Book Review: Unplugged by J.B. Taylor
Title: Unplugged
Author: J.B. Taylor
Release date: April 14, 2021
Funny thing about social media is you’ll randomly connect with some of the most awesome people through the most random of ways. I think it was either a sarcastic making fun of Duncan Ralston or Edward Lorn Twitter thread where myself and J.B. Taylor connected (I might be wrong but joking about something was definitely how we connected). From there is was the usual level of goofy interactions, funny gifs and memes on each others tweets etc and hilarity ensued.
It wasn’t until I posted a review of one of Martha Wells’ Murderbot books that J.B reached out. Many folks think I purely read horror (which isn’t true of my reading or my writing) and he asked if I’d take his debut novel for a spin.
He labelled it sci-fi/dystopian/cyber punk which had me intrigued. I’ve not read a lot of cyber punk, but what I have I’ve enjoyed, so I agreed and dove in.
What I liked: ‘Unplugged’ follows Zendaya in a world where blind devotion is given to a mysterious figure and the earth has been scorched. The story itself follows along at a break-neck pace with layer upon layer unraveled.
I really enjoyed how this one followed a fairly standard mystery set up. Not to say that’s a bad thing, but little details and hints are dropped and it’s up to the reader to try and connect these clues at the same time Zendaya does.
There is some truly fantastic imagery in this book, cinematic in scope and this setting is what really propelled the story along. Knowing that not everything you see is what truly is there.
Taylor has a really easy way of writing, even when we get some deeper sci-fi moments and the way things occur throughout really pulled me along, made me want to know just what the heck is going on.
What I didn’t like: Hard, classic sci-fi moments are tough for me. There are moments of this where we get a lot of description on how something works or how the tech operates and I have to consciously work to not tune those parts out as I know it’ll play a role later on. For the most part these moments are minimal, but it was something that cropped up.
Why you should buy this: If you like visiting imaginative new worlds where nothing is what it seems and you just never know what the next chapter will bring – this one’s for you. I really had a blast with Taylor’s ‘Unplugged,’ a very strong debut that introduced us to memorable characters and a stunning playground that they lived in.
4/5
