Review - Wildcard

Wildcard

Title: Wildcard

Series: Warcross (Goodreads)
Author: Marie Lu 
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance

Age Group: YA

Source: Penguin Random House Pulp Shelf (this did not affect my opinion)

Review

Wildcard is the follow up to Marie Lu’s Warcross and it does not disappoint. I was just as thrilled and excited by Wildcard as I was by Warcross because the gaming action is still very much there but the stakes have been raised even higher for Emika and her friends. Wildcard still has the same light and easy writing tone that the first book had but the themes and issues of this book are much darker and could be triggering for some readers. As a result of the darker themes and issues I personally felt that they happened too suddenly in relation to the first book because this book looks at issues of suicide, murder, and drug addiction which arguably makes the book read like it shouldn’t belong to the first book at all. However, these issues though they may be challenging are important to discuss because they don’t just occur in literature but in our own world. If we avoid talking about difficult issues then the people facing them cannot or will not receive or ask for the help that they and their closest friends and family need. Though in relation to Wildcard these issues felt out of place for the previous book that did not deal with as such difficult issues.

Wildcard continues to be based in the setting of Japan and celebrates Japanese culture as there are references within the book to cosplaying as well as the continued focus on the gaming culture. Which is fantastic because it respectfully celebrates another culture and it exposes readers to a different culture rather than more popularly written ones such as America. There also continues to be subtle reference to other works of literature because during a game of chess between Hammie and Asher the game is described as such ‘It’s no static chessboard, either – the knights are real knights…the bishops replaced with fire-breathing dragons that now lunge their necks forward.’ When I read this scene I could only think about the influence of Harry Potter and the living chessboard that may have inspired Lu’s one.

In Warcross there was a LGBTQ+ relationship hinted at but in Wildcard this relationship is explicitly discussed and is important to some of the books other wider themes too. Roshan and Tremaine are literary representatives for the LGBTQ+ community and though there is not many romantic scenes between them the fact that there is not only a heterosexual relationship in this book is important. In relation to some of the books wider themes Roshan and Tremaine’s relationship links into the issue of social injustice and drug addiction. Most importantly, it is not because they are gay that their families would reject their relationship but because they are from different social backgrounds. We learn that Roshan comes from a wealthy family, ‘His mum is a prominent member of Britain’s parliament. His father owns one of the world’s largest shipping companies. His brother married some kind of duchess…’. Whereas Tremaine comes from a poor and troubled background, ‘my dad got shut away for shooting a store clerk…My mum tried selling me once, when she was high and ran out of money for another hit’ he even goes as far to state that ‘you try explaining that kind of upbringing to Roshan’s family. That their beloved boy is dating someone like me.’ For me the fact that it is not because they are gay but rather because they are from different social classes shows that family prejudice is not always because of issues with sexuality but difficulties in accepting other issues such as social class differences. 

Synopsis (From Goodreads)

Return to the immersive, action-packed world of Warcross in this thrilling sequel.

Emika Chen barely made it out of the Warcross Championships alive. Now she can no longer trust the one person she's always looked up to - Hideo Tanaka. His plan: to wipe out all crime on Earth by ending the free will of its citizens.

Emika is determined to put a stop to him, but she soon finds out that someone's put a bounty on her head, and her sole chance for survival lies with the ruthless Zero. But his protection comes at a price.

Caught in a web of betrayal, just how far will Emika go to take down the man she loves?

Key Quotes 

'She reaches behind her back and pulls another gun from her belt. She throws it at me without warning. […] "For chrissakes," I blurt out,  holding the gun in front of me with two fingers. "What the hell am i supposed to do with this?"
"Fire when needed?" she suggests.

'We believe that too much power in the hands of a single entity is always a dangerous thing. So we fight that, whenever and wherever we can.’

‘The way he’s responding reminds me of code stuck in an infinite loop, going round and round in useless circles, or politicians who know exactly how to evade a question they don’t want to answer. People who can turn a question on you to take the heat off themselves.’

‘We fight for survival with everything we’ve got, as if the oxygen mask and the seat belt…might be the thing that saves us. 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.’ 

Similar reads 

See Warcross post

Afterthoughts

Prejudices are complicated and are not just limited to issues of sexuality but also includes prejudices against race, social class and gender.

The importance of family is still a huge concern in this book as it was in Warcross, how important do you think family is?

What would you recommend to others if they enjoyed this book?