Warcross

Plot

18-year-old Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, capturing individuals suspected of betting on Warcross, a virtual-reality combat game accessed through Neuro Link glasses. Players battle on realistic terrains using power-ups to take an opponent's Artifact. While hunting a suspect, Emika sees news of the upcoming Warcross tournament in Tokyo.

During the first tournament match, a rare power-up appears, and Emika exploits a code vulnerability, glitching into the match and causing its cancellation. This intrusion makes her famous, and she receives a call from Henka Games; the game's creator, Hideo Tanaka, flies her to Tokyo. Hideo explains that a hacker named Zero has accessed Warcross's database and obtained spectator information.

He hires Emika as a bounty hunter to capture Zero, suspecting the hacker is a tournament competitor. Hideo signs Emika up for the tournament to spy on competitors. In the Wardraft, she is the first pick and joins Team Phoenix Riders. Emika grows suspicious of teammate DJ Ren, who encrypts his information with shields.

She extracts a code string that Hideo links to the Dark World, a place for crimes committed through Warcross personas. There, Emika finds Ren placing small bets and speaking with Zero. She believes the bets are coordinates mapping future attacks on Henka Games.

Development and inspiration

Before releasing her debut novel Legend in 2011, Lu worked briefly as an intern at Disney Interactive Studios. She describes the game's structure as a mix between Overwatch, Mario Kart, and Quidditch. Lu's characterization of the protagonist was inspired by her mother's computer skills, perseverance, and determination, though Emika shares the same interests and flaws as Lu.

Reception

The novel was commercially successful and appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list in the young adult category for 12 weeks. Reviews were generally positive, with praise for the seamless transition between plot elements. Some critics noted the predictability of certain plot points and the shallow relationship between Emika and Hideo.

Everdeen Mason praised the novel's quickly developing plot and entertainment value, arguing it transcends its young-adult billing and comparing it to Snow Crash and Ready Player One. Kirkus praised the romance and the action-movie feel, including Warcross in its list of the best teen science fiction books of 2017. Feliza Casano of Tor.com was critical, citing monotony in the plot and objecting to the romance and the disclosure of Zero's identity as too easy to foretell.