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Thursday, September 07, 2017

An Exhilarating Journey: Warcross by Marie Lu

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I received this book for free from G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

An Exhilarating Journey: Warcross by Marie LuWarcross by Marie Lu
Series: Warcross #1
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on September 12, 2017
Genres: Action, Sci-Fi, YA
Source: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
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Goodreads
four-half-stars

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. Needing to make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.

Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.

In this sci-fi thriller, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu conjures an immersive, exhilarating world where choosing who to trust may be the biggest gamble of all.

*exhales loudly*

Listen, this book is going to change everything. Are you a non-gamer and kinda wondering if this will really be your thing? The answer is YES. To be fair, I do play occasionally play multi-player Nintendo games with friends but, I am not a gamer and usually don’t have a long enough attention span to actually play anything on my own aside from Mario Kart. Warcross is amazing and has the ability to appeal to almost everyone (so it might not appeal to people who live under rocks and don’t know what books are *shrugs*)

The hype behind this book is INTENSE and honestly, that kind of hype is usually terrfiying to me and might even be terrifying to you but I read Legend by Marie Lu 6 years ago on a whim and a recommendation from my librarian so I’ve never gone back since then. Marie Lu has never failed to blow me away with her amazing world-crafting abilities. There is a reason why her books are so well-liked. Her characters are always great but her worlds are really what distinguish her from other writers. With Legend she brought something new to the world of dystopia, with The Young Elites she crafted a fantasy world so uniquely her own and with Warcross she has crafted yet another world unlike what is already out there. I mean sure, there are lots of books written about virtual gaming realities but none of them are Warcross.

Hideo Tanaka developed Warcross when he was only 14. Since then, the game and his innovations have taken the world by storm. He is easily the most powerful man alive and he’s only 21 *shrugs*

Emika Chen is an orphan with a lot of debt who has taken to bounty hunting to survive. Her life is forever changed when she tries to hack into Warcross. She is flown out to Tokyo and gets to meet the guy she has worshipped since she was 11 and better yet, she is drafted as a wild card into the Warcross championships. But. All good things come with a cost and in this case, she is given the task of finding the person trying to ruin Warcross. If she can successfully complete the mission, she will be awarded $10 billion. Thaz a lot of $$$$$$

Warcross transports readers into an alternate, exciting Tokyo where stakes are high and lives of many are on the line. This exciting sci-fi thriller is sure to captivate the attention of many readers and inspire many fans. There is also a ship that you’re gonna be shipping with all your heart and some twists that you might see coming but that will also leave you curled up in a ball because why cannot our fictional children EVER BE HAPPY.

My verdict on Warcross is that it is a book everyone needs and really a book that has so much mass appeal that it really does need to be read by everyone. We got some badass mcs, an exciting world, a bounty hunt for a villain, some questions regarding morality, etc. What I need is a sequel now because that ending has me shaken to my very core.

four-half-stars

4.5 Hot Espressos

#PlayWarcross: My Dream Warcross Team

Posted by on 09/04/2017 • 0 Comments

Hello, hello friends. I’ve been sitting on this post for a while because life is hard but also because coming up with the perfect Warcross team is also hard. There are so many good characters to choose from for the individual roles but I really wanted to get together a team that would complement each other in terms of their personalities and help each other make up for their faults. SO. I PRESENT TO YOU:

THE RED HOT LONES

Team Captain: The captain has the most difficult task of leading a group of rag-tags so finding the person fit for the job requires a lot of thought and care. While there are many great people out there capable of being a leader, I went with Yelena from Poison Study because even…

Fresh Batch (September 3rd – 9th)

Fresh Batch (September 3rd – 9th)

Posted by on 09/02/2017 • 1 Comment

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

They Both Die at the End Adam Silvera Publication date: September 5th 2017 by HarperTeen

Goodreads Purchase

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

 

Fresh Batch (August 27th – September 2nd)

Fresh Batch (August 27th – September 2nd)

Posted by on 08/26/2017 • 1 Comment

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

The Girl with the Red Balloon Katherine Locke Series: The Balloonmakers #1 Publication date: September 1st 2017by Albert Whitman Company

Goodreads Purchase

When sixteen-year-old Ellie Baum accidentally time-travels via red balloon to 1988 East Berlin, she’s caught up in a conspiracy of history and magic. She meets members of an underground guild in East Berlin who use balloons and magic to help people escape over the Wall—but even to the balloon makers, Ellie’s time travel is a mystery. When it becomes clear that someone is using dark magic to change history, Ellie must risk everything—including her only way home—to stop the process.

Not the Persuasion Retelling My Heart Desires: The One That Got Away by Melissa Pimentel

Posted by on 08/24/2017 • 1 Comment

I’ve always regarded Persuasion as my favorite Jane Austen novel so when I heard about The One That Got Away, I was immediately intrigued. There is something about the angst of a second chance romance that always draws me in and I love seeing the various takes on the classic novel. I dove into The One That Got Away expecting to enjoy it and I am not sure I did? I am also not sure I didn’t.

Retellings don’t have to follow the original storyline word for word but in my opinion a good retelling is at least very aware of the word for word storyline and has a fun take on that story. I felt like The One That Got Away didn’t really do that? It’s biggest tribute to the novel was essentially…

Binge Read a Series: Hidden Legacy by llona Andrews

Posted by on 08/22/2017 • 1 Comment

The covers for these series may not be even remotely exciting but I can promise you that these books are worth the read. If you don’t live beneath a rock, you may be familiar with the works of powerhouse Ilona Andrews. Kate Daniels was all the rage back in the day (and I think the series is still ongoing??) and almost everyone I knew loved those books. I enjoyed them but never fell in love the way so many of my friends/acquaintances had. However, when I read Burn for Me back in 2014, I was sucked in forever and ever.

I was so upset when I found out that White Hot had been pushed back to 2017 because that meant I had to wait 2.5 years for a sequel….

Fresh Batch (August 20th – 26th)

Fresh Batch (August 20th – 26th)

Posted by on 08/19/2017 • 1 Comment

Fresh Batch, posted weekly, keeps you up to date on the hottest releases of the upcoming week.

Flavor of the week:

The Arsonist Stephanie Oakes Publication date: August 22nd 2017by Dial Books

Goodreads Purchase

Molly Mavity is not a normal teenage girl. For one thing, her father is a convicted murderer, and his execution date is fast approaching. For another, Molly refuses to believe that her mother is dead, and she waits for the day when they’ll be reunited . . . despite all evidence that this will never happen.

Pepper Yusef is not your average teenage boy. A Kuwaiti immigrant with epilepsy, serious girl problems, and the most useless seizure dog in existence, he has to write a series of essays over…

Epic Cover Battles #14: Fall 2017 Titles Edition

Posted by on 08/17/2017 • 5 Comments

Poll poll on this blog wall, which Fall 2017 cover is the prettiest of them all?

We haven’t done an Epic Cover Battles in so long but with so many fall titles with gorgeous covers coming out, I thought it would be fun to battle some of them out! We might not know which book will be the best but perhaps judging some books by their covers will be fun anyway…

Also, its only kind of a coincidence that all the covers have similar color palettes.

MAY THE BEST COVER WIN