We blindly believe what corporations tell us, accepting terms and conditions without reading them, installing digital updates without a second thought. McCulloch weaves our own increasing real world fears into the story, exploring how technology is negatively impacting our lives by stopping us thinking for ourselves. Yet with Lacey’s youthful curiosity comes a growing wariness of the dangers of technology and AI. She’s such a likeable protagonist and you want her to prevail. McCulloch fuels her lead character with a natural curiosity towards STEM subjects and a desire to invent and fix things, to make the world a better place. The innovative smart devices are a fascinating aspect of the story but Lacey is the real draw here. Lacey’s romance with Tobias rightfully takes a back seat, as she battles with the power-hungry company whilst trying to keep her loved ones safe. What makes Unleashed such an exciting, absorbing sequel is how smart it is, combining high-stakes action with family drama and just the slightest hint of teen angst. The action takes them from the urban streets of Toronto to the snowy countryside as they try to stop a sinister update from being implemented. It helps that Lacey and her friends are complete brain boxes, each with their own fortes and dexterities that make them a well-rounded team capable of taking on menacing adults and their equally intimidating bakus.

With the help of her best friend, Zora, and her Profectus teammates Tobias, Ashley, Kai and River, the teenagers must utilise all their tech and companioneering skills to try and stop Moncha from carrying out their unlawful plans.

Lacey’s fears of a conspiracy are further cemented when she’s thrown out of Profectus for no longer having a level 3 baku, cutting her off from her friends and restricting her access to Moncha. Having set Jinx free to run wild with the cats of the city, Lacey feels lost without her digital companion and she’s left to deal with the fallout of her actions in Jinxed without his crafty help. If you’ve read book one, you’ll already be familiar with Jinx, the mischievous cat baku with a mind of his own who helped Lacey get into elite tech academy Profectus.

She has no recollection of what happened to put her in the hospital but she knows that something bad is happening at Moncha, the corporation that invented the innovative robot pets. Set in a technologically advanced near-future where digital companions called bakus are an intrinsic part of daily life, Unleashed picks up soon after the first book in the series ended, with Lacey waking up from an inexplicable coma. The second book in Canadian author Amy McCulloch’s Jinxed duology reunites readers with super smart teenager Lucy Chu as she takes on the corruption at the heart of the company she once idolised.

Unleashed amy mcculloch