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Emily May's Reviews > Wildcard
Wildcard (Warcross, #2)
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2 1/2 stars. Wow, I'm really not sure how to rate this book. I think it was pretty poorly-paced with weak characters, but I also liked some of the exciting twists and turns Lu took.
My experience with this book actually makes me wonder if I was in a really good mood when I read Warcross. Emika is so bland. Was she always this bland? I'm not sure. All I know is that she had absolutely no agency or independent thought in Wildcard. This book sees her being used as a pawn by everyone - her motivations seem always tied into what Hideo or the Blackcoats want.
Emika responds to events as they occur, seemingly without any drive or feelings of her own. As someone who really likes to connect with the narrator or protagonist, it was a little difficult to stay engaged at times.
There were two things that drove the plot of Warcross for me and kept the pages turning: 1) The action of the Warcross game itself, and 2) the dynamic between the Phoenix Riders. The first of those is, of course, completely absent in Wildcard, but there's also a disappointing lack of the second. The Phoenix Riders don't feature for a huge chunk of this book, with the focus instead being on Hideo and Zero (and, I guess, Emika, except it feels like she does nothing).
The Zero aspect of the story is fairly interesting, and I'm glad we got to see what happened to him. In fact, discovering his story is what about 75% of this book consists of. The last 25%, however, felt soooo long. I think these later chapters were supposed to be a concentrated stream of action leading to a dramatic climax, but it feels like it goes on forever, dragging out an ending that already seems inevitable.
Okay, and I'm sorry to keep reiterating this point, but what exactly does Emika do in this book? She literally acts as a mouthpiece and a go-between. She witnesses things happening to other characters, and she seems to have very little opinion on some of the morality issues Lu brings up. I swear Wildcard could just as easily have been told by an omniscient narrator and little would change.
Perhaps my problem with this sequel is that the exciting action and the diverse Phoenix Riders in Warcross disguised problems I might otherwise have had with it. Once you take those things away, Emika Chen struggles to carry the story.
CW: Suicide (nothing graphic); drug abuse.
Anti CW: (view spoiler)
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by
That's the difference between the real and the virtual. Reality is where you can lose the ones you love. Reality is the place where you can feel the cracks in your heart.
2 1/2 stars. Wow, I'm really not sure how to rate this book. I think it was pretty poorly-paced with weak characters, but I also liked some of the exciting twists and turns Lu took.
My experience with this book actually makes me wonder if I was in a really good mood when I read Warcross. Emika is so bland. Was she always this bland? I'm not sure. All I know is that she had absolutely no agency or independent thought in Wildcard. This book sees her being used as a pawn by everyone - her motivations seem always tied into what Hideo or the Blackcoats want.
Emika responds to events as they occur, seemingly without any drive or feelings of her own. As someone who really likes to connect with the narrator or protagonist, it was a little difficult to stay engaged at times.
There were two things that drove the plot of Warcross for me and kept the pages turning: 1) The action of the Warcross game itself, and 2) the dynamic between the Phoenix Riders. The first of those is, of course, completely absent in Wildcard, but there's also a disappointing lack of the second. The Phoenix Riders don't feature for a huge chunk of this book, with the focus instead being on Hideo and Zero (and, I guess, Emika, except it feels like she does nothing).
The Zero aspect of the story is fairly interesting, and I'm glad we got to see what happened to him. In fact, discovering his story is what about 75% of this book consists of. The last 25%, however, felt soooo long. I think these later chapters were supposed to be a concentrated stream of action leading to a dramatic climax, but it feels like it goes on forever, dragging out an ending that already seems inevitable.
Okay, and I'm sorry to keep reiterating this point, but what exactly does Emika do in this book? She literally acts as a mouthpiece and a go-between. She witnesses things happening to other characters, and she seems to have very little opinion on some of the morality issues Lu brings up. I swear Wildcard could just as easily have been told by an omniscient narrator and little would change.
Perhaps my problem with this sequel is that the exciting action and the diverse Phoenix Riders in Warcross disguised problems I might otherwise have had with it. Once you take those things away, Emika Chen struggles to carry the story.
CW: Suicide (nothing graphic); drug abuse.
Anti CW: (view spoiler)
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Reading Progress
August 30, 2017
– Shelved
July 5, 2018
–
Started Reading
July 7, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Oh I was so excited for this book, your review kind of makes me scared it isn't quite as good as I expected it to be..
I've been afraid of this. Lu's characters have always been a tad weak for me. :/
Oh, that's so disappointing :(
This kind of worries me too. Because what really made me love Warcross was the game and action bits. Emika was a bit annoying and I wouldn't be surprised if she turns out the way you described.
Disappointing but not entirely unexpected. I adore Lu's worlds and story ideas, but damn does she drop the ball in terms of characters and pacing half the time. I always felt like she needed to have an extra 100 pages in her books to actually build up all the interesting characters and dynamics she tries to set up. As much as I loved having an Asian main character in a story for once, Emika is a far weaker protagonist than, say, The Young Elite's Adelina.
I couldn't agree more. I think I was in the perfect mood for Warcross and that allowed me to ignore a lot of the flaws that were amplified in this one.
Extremely confused by your description of Emika as "bland." She has RAINBOW HAIR!
Emily wrote: "Extremely confused by your description of Emika as "bland." She has RAINBOW HAIR!"If only she had a rainbow personality to match!
I feel like her only trait about her is her talking about her rainbow hair all the damn time. We get it. You have rainbow hair. 😑
Heather wrote: "I feel like her only trait about her is her talking about her rainbow hair all the damn time. We get it. You have rainbow hair. 😑"And her tattoos! How often does she need to mention her tattoos?! >.<
In book 1 her tragic past and the rather exotic world somewhat covered up her blandness, but yeah ... Emika has always been bland. I guess that’s why she needs tattoos and rainbow hair.
Well, damn. I was so surprised that I liked the first book that I was actually looking forward to this one. *shrugs*
hate it when follow up books, I mean sequels, are just not as good. Perhaps there shouldn't have been one.
Oh nooo. I really love Warcross!!! Am looking forward to seeing how it will be.
Aman wrote: "Spoilery question: is there a Hideo Sasuke Emika love triangle?"I had wondered that going in, (view spoiler)
uGggghhhh im heartbroken, second book syndrome strikes again
I think these are the consequences of writing the book completely from Emika's POV, instead of multiple or 3rd person. A lot of Emika's blandness did start off from Warcross and not surprised it reflected heavily in this one.
Having just finished Wildcard, I'm also wondering if my love for Warcross had more to do with when I read it than how good it actually was. Wildcard let me down a bit.
So low. I'm looking forward to it... I loved the first book.
Since I ALWAYS value your reviews...think I’ll save that high price and find a better book for the bucks. As always, thanks for the review.
I’m disappointed in you... this is the worst rating you’ve ever given a Marie Lu book. I thought you liked, but didn’t love the Legend Series. You loved her Young Elites series!! And her Batman was only 3 stars and now this only 2 1/2 stars. Makes me sad to see because I love her and she is one of the best authors with the cutest personalities. :( I feel like you don’t like Marie anymore cause the ratings have lowered. Marie Lu always has great diversity in her books and nice plots.
Remember the end of Champion when you cried? 😭😭😭 it was so sad and bittersweet. And the Young Elites amazing antiheroine Adelina. We love her so much, our White Wolf! 🐺
Kai wrote: "Remember the end of Champion when you cried? 😭😭😭 it was so sad and bittersweet. And the Young Elites amazing antiheroine Adelina. We love her so much, our White Wolf! 🐺"The Young Elites was such a great series! I'm sad I didn't like this more, too, but I'll definitely give Lu another shot. Even at her worst , she's very easy to read.
what does CW/Anti-CW stand for?
Robyn wrote: "what does CW/Anti-CW stand for?"CW stands for content warning. Anti-Content Warning isn't really a thing - I made it up to let people know that the author doesn't do something that it looks like she is going to do.
Haha I had the exact same thought- was I just in a totally different headspace when I read the first one and loved it? Slogging through this sequel left me really confused about how much I liked the first one.
I was wondering it about Emika too, I thought she was smart in the first book.
Great review! I thought the last part of the novel dragged on for ages. Some parts were good, but the last part almost felt like a chore. I thought the middle was probably the best part, but I really wish more of the team was involved. I'm glad they included more of the Dark World, but I wish there was a separate novel by itself as part of a trilogy. The Dark World concept seems pretty intriguing.
Sorry you didn’t like it.
This sums up almost exactly how i felt about this book
Wow I would’ve expected much better considering this is a last book! Although I’m not really surprised that Emika became bland. I completely agree with you’re point on her motivations. She does have an extreme obsession with Hideo and getting answers.
I’ve always thought that Emika was a special snowflake/Mary sue. That’s why you’re points on her character don’t surprise me. However I still expected more back and forth, not outright devotion.
At least Zero’s backstory was done well. I too agree that Warcross is action packed and the cast fun. It’s nice how diverse they are.
I hope you’re next read is better! Great review ☺️