Friday, 28 September 2018

Review on Jinxed


When Lacey Chu is rejected from Profectus Academy, she is heartbroken. She has dreamt of working for Moncha for years, the company that created the baku’s, robotic animals that can do everything a smartphone can and more. Then Lacey meets Jinx, a cat baku who is different from what Lacey has learned about baku’s. With Jinx’s help, Lacey finally makes it into Profectus, but it’s far from smooth sailing. Lacey soon comes to realise just how different Jinx is from other baku’s, and that having him as her companion might be putting her in danger.

As someone who is constantly checking her phone, the idea of a baku immediately appealed to me! I’m probably not the only one who struggles to go a whole day without social media, and the baku’s function is to keep people connected to the internet without disconnecting them from the real world. Honestly, I think owning a baku would instantly cure me of my smartphone addiction.

Lacey was an interesting character, and something that I loved about her was that she wasn’t perfect. She was constantly making bad decisions, and was pretty awful to her friends on several occasions. Most authors go with a likable protagonist, so it was interesting that Lacey wasn’t always likable. There were times when I was rooting for her, but also times where I felt bad for her friends. I particularly felt bad for Lacey’s best friend Zora, who was often left behind. As someone who has been replaced by friends, I empathised with Zora. Honestly if I was in Zora’s position, I would probably have cut Lacey out of my life altogether, as eventually it felt as if Lacey only contacted Zora when she needed something from her. I did however love the friendship between Lacey and her teammates, as although she had treated them badly, they still helped her when she needed them.

I wasn’t that keen on the romance between Lacey and Tobias. To me they lacked romantic chemistry, and the kiss between them seemed pretty random, as Tobias hadn’t really shown any signs of liking Lacey in a romantic way. I felt as if it was built up too quickly only to be dragged back down when Lacey fell out with her teammates.

I adored Jinx and his sassy attitude. If cats could talk, they would be exactly like Jinx. I loved how independent he was, and how he seemed to only help Lacey when he felt like it. I loved how Jinx eventually formed a strong bond with Lacey, and how they helped each other get what they wanted.

I loved the baku battles! Although baku’s are programmed not to fight, Profectus has a special rule where baku’s are able to fight each other in an arena built for that purpose. This was a bit like Pokemon crossed with robot wars, and I loved the teamwork that was involved, from the battles themselves to repairing the bakus in the aftermath. It was interesting to see how people reacted differently to their baku’s, with characters like Lacey and Ashley seeing them as a companion, while others only saw them as tools. We constantly replace our smart phones without having any sentimentality attached to them, so it was interesting to see how this changes for some people when they devices were in the form of robotic animals.

I loved that Lacey’s school focused on STEM subjects, and how Lacey was so interested in them. STEM fields have long been seen as jobs that men do, and statistics show that there are far less women working in STEM jobs than men. I loved how efficient Lacey was at companioneering, a type of engineering focused on working on the physical bodies of the bakus. Lacey was far better at this than the boys on her team, and I loved how it showed that these types of jobs aren’t just for boys, and girls can pursue STEM careers too.

I overall loved this book, and I’m looking forward to the next one in the series! The book ended on a huge cliffhanger, so I’m eager to find out what happens next to Jinx and Lacey. 


Jinxed is now available to purchase!

Amazon Book Depository 

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