Format: E-Galley, 432 pages
Release Date: March 28, 2017
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Publisher
Genre: YA, Science Fiction/Dystopia
In the tradition of M. T. Anderson’s Feed and Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, this heart-pounding sequel to Unplugged continues the series that Kass Morgan, New York Times bestselling author of The 100, called “chilling and addictive.” Skylar Cruz found her sister in the Real World—only to learn that her sister has betrayed her and put everyone in the App World in danger. The Body Market is now open for business and everyone still plugged into the App World is for sale. Shaken by the betrayal of everyone she trusted, Skylar is through being a pawn. She may be the only one who can stop what her family started. And she has to do it before the App World runs out of time.
The Body Market is the second installment in author Donna Freitas' The Wired series. Freitas has created a world where humanity split into App World, and the Real World. Skylar Cruz's family sent her to App world to give her a chance at a better life. In App World, you could be anyone, or go anywhere you like by downloading a certain app. But, in App World, she was considered to be a Single because none of her family followed her into App World. She eagerly looked forward to the day she turned (17) when she could be reunited with her sister and her mother.
But, things quickly changed when the border between App world and the Real world was closed, and unplugging & plugging in came to an end. Skye found a way back to the real world and found that nothing is as she expected it to be. Her sister is part of a group with big plans of their own, and Skylar just happens to be at the center of it all. If you've read Unplugged, you know that there were a whole lot of consequences, and betrayal that forced Skylar to rethink who she can trust. Now, thanks to her sister Jude, there is a huge bounty on her head, and Jude's Body Market is close to opening for business. (Think of the Body Market as legalized human trafficking.)
One could say that because of her actions, two of her friends, Inara and Sylvia, find themselves set to be sold to the highest bidder unless Sky and her allies can stop it from going forward. But, let's also not forget that there were others who could have changed the course of this story and Skylar's path to stopping Jude had they just opened up their mouth and told the truth about who is involved, who she can really trust, and why Skylar is so damned important. The Body Market is told in alternating POV's. Yes, we get Skylar's POV, but we also get Rain Holt's and a newcomer to this series Kit, who is also a bounty hunter who Sky spends a great deal of time with.
With Skylar spending so much time with Kit, and Rain walking around like dead man walking, things kind of grind to a halt. Especially when Sky finds that she kind of likes the boy who kidnapped her, and is supposed to trade her for someone he cares about. I am not a fan of any sort of love triangles. I am not a fan of Lacy's, but I can respect her feelings when it comes to trying to make Rain get off his ass and choose. The issue still remains that Rain betrayed Sky. He knows things that have been kept from her, and expects that Sky would fall head over heels in love with him and ignore all the crap that has led to Sky being a pawn in a much larger game.
The Body Market exposes some twisted secrets that had been hinted at previously, but not yet uncovered. Now that readers know the other key players in this world conspiracy, it will be interesting to see where the story heads from here. I did read the little teaser that is featured in the back of the book. I am curious if that means that other characters will be just as important to the overall series as Sky and her new found structure. I am a bit disappointed with this story because the secondary character were more extraneous, and they basically did nothing but let Sky, Rain, Kit, Lacy, and Trader have all the fun.
In the end, I am not a huge fan of starting series and then giving up on them because one book may have let me down. So, yes I will continue to the third installment called The Mind Virus and hope for a sound resolution and wrap up. I can't say that I am a fan of any romance between Rain and Sky, but whatever happens, I'll approach it with my eyes wide open, and my mouth shut.
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