G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 352 pp.
Published September 18, 2018
DISCLAIMER: I received a free physical ARC of this title from the publisher for review consideration. This did not inform or influence my opinion in any way.
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?
This review contains mild spoilers for Warcross.
At the end of Warcross, despite Emika Chen's emerging affection for Hideo, the moral dilemma posed by his actions seemed straightforward. Teaming up with the mysterious hacker known as Zero, Emika would work to undo the damage Hideo caused and, hopefully, help him to see the danger of his choices. While Wildcard certainly begins that way, Lu throws in one twist after another that enriches both the characters and their story even as she moves towards a conclusion in this duology.
The competitions that anchored the action in Warcross now take a backseat to Emika's deep-seated conflict between her affection for Hideo and her revulsion at how he's taken advantage of his position and the public's trust. Rather than another dystopian novel with society already in ruins, the world of this duology lingers on the precipice, the abstract ideas of free will and privacy thrust into a very practical, very pressing danger. Big ideas never overwhelm the characters or the plot, though, thrumming in the background as a subtle yet imperative motivation.
Moving away from battles in virtual reality has no impact on the high energy and fast pace established in the previous novel, though. As for those narrative twists and turns, each revelation somehow manages to top the one that preceded it. Lu never allows these developments to overwhelm or pass over into outlandishness; she keeps each new development evenly spaced and organic, gradually transforming the story that began in Warcross into an emotionally fulfilling look at family, freedom, and the power of individual choice.
As impressive as she was in Warcross, Emika really grows into herself throughout Wildcard. A strong and capable young woman, she learns how to balance a natural tendency towards working alone and the necessity, even the comfort, of accepting help. While his choices at the end of the last book drove he and Emika apart, Hideo maintains a visible presence in a story that ultimately focuses on his childhood and the ripple effect of losing his brother.
Familiar faces like the rest of the Phoenix Riders return in the background, present yet less pivotal to the plot than other, newly-introduced supporting characters. The hacker Zero leaves his fingerprints throughout the plot, taking a more prominent role as the book barrels towards a conclusion. He's joined by Jax, a bounty hunter who drives home the dark reality of a world where Emika had only operated along the fringes.
Wildcard succeeds in taking the characters and ideological building blocks of its predecessor and placing them into a bigger and more dangerous world than any virtual creation. By forgoing the formulaic, Lu puts her characters through a harrowing, but ultimately rewarding journey that will thoroughly satisfy all Warcross fans.
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