Friday, September 8, 2023

Review: Wildcard (Warcross #2) by Marie Lu

Title: Wildcard

Series: Warcross #2

Previous book in this series: Warcross

Author: Marie Lu

Genre: YA, sci-fi

Publication date: September 2018

Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now that she knows the truth behind Hideo's new NeuroLink algorithm, she can no longer trust the one person she's always looked up to, who she once thought was on her side.

Determined to put a stop to Hideo's grim plans, Emika and the Phoenix Riders band together, only to find a new threat lurking on the neon-lit streets of Tokyo. Someone's put a bounty on Emika's head, and her sole chance for survival lies with Zero and the Blackcoats, his ruthless crew. But Emika soon learns that Zero isn't all that he seems--and his protection comes at a price.

Caught in a web of betrayal, with the future of free will at risk, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?

My rating: ★★★☆☆

Warcross ended up being an okay read for me. I loved the world and the technology but everything else was underwhelming. But after that crazy ending, I was really looking forward to reading this one. However, I think I liked this book even less 😬

One thing I was indifferent about in the last book was the characters, and that carried over to this book as well. I just didn’t care for any of them! In fact, Emi lusting over Hideo was ANNOYING. Especially after what we found out in the last book! He’s literally controlling people's minds with the NeuroLink! I understand why: he wanted to prevent bad people from doing bad things, but that is still fucked up! Especially because this book opens up with a bunch of suicides!! And yeah, they were awful people that did bad things, but still! And people don’t know that Hideo is doing this with the NeuroLink!! It’s just insane! No one person should have this much power. How is she still attracted to this guy?! And just like I suspected at the end of the last book, in this book Emi tries to save him from himself before he goes too far... GIRL. He's already there! What more do you want from him?! Lol. Interestingly, Emi kinda, sorta teams up with Zero to stop Hideo. You know, Zero aka Sasuke aka Hideo’s long-lost brother 😯

I did find Zero to be very intriguing, though. His backstory was really sad and I felt for him. We take a trip down memory lane, literally, we see all these memories lol. And while interesting, holy crap did it go on forever! It was way too long!


One of my favorite things about the first book was the world, the technology, and the game. I loved all of that! It just sounded amazing! But we didn’t spend nearly as much time inside Warcross in this book and that made me sad! I loved that aspect! There was one game they played early on that actually wasn’t all that interesting, but the finale did take place in Warcross and there was action, so I liked that! But I just wish there would’ve been more.

And then that ending? Oh, man. I was not a fan. I mean, this was the only way this could've possibly ended, so I get it, but I was just not into it. Where Emi and Hideo end... no. I don’t like it.



This entire book was just underwhelming, which is so sad because the premise was great and the world was rich and interesting and filled with a lot of cool technology! But my lack of interest in the characters definitely hindered my enjoyment of the book, unfortunately.


Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊

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