Jinxed by Amy McCulloch

The future has never felt closer in this fun novel for teens and tweens.

Lacey's world is dominated by Moncha, the creators of the baku; a robotic pet that functions as a smartphone. She's desperate to join their ranks and become a companioneer, dedicated to creating newer, more lifelike baku. But things are rotten in Moncha and it will take all her skills and all her friends to help her figure out what's gone wrong.

This is a wonderful read, set just a few steps away from our world. Instead of going for sleek flat phones, Moncha went for robot animals, from insects right up to boars and eagles. Naturally, the larger animals are most expensive, but that's only fair, isn't it?

I liked the characters, they were well done, but I struggled with the idea of the baku battles. With something explicitly designed to be your best friend, and expensive to buy and repair, why would you risk it in all out battle? And in one of the battles, a competitor is explicitly causing damage for damage's sake, his opponent is already down and out. Why wouldn't the teachers stop him?

I love the idea of the baku, and I will definitely read the second part because that cliffhanger! Gah! And hopefully the reasoning behind the battles will become clearer to me in the second one. Maybe I just missed something!

Overall, a really great read. Off to hunt down the second one!

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 Profecus. 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.