After her unexpected intrusion, Emika rises to stardom. Upon using the hack, she glitches into the middle of tournament match, which confuses both teams and leads to the cancellation of the match. This particular power-up sells for a hefty amount of money, which compels Emika to exploit a vulnerability in the code. This could be seen in the news and in Times Square.ĭuring the first Warcross tournament match, a rare power-up appears. While on the hunt for a suspect, Emika is reminded of the upcoming Warcross tournament in Tokyo.

Plot ġ8-year old Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter for a living, which entails capturing individuals who are suspected of betting on Warcross, the largest internet game in the world, in which players access a virtual-reality world by wearing a pair of glasses-the Neuro Link- and battle on realistic terrains by using power-ups to take their opponent's Artifact (a gem). Lu's characterization of the main protagonist was inspired by her mother's computer skills as a computer scientist, perseverance and determination however, Lu concedes that Emika shares the same interests and flaws as her. In the creation process of Warcross, she took particular inspiration from League of Legends tournaments, stating that 'fifty thousand people will pack into the Staples Center to watch the world championships, and that very much influenced the creation of Warcross.' For the structure of the Warcross game, Lu compares it to 'a mix between Overwatch, Mario Kart, and Quidditch'. She is handpicked by billionaire Hideo Tanaka, creator of the virtual reality combat game Warcross to go to the game's world championship in Tokyo to investigate a security breach.īefore releasing her debut novel Legend in 2011, Lu worked briefly as an intern at Disney Interactive Studios. In a cyberpunk future, New Yorker 18-year-old Emika Chen works as a 'hunter' (a kind of bounty hunter) who earns her living making arrests for minor crimes. The second, Wildcard, was released September 18, 2018.

Warcross is the first book in the duology of the same name. Warcross is a young adult science fiction novel by Marie Lu, which was published on Septemby G.P.

Wildcard by Marie Lu