Book 1 of the Warcross Duology
Emika Chen, a teenager hacker, accidentally glitches into the International Warcross Championships opening match. Instead of being arrested, Emika is offered a job by Warcross creator Hideo Tanaka. He asks her to go undercover to sniff out a security risk in the game.
Emika is living in New York City, where she is facing eviction, she works as a bounty hunter to survive. After she’s uncovered due to the glitch in Warcross, Hideo pays her landlord her back rent and flies her to Tokyo, where she’s to join the tournament to find someone who goes by the nickname Zero, who is manipulating the game.
As she uncovers more and more regarding the truth about NeuroLink, the virtual reality glasses used in Warcross, Emika becomes more romantically involved with Hideo…
Though I’m not really a gamer, I do like little puzzle games, I really loved this book. The Warcross world, next to the cyberpunk real world in the book are engrossing and the characters are likeable. I highly recommend it!
Read for the Read Between the Lines Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 18: A Book About Gamers
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
