Wildcard Review

Ebook, 352 Pages
YA/ Fantasy/ Sci-fi
By: Marie Lu

“Every problem has a solution. But after every solution, there’s a new problem to tackle, some new challenge to take on.”

🌟 If you know me well, then by this point you should already know 2 things: I love Marie Lu, I have read all her 9 books and I own 7 of them. And you also should know that I separate authors from their works, meaning that I won’t like a certain book just because it is by a certain author.

🌟 This book has been divided people into either loving or hating it. I fall somewhere in the middle as I can see why either party will do so.

🌟 I think the main problem with this is that I didn’t feel that it was a continuation of Warcross. And while Warcross had a few tiny problems for me, I still liked it! The world-exploration there and the tournament and the characters all added up to the story. But in Wildcard, I didn’t feel this spark and connection. I think there was more focus on the plot which was agonizingly predictable. I said in my review of Warcross that Lu style is predictable for me but is still enjoyable. Take out those things that made me pleasant and we’re left with an expected story set in a dull world and flat characters.

🌟 Speaking of characters, Emika was a prodigy in book 1 and she was good at many things. In this book, I sensed that she was “normal” and like a different character from what we originally knew. She lost the sassiness and smartness and became un-likeable. I said that Marie should try to write “non-prodigal” characters but I think that is what she does best.

🌟 I liked the moral questions that this book throws around: What do you think of using humans for experiments? Obviously everyone would say they are against it but did you know that much of the medical revolution we have today is due to experimenting on humans post WW2 specially.
What about making something that can control human behavior toward “ideality”, decreasing crimes and wars and negativity?

I really like to think about those types of questions and this provoked this kind of thinking, that’s why it was still a good book.(That could have been better).

🌟 Summary: I think that this book should be approached differently than book 1 and with lower expectations, it had less world building, less interesting characters and a slower pace but it also provided good ethical and moral questions. It may be enjoyable for some and won’t definitely be by others. I am however still reading Lu’s future releases as she is def a great author! I ended up giving it 3 out of 5 stars!

🌟 Prescription: For fans of virtual ethical questions and those who liked Warcross but are willing to go with low expectations!