Jinxed by Amy McCulloch

Title: Jinxed

Author: Amy McCulloch

Genre: Young Adult/Science Fiction

Opens:

She burst through the trees, cradling the monster in her arms.

Blurb: Lacey Chu has big dreams of becoming a companioneer for MONCHA, the largest tech firm in North America and the company behind the "Baku" – a customisable smart pet that functions as a phone but makes the perfect companion too. When Lacey finds out she hasn’t been accepted into Profectus – the elite academy for cutting edge tech – it seems her dreams are over. Worst of all, rather than getting to choose one of the advanced Bakus, she’s stuck with a rubbish insect one.

Then, one night, Lacey comes across the remains of an advanced Baku. Once it might’ve been in the shape of a cat but it’s now mangled and broken, no sign of electronic life behind its eyes. Days of work later and the Baku opens its eyes. Lacey calls him Jinx – and Jinx opens up a world for her that she never even knew existed, including entry to the hallowed halls of Profectus. Slowly but surely, Jinx becomes more than just a Baku to Lacey – he becomes her perfect companion. But what is Jinx, really? His abilities far surpass anything written into his code or built into his motherboard. He seems to be more than just a robotic pet. He seems … real.

My thoughts: I like YA books, Science Fiction and cats and JINXED has all these elements rolled into one story. I loved, at first, the idea of having a Baku – but these gorgeous little critters go above and beyond being a communications device and companion. Baku are increasingly social status markers, the higher you rise within the company, or society, the more complex in both design and size your Baku gets to be. This works the other way too the lower you are the less impressive is your Baku.

Lacey Chu’s one dream is to join the biggest tech company Moncha, the creators of the Baku – part smartphone part animal companion to do this she needs to be accepted into the elite academy once she finishes school – instead it looks like she hasn’t made the grade and instead of getting the expected level 3 Baku (a furry critter like a dog or a cat) she’s stuck with a level one (a bug)

Despondent she comes across the thrown away wreckage of a cat like Baku. It is very badly damaged but she decides to fix it and soon Jinx comes alive. Jinx is not at all like other Bakus he is able to think and act independently, and go where he wants rather than where he is instructed to go. As soon as Lacey has got Jinx up and running she finds that she has been accepted into the elite collage and her future in robotics seems assured.

I loved the world building, and the fact that no matter how far in the future you go there will still be teen angst. Lacey’s best friend through High School is following a different career path – and so their friendship is hard to maintain – however making new friends is hard too. Author, Amy McCulloch, has this torn loyalties bit down pat. The story focusses on Jinx – who made it and why. There is an unresolved back story of Lacey’s father – he disappeared when she was young and her mother won’t talk about it. I suspect that this story will be expanded on as JINXED is the first of a series.

For the most part I really enjoyed the story – although I have to confess my eyes glazed over at the Baku battles that started midway through the story – they just went on and one and on without very much progression in the story, well other than it becomes very obvious to other people that Jinx is different. Fortunately the battles came to an end and Lacey discovered something not quite right was going on at the academy and a cliff hanger ending is the result, so we are now set up nicely for the next book in the series.

Overall JINXED is a light-hearted and action filled book. There is plenty of humour, danger, friendship, a smidge of romance and plenty of intrigue. Oh, and did I say I loved Jinx? He certainly had a mind of his own, and his own agenda, he is cheeky, unruly, sarcastic and certainly intrigued by real cats.

Rating:

Great – I really enjoyed reading it and it is a book I will be recommending to all my friends who like this genre.

With thanks to Simon & Schuster – Australia and the author via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

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