Thursday 17 December 2020

Unleashed by Amy McCulloch


When Lacey Chu wakes up in a hospital room with no recollection of how she got there, she knows something is up. But with her customizable smart pet, Jinx, missing in action and Moncha, the company behind the invention of the robot pet, up to something seriously sinister, she’s got a lot of figuring out to do. Lacey must use all her engineering skills if she has a chance of stopping Moncha from carrying out their plans. But can she take on the biggest tech company in North America armed with only a level 1 robot beetle ... ? 



The first book in this duo left us on quite a cliff hanger, and I've been eager to get back to it and see how Lacey and her friends can recover. It's tough for a series to wrap up all its threads, even a series that's only a duo, and I was thrilled to find that everything plays out well. Although the story is vaguely open ended, the threads are all tied up nicely and nothing is left unsettled.

I kind of still want a baku, I'll be honest. Even with everything we learn about them here, I still think it would be cool to have one. I don't want to give up my pets, though! It's a conundrum, but hopefully one I won't have to worry about for quite a while.

The world here is really well thought out, with all the little touches that make a world seem real. My favourite is the way that Lacey's mother's baku sometimes gets tangled in her scarf. It's such a tiny thing, but it makes the world feel real and lived-in in a way that some novel aren't.

I really enjoyed this. I wish there was more in the series, but what we have here is enough.  I do hope Amy writes more novels eventually, though. A writer this good shouldn't stop.


Unleashed published on August 22nd, 2019 in the UK (top image) and will publish on January 5th, 2020 in the US (lower image).

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