As if I didn't need more evidence that I should never be a detective, I spent the entire time hyper-fixating on accusing the wrong character and completely missed the very obvious plot twist.

Warcross is one of the few books by Marie Lu that I've yet to get around to. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect because I loved some of her books (the Legend series and Skyhunter) but was sorely disappointed by others (The Young Elites series and Steelstriker). I've also been on a dystopian/sci-fi kick lately, so I figured I might get tired of it soon.
I've seen some reviews comparing this book to Ready Player One, and while the similarities are there, I think it's a common concept for sci-fi stories in general. Emika is a hacker just trying to make a living, and when she hacks into an important Warcross game, she becomes an overnight sensation and attracts the attention of Hideo Tanaka, the creator of the game himself. He recruits her to uncover a mysterious hacker, and she must disguise herself as a player in the Warcross tournaments. The pacing was pretty good (I read it in about 24 hours), although I feel like not a ton of stuff actually "happened." I think the plot twist would've been easily predictable if I stopped accusing Kenn of being evil for 5 seconds. The cliffhanger is intriguing, but I don't know when I'll get around to the next one.
I didn't particularly love any of the characters. Roshan was my favorite, although I don't really know why. Ren was interesting, and I hope we see more of him. Asher gave Adrian from Renegades vibes. Hideo is literally just Artemis Fowl if he cared more about video games than fairies. Emika was fine as far as main characters go, but she wasn't my favorite of the author's protagonists.
Warcross is a worthwhile sci-fi read for fans of Marie Lu, filled with action, intrigue, explosions, and mystery.

4/5