't ruin that with another boy. Sigh. And, the secret identity of this boy. Would be such a cliche if this ended up a triangle. Hoping it won't happen. Thinking it won't. But I fear that it might. Ahh.

Gosh. I just thought of something. Not a single person died in this book. Which is unusual these days in books that I read, lol. Someone always seems to die. But not in this one. At least, not so far. I hope no one ends up dead. Because this book is most about the virtual reality, and so people don't get hurt in real life. And this book wasn't all that dangerous, and so no deaths. It was pretty nice to not have anyone die. Yay. Just hoping it will continue to stay that way in book two as well, ack. Either way, I enjoyed reading it.

I'm super nervous about book two, for reasons I mentioned, but also dying to read it. I'm hoping it won't be as I fear it will. Either way, though, I'm so excited for the next book. And just wishing it was out already. Hmph. I have high hopes for it, to be honest. The romance in this first book was so stunning, but also too little. And I hope that there will be much more in book two. Yet with this ending, sigh, I'm not sure how that will be. I just, please, please don't make this into a love triangle. I couldn't stand it. But, I'm still so excited.

Huge thank you to the lovely Penguin Random House International for sending me this ARC for review. It's so precious to me. I also cannot wait to get my three different pre-ordered editions of this lovely book. Eee. You should really, really read this book. Simply because Warcross was amazing. Such an exciting and fun book to read. The characters were all amazing, and the world created was so so interesting and awesome. So glad that I read this lovely book. Please let the sequel be even more amazing than this one.

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