As popular as she is, I had never read any of Marie Lu’s work until about a week ago, when I picked up a copy of Kingdom of Back at my local library. I don’t tend to like contemporary popular YA series (someday I’ll write a post about this). But I loved the idea of Kingdom of Back, and the execution more than lived up to its really compelling premise, so I figured I would check out some more of her work, even the parts that seemed a little bit, well, dystopian-future-love-triangley (no shade if that’s what you like, ’tis just not for me.)
I really loved both Warcross books! I will say that I didn’t find the romantic subplot compelling–I rarely do–but otherwise these were delightful reads. They were quick and easy, I sped through them in about 20 minutes apiece, with plenty of twists and turns that kept me engaged throughout. Emika is a delightfully engaging protagonist (Sidebar: I am also always delighted to see a realistic representation of foster care in fiction–neither idealizing nor dehumanizing the experience).
The climaxes of both books were really surprising, which worked well in this techno-thriller-esque genre. The writing wasn’t memorable, but that also suits the genre well (as compared to Lu’s much more lyrical writing in Kingdom of Back, for instance). This isn’t usually my type of book, but I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to diving in to some of her other series!
Anya Josephs 