Unplugged Review

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Humanity is split into the App World and the Real World—an extravagant virtual world for the wealthy and a dying physical world for the poor. Years ago, Skylar Cruz’s family sent her to the App World for a chance at a better life.

Now Skye is a nobody, a virtual sixteen-year-old girl without any glamorous effects or expensive downloads to make her stand out in the App World. Yet none of that matters to Skye. All she wants is a chance to unplug and see her mother and sister again.

But when the borders between worlds suddenly close, Skye loses that chance. Desperate to reach her family, Skye risks everything to get back to the physical world. Once she arrives, however, she discovers a much larger, darker reality than the one she remembers.

About: Unplugged is a fiction novel written by Donna Freitas. It was published on 6/21/16 by Harper Children’s. The genres are young adult, science fiction, and dystopia. Unplugged is book 1 in the Wired Series. Book 2 is called The Body Market. Please read more about the author below.

My Experience: I started reading Unplugged on 1/1/17 and finished it on 1/2/17. This book’s plot is very unique. It reminds me of a virtual game I heard many people lose sleep and skip meals to play, a virtual game such as Second Life. A cousin of mine fainted because he was too involved in the game that he forgo sleep and food for days. I can’t remember what the game was called. Anyway, in this book, readers follow the point of view of Skylar (Skye) Cruz. She’s a Singles, a citizen without parents or family. She lives with her adoptive family. Her mom and older sister sent her to live in the App World for a chance at a better life. There are two worlds: App World and Real World. Only wealthy people gets to live in the App World.

In the App World, people exists virtually. There are social status just like real life. People born with money like Rain Holt or Lacy Mills are celebrities. Cameras follow them around and anyone can watch them. The citizens in the App World exists through downloads. When they want to eat, they download a meal or when they want to look like a model, they download an app.

In the Real World people are responsible for taking care of the bodies of the individuals in the App World. They are also poor and can’t afford to live in the App World. They work in hope to someday have the chance to move to the App World. Real World is getting dangerous to live.

Skylar constantly wishes to go back to the Real World to reunite with her mother and sister Jude even though her adoptive family is very good to her. I like following the point of view of Skylar. Her love for her family is unconditional. She’s determined and smart. I like the twist in the end and didn’t see that coming. The pacing is a bit slow for my taste and the interlude is hard for me to imagine. The read could be better if there were more adrenaline rush and another POV from Real World, but reading this book, especially the first part is very safe and light-hearted. A safe book for pre-teens.

Pro: family, unique plot, technology

Con: 1 POV, too much narration, slow paced, lack humor

I rate it 4 stars!

Grab yourself a copy here: Book Depository

About the Author:

Donna Freitas is the author of both fiction and nonfiction. Over the years she has written for national newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal,The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and Newsweek. Donna has been a professor at Boston University in the Department of Religion and also at Hofstra University in their Honors College. She writes children’s novels for Scholastic, Harper Collins, and FSG, and she loves it very much! Donna splits her time between Brooklyn, NY and Barcelona, Spain.
Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/donnafreitas
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donnafreitasofficial
(Info obtained from Amazon)

***Disclaimer: Many thanks to the author, Donna Freitas, for directly providing me with Unplugged. Thank you so much for including your autograph! I’m thrilled. Please be sure that my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine