Wildcard by Marie Lu


Wildcard is the sequel to Warcross in Marie Lu's Warcross series. The entire world had been affected by the program Hideo Tanaka, the creator of the Neurolink (a virtual/augmented reality system) had released to almost all the users of the Neurolink. This program essentially compelled people who have broken the law to either turn themselves in or commit suicide. It also gave Tanaka total control over them.
A hacker group, only known as the Blackcoats, contact Emika Chen, the main character, and recruit her into helping them shut down this program. Emika has to try and somehow gain control and shut this program down, using her previous friendship with Hideo to get close to him. However, she realizes that the Blackcoats are not what they seem, and is quickly swallowed in a web of hacking and subterfuge.

I enjoyed this book, but as I read the first book a while ago, I couldn't fully appreciate its story. I liked emotions and the sudden twists that the author excellently wrote into the novel's plot. However, I didn't like how predictable the story got in the end. I think that people who have read Marie Lu books and enjoyed them would like this book. I also think that people who are interested in hacking and artificial intelligence would also enjoy this book. This book made me curious about its proposed idea of downloading someone's mind and detaching it from a physical body. I enjoyed this book despite not remembering parts of the first book and I highly recommend it to others.


Reviewed by NK, Grade 10
Montrose Library

Comments

Renia said…
This story takes place in the future world, where 98% of the population is placed under mind control by its dictator, Hideo. Hideo was the fiancee of Emika. Emika is part of the 2% of the population that is not yet under control. Emika then finds out about a bounty placed on her head. She decides that she has to find a way to stop Hideo from doing any more harm. She the sets of on a journey and finds allies that are also not controlled by Hideo. She meets the leader of the underground Black Coat organization, Zero. Zero agrees to protect her in exchange for her help. As she spends time with the Black Coats, she learns secrets about Zero's past. They now must find a way to corrupt the algorithm that Hideo is using to manipulate the population's minds.

I personally recommend this book to people who like Science Fiction. I really liked how the plot was developed throughout the story. The characters are described in such a way that you can understand what they are going through. This book made me feel empathetic and attached to the characters. I wouldn't recommend this book to young readers because the language used is this book is a little explicit and hard to understand, the book itself is also pretty long. But this book is more suitable to teens and adults. Even though it is long and a little hard to understand, the plot was very entertaining. I believe that most people will really enjoy reading this book.

Reviewed by Aryan S., Grade 8
Glendale Central Library

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