For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty-hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. To make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.
Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.
I became interested in video games a couple years ago, because my husband and my son are gamers. I'm a reader. But sometimes I will play with them, even though I really suck. So the idea of a virtual reality game that everyone plays was pretty interesting, not to mention the name, Warcross, is pretty awesome, too.
Emika Chen is a bounty hunter, hunting down bad guys who gamble on Warcross even though it is illegal. Her mother split years ago, her father died when she was young, and she bounced from foster care to foster care until she took off. She lives bounty to bounty, just trying to survive. She can't find official work because she has a couple red marks on her record, which would keep any respectable job from hiring her.
So when the Warcross championship game starts and she sees a quick way to make some money so she doesn't lose her apartment. But when she unexpectedly glitches into the game, the world, and Hideo Tanaka see her and know who she is.
Hideo brings Emika to Tokyo and offers her a job. Someone is hacking into his game and he wants her to find the person. She will infiltrate during the Wardraft game and find whoever it is. If she finds him, her bounty is ten million dollars. There are six other bounty hunters out searching.
Emika tries to keep herself separate, from her team makes on the Phoenix Riders, and from Hideo Tanaka, who she is incredibly drawn to. But they creep past her barriers. But Zero, the anonymous hacker, is out to get Hideo and Emika before they find him.
WOAAAAH. Okay, so the ending kind of did not surprise me. I feel like I figured out who Zero is, and I won't tell you when I figured it out because that would ruin it for you also. There is so much going on in this book, and I seriously want to play Warcross. It needs to be real. I loved the characters, some with just enough menace, some with just enough friendliness. Just all around amazing. And it's not the end of the story....
