Review of 'Wildcard' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Probably somewhere closer to a 3.75, I guess?
It's definitely not as gripping as the first book, probably because the world-building had already been done and the shiniest, most exciting parts are the Warcross games themselves, which, as others have noted, are unfortunately absent. I think there are a lot of interesting ethics questions being tossed around, and the revelations about Zero's backstory are equal parts fascinating and horrifying. I like Jax as a character a lot, and the nonbinary Jesse (they aren't in there long, but they're in there).
I'm not crazy about the criticism that Emika seems bland/like she's not doing anything in this book. She makes a lot of difficult choices, and her actions are subtle more often than not, but if it seems like she's just a pawn of other characters, it's a result of her being deceived, not of a lack of agency. She does …
Probably somewhere closer to a 3.75, I guess?
It's definitely not as gripping as the first book, probably because the world-building had already been done and the shiniest, most exciting parts are the Warcross games themselves, which, as others have noted, are unfortunately absent. I think there are a lot of interesting ethics questions being tossed around, and the revelations about Zero's backstory are equal parts fascinating and horrifying. I like Jax as a character a lot, and the nonbinary Jesse (they aren't in there long, but they're in there).
I'm not crazy about the criticism that Emika seems bland/like she's not doing anything in this book. She makes a lot of difficult choices, and her actions are subtle more often than not, but if it seems like she's just a pawn of other characters, it's a result of her being deceived, not of a lack of agency. She does less hacking and bounty hunting, which I suppose were her more exciting and glamorous actions, but she does effect change on the events of the story.
It's a slower, quieter book than the first, and the ending is a little sugary sweet, but it's still a quality read. Not as much of a letdown as some series conclusions I've read (looking at you, Mockingjay), but also not as satisfying as I might have hoped.