Unplugged

April 18, 2016
In the not-so-distant future of Freitas’s fast-paced series opener, the world is divided. Those with resources live virtually, plugged into an App World whose inhabitants look vaguely similar (even sharing the same skin color, “Caucasian 4.0”) and use Apps to differentiate themselves; those without live in the corporeal Real World, left to deal with disease, poverty, and physicality. Skylar Cruz, 16, is one of the rare “Singles,” children chosen to live virtually in exchange for their families’ service as Keepers—caregivers to the bodies left behind by the virtual citizens. When the borders between the worlds are suddenly closed and the prime minister’s son, Rain, is left on the wrong side, Skye is recruited to bring him back. But the Real World is in the midst of revolution, and Skye has become an important symbol for both sides. Freitas (The Tenderness of Thieves), a PW contributor, invokes several recognizable dystopian tropes—including an expectations-defying heroine, a world facing drastic change, and an impossible love triangle—as she explores interconnections among race, commerce, and technology. Ages 13–up. Agent: Miriam Altschuler, DeFiore and Company.

May 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-In this first book of an exciting dystopian sci-fi series, Skylar, almost 17, a Single, has been plugged into the virtual App World nonstop since she was five. In the Real World, epidemics have killed much of the population, resulting in an economic divide between the unplugged poor, who can't afford expensive apps, and the wealthy plugged in, who can. Skye can't wait for her Service, the time when a 17-year-old can unplug from the App World and return to the Real World. She's desperate to find her real mother and sister, who stayed in the Real World as Keepers to allow her a better life in the App World with a surrogate family. When the prime minister announces that the border between the real and virtual world is closed and future Service is canceled, Skye is devastated. Then she discovers there's a way she might get what she wants if she can sneak across and bring back Rain, the prime minister's cute son, who's stuck in the Real World. If she fails, she'll virtually die. Skye's drawn into a web of conspiracies, betrayals, lies, and shifting alliances and must rely on her own strength to survive in this intriguing tale with diverse characters.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2016
The selfie-tastical virtual world decides to unplug from the physical one, stranding one girl from her family--and from the truth.At a young age, Skye's family plugged her into the App World, a fully digital existence for the consciousnesses of the fortunate while their physical bodies are tended to by the less-privileged Keepers. Skye's been looking forward to her Service, the required time digital citizens spend in the Real World, when she'll finally see her mother and sister again. But a mysterious situation involving disgruntled Keepers results in the cancellation of Service, the closure of the border between the worlds, and even more extreme actions to separate the digital from the physical. Skye, whose distress is apparent, is recruited by a sketchy figure for a mission to the Real World--giving her the opportunity to illegally unplug into the physical world. Skye finds that things are far more complicated than she could have imagined, and twist after twist leave her unsure whom to trust. Readers may become frustrated by her reluctance to probe characters who are clearly keeping information from her. Additionally, there is looseness to the worldbuilding, involving race--in App World, everybody is Caucasian 4.0--and economics, which may be addressed in the sequel. At heart, this is an action novel about capitalism taken too far.Despite imperfections, one of the more ambitious and thought-provoking entries in a crowded genre. (Science fiction/dystopia. 12 & up)

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July 1, 2016
The affluent leave their inert bodies behind to live virtually in the frivolous App World. Skye illegally "unplugs" to find her family in the Real World and discovers a black market in human bodies. The novel has suspenseful moments, but its futuristic setting, action-filled conspiracy plot, and ethical themes (reminiscent of The Matrix, Feed, and The Hunger Games) cover little new ground.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)