Virtual Reality is the Way of Life

Warcross is a virtual reality world, letting players be whoever they want to be. It isn't just a video game, it has become a way of life.  Emika Chen is a bounty hunter for the police. Her job? Arrest people who are betting on the game illegally, that the police don't care enough to find themselves. She has just about lost everything and is about to be evicted from her apartment when she gets notified of a job that can save her from being kicked out on to the streets. When someone gets to the job first, she needs a backup plan. She hacks into the Warcross opening game to steal a one-of-a-kind power-up, but in doing so she accidentally glitches herself into the game for millions of people to see. Fearing that she will be sent to prison for hacking into the game, she leaves her phone unanswered as it keeps ringing, hoping everything will be forgotten by morning. But boy was she wrong. When she finally answers her phone she has 84 messages from the same blocked number and her person is plastered across the headlines with everyone wondering who she is. 

I love Marie Lu’s books and this is no exception. It reminded me a lot of Ready Player One, just without all the 80’s references. The descriptions of the virtual reality world was vivid and lively, to the point where you felt transported into Warcross. The ending was a total CLIFFHANGER, leaving me totally surprised and mad that I have to wait so long to find out what Emika will do next with what she has just discovered and what will happen to the Warcross world.

-Samantha M, (Dusen)Berry Blogger and member of the River Teen Advisory Board 

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