Warcross, Book 1

Warcross explores how video games and social media might evolve in the near future. The novel deals with issues of privacy and surveillance.

Emika Chen is smart, resourceful, brave, and highly competent. A bounty hunter, she uses her hacking skills against criminals. She's motivated yet impulsive, and sometimes finds herself in over her head.

Em and Hideo are physically attracted to each other and spend a lot of time flirting. In one scene, they make out and and he "pins me against the couch" and she senses his thoughts and emotions (they have that mutual ability) -- "glimpses and glimmers of his hands against my skin, running along bare thighs" -- until he pulls away, saying, "I'm getting you into more than you than you bargained for." In another, they soak in an onsen, a Japanese hot spring, at his parents' home. Em takes her clothes off in the bathhouse and comes out in a robe, while Hideo is already in the hot spring. Em narrates: "Hideo looks politely away, giving me time to remove my robe and sink into the hot water." He "leans in to plant kisses on my neck" and pulls her close. "I can't remember when we start kissing or when we stop, or when he leans against me, made me weak, whispering my name." The scene then shifts to Hideo revealing a tragic memory of his brother.