IMPLANTED – Lauren C. Teffeau | Looking For a Good Book

Emery Driscoll is a college student who, like most young girls, is keyed in to the popular ways of staying connected with friends. In this era, it is through neural implants that allow one another to communicate immediately and by direct thinking.

Emery is blackmailed into becoming a courier for a darkly secret organization and her neural connections are cut off from the rest of the world who uses the implants to communicate. Imagine a teen today not allowed to have a phone to send texts or IMs.

It seems that Emery has a rare condition which allows her to carry encoded data in her blood, undetected. Now she can transport all manner of secrets from one point to another … she just has to bleed a little to do so. Her blackmailers will take advantage of this for as long as possible. And of course, Emery is ultimately expendable.

In her domed city of New Worth, there are different factions working to either claim freedom from the dome, or to ensure the safety and security of the domed city – depending on which side one feels most attached. Emery isn’t sure she agrees with her blackmailers – but does she have a choice?

The early chapters of this book where wonderfully engaging. As author Lauren C. Teffeau set up this world for us, I was really caught up in it. But as the book moved on from showing us the world, to telling us the story, I lost interest. While I was really enjoying learning about the world that I was in, I was never really drawn in to the characters, so their story just never got very interesting for me.

I also had a strong sense of déjà vu as I read through this. It wasn’t too long ago that I read another YA sci-fi book about a courier, and the implant communication is some pretty classic sci-fi.

Looking for a good book? Implant by Lauren C. Teffeau is a pretty average sci-fi book, probably best targeted to teens.