Thank you Knopf Books For Young Readers for the free copy of this book, in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I rate this book a 3.5 out of 5 Stars.

Your body is not your own.
Your mind is not your own.
Your life is not your own.

WHOA! This book! It was my first Kristoff read. ( I know total #booknerdshame ). Once I saw that it was being billed as a Romeo and Juliet re-telling, I was sold! I totally got the R&J vibes, as well as a Terminator vibe. Very Very Cool! While I lost interest in some parts of the book, other parts just really had me in love with the story. Especially that ending!! I spent most of the book wondering if I liked it or not, but than once the ending came, I knew I loved it. And now I cannot wait for the next one!!

I loved this group of characters, they were so eclectic, they all just belonged to each other, they were quirky, bad ass, and so full of love for each other. They went to the deepest and darkest areas of their world, just to keep each other safe.

It's simple to love someone on the days that are easy. But you find out what your love is made of on the days that are hard.

Kristoff's world building is insane guys! My mind was blown with how well he can describe things, and how clearly he can paint a perfect picture, and give such an insane visual. I had no issue placing myself inside the pages of this book.

Also, I had ZERO clue how lyrical he is, I have so many quotes highlighted in this book. Such beautiful words, that just hit me to my core. Kudos to you Kristoff for making me a lover of your writing, and now it's time to dig into some more! And please hurry and write book #2

This book releases on May 29th, pre-order links are below.

But when the ash rose up to choke me, it was thoughts of you that helped me breathe. When the night seemed never ending, it was dreams of you that helped me sleep. You. And only you.

If you like action and battle scenes then you will love this book.

Unfortunately, I expected this book to be more about the different types of artificial intelligence and how they take over he humans. Instead it went like this: Battle scene, access damage, travel to next battle and repeat sequence.

The character development is just not there nor is the plot. I was not intrigued at all due to the repetition of the scene sequence listed above.

The world building of the artificial intelligence was also lacking. It felt more dream like than reality. The author seemed to make things up as the story went along. World building could have brought this book up a few stars.

I really enjoyed previous books from this author but this one was a miss for me.

To be quite honest I did not rate this book anywhere because I just could not get through it. This is my third Jay Kristoff book that I have had a hard time reading, and I am beginning to think it is his writing style just isn't for me. I would still recommend this one to my friends that love YA Sci-fi.

Jay Kristoff brings his no holds barred storytelling style to an action-packed, gritty new level with Lifel1k3 (see: Lifelike), a series starter that's Mad Max meets iRobot meets Anastasia!

Most of America is decimated after a massive nuclear war between futuristic high tech corporations. Evie Carpenter is just barely scraping by, using her mechanical skills and thrifty scrap work to create battle robots and fight them in massive arenas, earning just enough money to pay for her grandpa’s life-sustaining medicine. It's the least she can do, given that he saved her life when the rest of her family was killed in the war. But when a fight goes bad, Evie accidentally destroys a robot with her mind, revealing herself as a reviled “abnorm.” Now everyone is after her, including local gangs, an organization hellbent on “abnorm” eradication, and a bounty hunter with some heavy duty sponsorship.

Just when it seems things couldn’t get worse, Evie, her best friend Lemon, and their trusty mechanical sidekicks, Cricket and Kaiser, find themselves tangled up with Lifelikes: Powerful machina that look, act, and think like humans. Everyone thought the lifelikes were destroyed after they ignored the three laws of robotics and killed their creators long ago. But as one lifelike comes for her and her grandpa, another sets out to protect them, and Evie learns they’re definitely still around. On top of that, they seem to know her. Evie and her friends must team up with Ezekiel, the lifelike who seems hellbent on protecting her, to save her grandfather and stop the forces trying to destroy Evie, all while the secrets of her horrific past finally unravel.

Jay Kristoff has created a machine-infused, post-apocalyptic Wild West that’s sure to delight. There are lots of details to take in, with new takes on the known world, fluctuating power structures, and even a bit of its own slang. If you love worldbuilding, you’ll be a happy camper for sure, but I loved the characters more than anything. The dynamics in this group are so rich and heartfelt. Evie’s friendship with Lemon is a driving force and you can’t help but root for their streetsmart bravado and constant support of one another. And while there are certainly some evil machines in this world, they’re not all so bad. Cricket is a little logika (but don’t tell him that I called him little!) that really perks up the story with his anxious concern for the girls and his own brand of humor. Kaiser is mostly machine, but he has the brain of a real dog and he’s just the goodest doggo, adding some really touching moments to the story arc.

Then, of course, there’s Ezekiel! Let’s just say that Evie’s history with Ezekiel is “complicated,” particularly considering that she’s a human and he’s a machine that’s learned to feel like a human. Kristoff doesn’t shy away from the romance element-- There’s a compelling love story between these two characters, though it contains layers and doesn’t overwhelm the action of their wild adventure. The author also continues his history of quotable feels-slaying moments with gems like “It’s simple to love someone on the days that are easy. But you find out what your love is made of on the days that are hard.”

The novel is broken up into five sections (the first of which is named after a Dresden Dolls song, making me super happy) and I must admit, one of the earlier sections was a struggle for me. It felt like a detour rather than part of the story progression. While it did do a little more worldbuilding that could be significant in book two and hinted at something to come, it tripped up the fast pace. For this novel, I don’t think the plant was worth the payoff, but maybe there are bigger implications to come. It kept me from rating five stars. Thankfully, once the characters move on to a new place, the story picks right back up again.

I can’t talk about the twisty, unexpected loops Lifel1k3 threw me for because you deserve to experience them for yourself, but maaaaan do I want to! The ending in particular really wowed me and now I’m practically begging for the sequel already! Needless to say, the novel did its job well!

This book was so good. I tried to not have high expectations so I wouldn't be disappointed but this was amazing! I would read anything from Jay Kristoff. I recommend this to everyone I know.

I tried really hard for a long time to get into this book. I really enjoyed the concept at first. But I just could not get connected to the characters or world to save my life.. To the point where I was several chapters in and still forgetting who was who. I had a hard time picturing what was going on. And I felt the made up futuristic slang was WAY over the top. The only thing I did feel like I knew for sure almost from the start was the thing that was intended to be the “big twist”. It was painfully obvious, and waiting for the characters to get it was just painful. I’m also not a fan of the human/robot love stories that seem to be popping up more and more. Even though this one ends up being a moot point, we still had to endure some (too much) of the angst. Jay Kristoff can write phenomenally, and I’ve loved other things he’s done,, but this one just wasn’t for me.

Full of awesome future tech and kick-butt characters fighting their way out of one tight-corner after another, this book will keep your heart thumping fast and the pages turning! Each of the characters is grappling with their own secrets, ones that at times unite them to fight common enemies and later force them to question who they can trust. The slow reveal of the secrets makes the story a sci fi-adventure-mystery mash-up. Kristoff writes secondary characters who you'll want to befriend with voices that will keep you smiling.

Fun read! Highly recommended!

This review is up on Goodreads now and will post on thewingedpen.com tomorrow. I'll post to Amazon and B&N on pub day.

I don't have enough adjectives to describe this book. It is EVERYTHING I want in a story. I am simply astounded at the brilliance of this author.

I almost feel guilty giving this book five stars because they are not nearly enough to give credit to this story.

The plot revolves around the prickly issues of AI. Set in a post apocalyptic world, three corporations race to become the supreme world leader. One of them focuses resources on bioengineered lifeforms. Another throws all its power into electronically engineered super robots. And the third, with a brilliant scientist at its head, creates the world's most advanced, most humanlike, most "lifelike", androids.

This is the story of humanity's hubris. It's the story of its greatest flaw passed on to its greatest creation. It's also the story of the small but persistent hope and empathy that we carry around inside of us.

There's ACTION. I had to capitalize it because - whooeee - can this author write action! There's family. There's friendship. There's love. And then...there are mind blowing reveals.


I am the luckiest person in the world to have the privilege to read an ARC of this blowout sci-fi adventure. A big thank you to the publisher via NetGalley. I will be buying my own personal hardback copy as soon as it hits the stores.

Truly a masterpiece ! Lifelike had me captured from the very beginning. Your mind is not your own, your body is not your own, your life is not your own...a true patronage to the entire book, you will go through every emotion and multiple shocks throughout this novel, but is the ending that leaves you crying and shocked ! Cannot wait to read the rest of the series, which I hope there is more because I’m dying to know what will happen to Ana.... or is it Evie ?!

Jay Kristoff is one of those cool authors who can cross genres with ease. Most authors tend to blossom within a certain genre or element that carries through all their writing but Kristoff can go from total sci-fi geek to high fantasy panache in a heartbeat. LIFEL1K3 was an enticing mash-up of Kristoff's flowing prose and a gritty futuristic world teeming with battle bots, cyborgs, androids and more.

An entire atmosphere is created in LIFEL1K3 from the world-building to the characters to the diction to the action. I can absolutely see this becoming some sort of cool launching pad for a movie or TV show. It has a Mad Max vibe with an elegant Kristoff twist. I'm not sure if this book is for people who generally shy away from sci-fi but it's entertaining and I wouldn't rule it out.

Battle bots, conspiracies, romance, and snarky robotic sidekicks. What more could you want?
-pooled ink Reviews

3.5 stars for this one. A lot of cinder vibes at the beginning and interesting characters and story had me hopeful but my enthusiasm for the story faded as I went along and the ending didn't feel satisfying. more behind the spoiler thingie.

<spoiler>
Books this author co-wrote sometimes had a terrible thing happen but then it all ended up okay. But when we found out Ana/Eve's true identity, there was no reversal of her fortune. At least for now.

I also had a tough time at the beginning remembering who was human, who wasn't and what type of robot they were. There was a big scene where Ana/Eve was in a "bot fight" which seemed to serve only as a way to explain all the different types of robots. I really liked the idea of her in the fight and it only sort of did at the end.

I couldn't keep track of who was who at the beginning which is a common problem for me. I almost went back once I had an idea of who everyone was, and re-read but I didn't, yet.

There was a little bit of a ew factor in the backstory romance between Ana/Eve and Zeke. I might not be mature enough to accept a romance between a human and a bot, at least one that went... all the way....there. I was thinking more about the mechanics...hehe... of how things would work and who would build parts that ahem worked like that for a robot, and why, than being caught up in their story.

Also...Lemon Fresh. I couldn't get over it. I wanted to, but I couldn't. I hated that name. I get the reasoning, cute idea, but yeah. Also as far as she went, I really liked her reveal, but the more I thought about it, what kind of friend would do that? It made me doubt their entire friendship and then the ending seemed less heart-wrenching. Who cares if they are parted if their relationship was so shallow. Hm.

</spoiler>

I received an advanced e-galley via Netgalley from the publisher that did not skew my rating in anyway.

After reading LIFEL1K3, Jay Kristoff is hands down my favorite author. He manages to add so much depth to all of his characters and Evie, Lemon Fresh, Ezekiel, Cricket and everyone else in this book took that one step further. I loved the interactions and relationships in this book the most out of everything. (Especially Lemon Fresh.)

On top of how great the characters were, the book NEVER seemed to slow down, and when it did it was maybe a chapter. This book was a freaking whirlwind and I loved it so much. I will be re-reading this before book two comes out!

I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone already!

LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff is the first book in the new Lifelike series, a bit of a young adult science fiction fantasy set in a dystopian environment. The blurb compares this to a bit of Romeo and Juliet mixed with Terminator. The author himself mentions Bladerunner and Mad Max. What you really have here is one heck of a creative mash up that certainly held it’s own and distinguished a personality all for itself.

The story revolves mainly around seventeen year old Eve who lives in a world filled with so many horrors and does what she needs to survive. We join Eve in the middle of a battle in the Wardome that is a fight to the death with the mech she built herself as she fights to earn money in her way of surviving.

After the battle things begin to build for Eve and she finds her grandfather in danger and her memories are slowly coming back that she had forgotten. Eve and her best friend Lemon Fresh along with a whole cast of other creative characters then begin their dangerous journey that the story takes them on.

From the opening pages there’s action piled on top of more action and the story will take you to places you’d never expect. Robots and romance, battles and blood, action and adventure…what more do we need? This is all just the opening pages really and one must read the story to understand the journey in Lifelike. The characters are well fleshed out, the world building quite intriguing and for those afraid of the romantic side it was definitely in the shadow of everything else the book held. Overall a fun beginning to this new series for sure.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This is my first book by *JUST* Jay Kristoff. I loved the Illuminae Files but that was a duo. I really enjoyed this book but I had some issues. 

Let me just get my issues with it out of the way... First, I figured out all the twists way in advance. It was really predictable and I was so sad that I couldn't be surprised. Maybe, I'm just too good of a detective. haha. I was surprised at the very end with one of the decisions of our main character. I am SO excited for the next book to see how it goes. I also had a hard time connecting to some of the characters. I just don't know, I couldn't really connect emotionally. By the time I got to the end of the book, it started to click a little more. 

I loved the relationship between Eve and Lemon! They were true friendship and it was one of the best things about this book. I liked how Lemon added some humor because this book can get intense and a little bit dark. I don't know how many times I had to read the flashbacks but gosh, they hurt. I think the prologue was the saddest thing I have ever read. 

Kristoff does a fabulous job with the world building and the characters in this book. There's more machine than human and you just love them anyways. For example, the dog Kaiser. I don't want to divulge too much more because there's a TON of spoilers that can easily slip. 

So, if you enjoy sci-fi or a great book that's a bit different, this is a great book to pick up! I enjoyed it a lot and I cannot wait to for the next one! I really can't wait to see where Kristoff takes these characters! I'm not a big sci-fi reader but I might be a fan now! 

I received a free e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, to Knopf Books for Young Readers and Random House Children's for letting me read this book!

Very interesting premise, but I thought it fell short on the plot and the characters were undeveloped. The characters were in a way kind of two dimensional and the dialogue was wooden in some areas of the story.

LifeL1K3 really put me through the ringer!  It was a highly emotional read.  I was up and down, loving and hating these characters in equal measure.  Frankly I didn't expect to enjoy LifeL1K3 as much as I did.  Sci-Fi can be hard for me, because I've never been a scientific person.  I wasn't sure I was really connecting to the heroine and her problems.  I just found at some point my breath was coming faster and I was fidgeting in my seat, so full of anxiety for these people. 

There are so many twists and turns!  I promise you will still be sideswiped by stuff you never saw coming!  It'll shock you all the way up to the end, and what a freaking ending!  I'm seriously dying inside, because how in the hell am I going to wait for a sequel that doesn't even have a name yet!

I fell into the story Jay Kristoff was telling unconsciously, but I will be consciously waiting however long it takes to fall into whatever he writes next.

**Full review posted on 5/16

Metal or meat. Blood or current. Everyone deserves a choice.

I am huge fan of Kristoff's Lotus War Trilogy and was excited to see a new series from his atypical mind. The beginning of the book was a little confusing and somewhat overwhelming, but I was thrilled to see how everything unfolded. I've always been apprehensive about humanlike robots, and Kristoff takes it to an entirely new level. I appreciated this isn't human/good guys versus the evil robots. Neither side is completely one or the other.

In addition to the fascinating world, the relationships make this story even more interesting. I think my favorites characters were Lemon and Cricket. These two nonhumans characters contain so much depth and heart. Kristoff is a master at developing these types of nontraditional characters. I liked Eve but she sometimes angered me. She can be immature and some of her actions are hypocritical. I am anxious to see how her character continues to evolve in the future. I adored Zeke and his humanity, even though he isn't. Sadly, I felt little if any, warm and fuzzies with the romance. I am curious to see what happens down the road in that aspect. I love a plot twist, and there is endless potential for the future.

I will be anxiously awaiting the next installment. It appears book two might even be better than this one. If you are sci-fi/robot taking over the world fan, this is one I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for my advanced review copy.

Wow! This book was fast paced, with compelling characters and a smashing plot line. I loved the interplay between the bots and people. I loved the moral and ethical issues these relationships posed. Eve is a strong, engaging MC. Her relationships with her personal bot, her grandfather, and her best friend Lemon are complex and interesting. And the twists in this story! I can't wait to read the next in the series. I want to know what happens and how it happens because I know that Jay Kristoff has a way with words that will sweep me away!

Having only read the Illuminae files trilogy, this was my first Jay Kristoff solo read (and I believe it's his first YA solo project). I wasn't sure what to expect, but he's a fantastic and imaginative writer.

The story features some great world building, quite a bit of unique slang, lots of action, several surprises and twists, and a cast of really likeable main characters. It also explores what it means to be human and the role of "playing God" when corporations/individuals create lifelike robots and what the repercussions might be. There's also some great friendships, family relationships, and a little bit of romance.

4 stars

This is like Cinder on steroids. Seriously.

It's got cyborgs but it's also got robots and different level of sentient, engineered beings and it's like Cinder, but way more gritty and intense and science-y. In comparison to LIFEL1K3, Cinder looks like a fantasy novel.

I was vacillating between 3.5 and 4 stars for this, but ultimately I feel like this gets the full four stars.

There were things that I loved, and things that I was pretty apathetic to, but there wasn't really anything that I disliked per se, just that I wished some things could have been done better.

But let's start with the good, yes?

First off, how awesome is it that YA is finally getting super hard-core sci-fi?

Seriously, I feel like YA sci-fi leans more towards the romantic and the more "gentle" sci-fi. In my opinion, this is because the audience is mostly female and that whoever the people who decide what books get published are somewhat influenced by the (wrong) idea that women don't like super hard-core sci-fi.

Because I like hard-core sci-fi. And a ton of other people do too. But it's something that's a lot more common in adult sci-fi and movies, not YA books.

So having this be like a hard-core sci-fi novel was really really cool. There's all sorts of gritty, stereotypically masculine things in this novel (robots and cybernetic implants and all sorts of epic). If I had to summarize this aesthetic in one photo, it wouldn't be that beehive hexagon pattern, it'd be gritty sheet metal. Like this:



The whole novel screams gritty sheet metal (maybe even the one with the hash pattern on it) and I LOVE IT. This aesthetic is soooo cool and just because the audience is mostly female, doesn't mean we can't appreciate or love sheet metal aesthetics.

So yeah, that's positive thing #1.

This does come with some detrimental aspects to it. I feel like historically, it's been really hard for any hard-core sci-fi author to really reach that emotionally pulling aspect as well as the grittiness. And similarly, the more emotionally based sci-fi writers don't really reach that amount of gritty awesomeness that I'm looking for.

The closest I've seen to a good balance between these is Emily Suvada's This Mortal Coil. This book is sooo good, yo. Y'all should definitely read it.

And with LIFEL1K3, I feel like the emotional aspect of the novel wasn't really played on to the potential it could have been done. I think Kristoff definitely tried, but it felt like he didn't really succeed.

One of the main selling points of the novel is how it makes you question what humanity means and in some ways, I feel like Kristoff set this up, but it never really got anywhere in this book.

It's more like he introduced the topic that "oh yeah, engineered people or engineered sentient beings might be people," but after reading that ending, it felt like he hasn't really dived into all that moral greyness yet.

This part of the novel has a lot more potential and I wish we saw more of it in this book, but of course because of that ending, it sets up the next book very nicely. I really hope Kristoff works a lot on shaping this idea within the series because I think it's something that's a really good moral debate and something that deserves to be executed well.

But for now, in this book, it's not really talked about as much as it's introduced. Which I get, but I was still hoping for a little more.

This book is action-packed, quick-paced, and full of twists and turns. I think the whole plot was fantastic. It was interesting and Kristoff pulled off a lot of sneaky moves. Plus, I think that the there's still a lot more science-fiction goodness in store for us in future books.

The other thing I really liked was the friendships and all the friendship dynamics in this book. I love the connection Eve had with her cyborg dog Kaiser (ok, y'all know what's going to happen when there's a dog in a book. or a pet in general.) and her sentient robot buddy Cricket and her best friend Lemon Fresh. I felt like all the friendship dynamics were written well and that the issues that arise between friends were valid and interesting and always evolving.

The thing I wasn't too fond of between the characters was the romance. Ehh. Meh. [insert a bunch more apathetic words.] I just wasn't really into the romance and mostly ignored it. Because there were so many better things going on.

I kind of wish that there was no romance in this novel because not every YA book needs a romance. It felt forced and instalovey because it was based on something that had happened in the past. Because of this, I feel like we didn't really get that or chemistry between the characters that we should have gotten.

This book was so edgy that I couldn't help but give it 4 stars. It probably in reality deserves a 3.5, but I really appreciate Kristoff writing us some solid hard-core sci-fi, so it's a 4 in my book.

I definitely recommend to anyone looking for a hard-core sci-fi novel, but I feel like this definitely won't really click with a lot of traditional YA readers. If you're looking for fluff or cuteness, you won't find it here (except in Cricket who's adorable). This book isn't sunshine and daisies and unicorns, it's death, and destruction, and giant, hulking robots.

Thank you so much to Random House & Netgalley for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review!