Jinxed

Jinxed is the first book in a science fiction duology about students at an elite school being trained to make robotic pets. In this convincing near-future world, cell phones have been replaced with “bakus”, artificially intelligent animal robots who become companions as well as information and communication devices. Lacey Chu, a 12-year old girl adept at tinkering with electronics, is devastated when she doesn’t get into Profectus, the elite school run by MONCHA, the corporation that created the bakus. After she finds and fixes a damaged cat baku, however, she gets an acceptance letter. Her baku, named Jinx, is different from every other baku: he communicates with Lacey telepathically, and he doesn’t always obey her commands.

Training at Profectus revolves around baku fights, stimulating the students to innovation as they try to win against their fellow students’ bakus. Lacey helps her team by repairing their bakus after fights while trying to hide the fact that Jinx is not a normal baku. When Lacey unexpectedly gets entered into a fight as a single player, her team thinks she abandoned them for her own advancement. Then Jinx is stolen, and Lacey begs her team to help get him back. They break into MONCHA headquarters and fight the school bully, who is the son of MONCHA’s second-in-command Eric Smith. Lacey discovers that Jinx was created as an independent AI by MONCHA founder, Monica Chan, and Eric Smith has been trying to get his hands on the new technology ever since. The story ends on an exciting cliff-hanger with Jinx rescued but running off on his own, Lacey discovering that Monica Chan is imprisoned, and Lacey being tasered.

Jinxed is well-written with all the elements of an enjoyable sci-fi adventure for middle-grade readers. The bakus are particularly appealing: anyone would want a sidekick with the functionality of a cell-phone and more plus a friendly personality and the ability to cuddle! Lacey is an engaging protagonist. An underdog because her family isn’t rich (unlike most of the kids at school), she is talented and passionate about her dreams. The team she joins at school has well-developed characters with believable interactions; there’s a convincing antagonist with his own reasons for being arrogant and bullying. Lacey also has a best friend who isn’t going to the elite school, and so the stress of navigating old and new friendships while entering middle-school is seamlessly woven into the adventure plot.

There's also a mystery about Lacey’s absent father and, of course, the concern about the big tech company that might have a nefarious plan to take over the world. Plus, there’s some exploration of class and elitism and what it feels like to be less rich, less connected, less privileged. And then there’s whole artificial intelligence-free will problem that can't help but come up when dealing with self-aware robots.

There's lots going on here, and it's fast-paced and exciting while taking time to develop characters and give justice to the themes. None of the elements are original, necessarily, but Lacey and Jinx and her friends make Jinxed a fresh, compelling romp through some of the more significant questions kids these days are facing. Characters are realistically diverse, and it’s always great to see girls excited about STEM fields.