Jinxed

Jinxed

By Amy McCulloch

15 ratings 31 reviews 20 followers

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The Golden Compass for the digital age in this story of a coding star and her robotic companion that isn't what it seems.

Lacey Chu has always dreamed of working as an engineer for MONCHA, the biggest tech firm in the world and the company behind the "baku"―a customizable "pet" with all the capabilities of a smartphone. But when Lacey is rejected by the elite academy that promises that future, she's crushed.

One night, Lacey comes across the broken form of a highly advanced baku. After Lacey repairs it, the cat-shaped baku she calls Jinx opens its eyes and somehow gets her into her dream school. But Jinx is different than any other baku she's ever seen...He seems real.

As Lacey settles into life at school, competing with the best students in a battle of the bakus that tests her abilities, she learns that Jinx is part of a dangerous secret. Can Lacey hold  on to Jinx and her dreams for the future?

Publisher: Sourcebooks Young Readers
ISBN-13: 9781492683742
ISBN-10: 1492683744
Published on 1/7/2020
Binding: Hardcover
Number of pages: 336

Book Reviews (30)

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Aquarius Aquarius

I think this book sounds interesting and I really want to know what jinx is hiding I'm just not sure what a baku is

This is a really good book and very hard to put down after you start reading. Jinxed is about a girl named Lacey who dreams of being a companioneer for MONCHA Corp. . The only way to achieve that is to get into Profectus Academy, but when she finds out she has been rejected to go into her dream school she is devastated. Lacey has also always wanted a baku (which is like a phone but a also a pet) but she can not afford a very good one so she has to get a level one beetle. One day she falls into a ravine and finds a piece of junk, but it has a face. Lacey brings it home and realizes its a baku but its incomplete it does not have a body or anything just code.She figures someone was in the middle of working on it. Over the summer Lacey works on it as hard as she can, and it works in the end but her Baku is like no other it has a mind of its own, it does what it wants to. Lacey just thinks its a problem in the way she put it together, or its code, but she soon finds out it much more than just that. This is an amazing book by an author who has really good ideas. I would totally recommend reading this book no matter what genre you prefer.

fatima_r fatima_r

I haven't read this book but it seems like a really good book and hopefully some day I will be able to read it.

Samaavartha Samaavartha

Very nice

Jinxed is a really great book about the future. It's about a 7th-grade engineer named Lacey who lives in a world where smartphones are old and their nearly-universal replacement is the baku, an electronic animal with the features of a phone and the mind of a kind friend. She dreams of becoming a fundamental part of MONCHA Corp, the corporation that produces bakus, and the only way for her to do that is to get into Profectus Academy. While she is initially rejected, she ends up finding a baku and somehow receives an acceptance letter from the school. She fixes the baku and jumps right into the school year, only to find that things only get crazier from there. While this book is very appealing, people who are into STEM will be the most fascinated by the huge, technologically-advanced world described by the author.

The book is awsome love it is entreting and other books love it and all IS AWESOMEEEE💙

This book was OUTSTANDING! Lacey Chu is a 7th grader and an extremely talented engineer who loves to tinker with creations of her own. Her dream is to be a companioneer, a person who creates bakus invented by the legendary Monica Chan, Lacey's IDOL. Monica created bakus as new electronic technology that looks and acts like an animal, but has all the tech to get you through your day. But to follow this dream, Lacey first has to make it into Profectus, the prestigious school run by MONCHA, Monica's company. And for that, she needs a Level 3 baku! Lacey stumbles upon some practically destroyed material in a ravine while trying to help out her best friend Zora. But only Lacey can turn rubble into a treasure, as she creates Jinx, the cat baku that can communicate telepathically with her! Lacey steps into Profectus with an enemy, Carter, who is a bully with an advanced boar baku that is determined to get her kicked out of the school, but Lacey is sure she can make her mark with baku battles... Add together a great team of new friends, a cute team captain, and a possible double crosser, equaling one AMAZING book! I was completely engaged as I read and I just couldn't stop! Amy McCulloch's writing pulled me in and my curiosity to find out what happened next kept me flipping the pages as quickly as I could! Jinxed is an amazing new novel and a sure-to-be hit! I recommend this book to everyone looking for their next great read! 5/5 stars!

Lacey Chu's dream is to get into the school Profectus. This school is where she can make her skills a little more useful for engineering bakus (a pet with Smartphone capabilities). But after studying hard for the test, she's rejected! Heartbroken, Lacey goes to the baku store with her friend to get not her dream level three spaniel model, but to get a level one beetle. There, after running into an old school bully, her friend loses her baku! While Lacey is trying to find her friends baku, she finds a lump of what looks like an expensive-and burned-black metal, Lacey takes it home. As she is looking inside the burned metal, she finds… a face! Turns out this is a level three cat baku. After months of working on it, she is finally able to make it come to life! Or, at least as alive as you can make a robot. But all of the sudden, she gets an invite to Profectus, It claims that she is coming with a level three cat baku named Jinx. Lacey IS happy about this, but only one thing. Who in the world is Jinx? This book is a definite page-turner! It was very good. I will find the next one when it comes out. This book is probably going to make everyone wish bakus were real though. The only thing I did not like is the Baku Battles. Being an animal lover, this reminds me too much of animal fights in real life.

This book had me interested from the first page. It is a fast paced and stunning novel. Lacey Chu is a girl whose dream is to work at MONCHA Corp, the technology headquarters of the all-famous baku. A baku is a robotic pet that has the features and capability's of a smartphone. But when Lacey is turned down the Porfectus, her dream school, she loses all hope for her future at MONCHA. Then, one day, Lacey stumbles across a broken baku. Lacey takes the baku home, fixes it up, and names it Jinx. Suddenly, Lacey's dreams of working at MONCHA and being accepted into Porfectus are within reach! I could not put this book down, and I finished it in about 1 1/2 days. I actually got yelled at by my teacher for reading in class!

Jinxed is a fast-paced, stunning, edge-of-your-seat, (with a touch of romance), book about a young girl with the talent of tinkering living in a futuristic world. This book hitched me almost instantly, and I finished in a solid two days. The action and excitement kept me turning pages as I felt my heartbeat pick up in all plot twists. At any break I took from reading it, I caught myself longing to find out what happens next. I even lost myself to the daydreams of predictions, feeling the urge to pick it up and find out, but also to wait and savor it. This story attached itself to me, and I can say it makes it to my massive pile of favorites. Lacey Chu is a fantastic engineer with a talent for fixing things. Her dream is to go to Profectus, her dream school, graduate, and get a job as an engineer in the worlds most famous tech company, MONCHA. Her dream shatters, though, when she receives a rejection from the school. After an incident, Lacey finds a broken up "baku" (a robot pet similar to a smartphone.) that somehow makes her dream come true. Jinx (a cat baku) is different than most bakus'. Lacey must conceal that Jinx is unusual to prevent being expelled, but sometimes that means a lot. Lacey has to work hard to keep her secret and solve Jinx's mystery.