Book Title: Wildcard
Author: Marie Lu
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Date Published: September 20th 2018 by Penguin
Number of Pages: 341 (Paperback)
Synopsis
(From Goodreads) 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?
Book Review
I came into Wildcard with low expectations as mentioned in my book review of Warcross. After my re-read, I realize that I didn’t love the first installment that much, so I don’t want to get my hopes up for the sequel.
But somehow, Wildcard still disappointed me.
Considering how things ended in Warcross, I know that the sequel will have much higher stakes than simply playing a virtual game. However, I wasn’t a fan of what Marie Lu did in this book. Maybe I just had different “low” expectations for this sequel, and it still didn’t deliver.
Writing Style
I liked Marie Lu’s easy-to-read writing style in the first book, although I wasn’t a fan of her bluntness and straightforwardness. I feel like she was spoon-feeding me as I read Emika’s story.
And in this sequel, it became worse.
Don’t get me wrong—I like how easy it is to read Wildcard. But most of the story was told to me, instead of shown.
From Zero’s backstory to the “hacking” aspect of this game, it was just written in a very dull way. It’s like Marie Lu merely dropped info bombs left and right. And I wasn’t a fan of it!
World Building
I really love the world-building on the first book! I enjoyed reading about the game and the technology—I can definitely see it happening!
But unfortunately, Wildcard‘s world-building left a bad impression on me.
Most of the story revolves around Emika working with Zero and the Blackcoats. I barely get to see the Warcross game in action (which is what I absolutely love in the first book). Instead, the book focuses more on the Dark Web.
While I did enjoy reading more of the Dark Web, it wasn’t as quite appealing as the game itself.
In addition, Marie Lu introduced some questionable and illogical elements (at least for me) in the world which diminished the awesome world-building in the first book. I can’t say much without mentioning spoilers, so there’s that.
Plot
Before reading this book, I already expected that the plot would be completely different from Warcross. It wouldn’t focus much on the games, instead it would mainly revolve around Emika trying to figure out Zero’s past.
At first, I didn’t mind it. In fact, like many readers, I was curious on what happened to Zero. I was also very intrigued by the Blackcoats and their mission.
However, once the real story behind his disappearance unfolds, the book become progressively worse.
I always love plot twists and turns (and this book absolutely delivered!), but it was also all over the place. I find it too bizarre and weird. There’s also a lot of plot holes…I just can’t!
Furthermore, the pacing of this book didn’t help. The “big reveal” behind Zero’s disappearance was so dragged out. I mean, it started halfway through the book (which I think was pretty early but then again, Marie Lu just dropped bombs left and right) and ended up stretching for at least 50-ish pages or so. Then the ending was rushed. Talk about sloppy.
And to make things worse, the plot was basically TOLD to us—either the characters are casually having long-ass dialogue or Emika is eavesdropping on someone.
Speaking of Emika…
Characters
Emika is just the worse. She is very bland and rarely get things done in this sequel. She “piggybacks” on other characters (especially Tremaine and Jax) and trusts too easily. Plus, in the beginning, she’s still pining for Hideo, even after what he has done. I mean, girl, get your shit together! Do you really think you love the guy? You just practically known him for a few weeks!
And don’t get me started on Hideo! I don’t know why everybody likes him, but I refuse to hop on the bandwagon. He’s just as terrible as Emika. And I don’t care about their romantic relationship!
Zero/Sasuke was meh. It was cool reading about his backstory, but I don’t feel a connection to him at all.
Again, like mentioned in my book review of Warcross, I wish this were the Phoenix Riders’ story instead. I badly want to read Roshan and Tremaine’s relationship as well as Asher and Hammie’s. Imagine how interesting that would be!
Well, at least, I did get to learn more about them in this sequel. But I wish I saw more of them, you know?
Also, where the hell was Ren?! It’s like Marie Lu has completely forgotten his character. What a shame.
Overall Thoughts
I was really disappointed in Wildcard.
The story was sloppy, the plot’s pacing was so weird, and the main characters were just a shell of their former selves. And that’s really saying something, considering that I wasn’t a fan of them in the first book.
So, I rate this sequel 2.5 stars. I’m actually tempted to rate it 2 stars, but the minor characters redeemed it for me, albeit barely.
I wished that I just simply read Warcross and not pick up Wildcard at all. At least, it’s all fun and virtual games and not this mess of a sequel. Oh well.
Book Rating (Summary)
Writing Style: 2.5 stars
World Building: 3.5 stars
Plot: 2 stars
Characters: 2 stars
Overall Rating: 2.5 stars
You can also read my book review of Wildcard on Goodreads!
Let’s Talk!
What are your thoughts on Wildcard? Did you love or hate the ending?
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