This was a fantastic book. It took me a little bit to get invested, but once I did, I couldn't put it down. Highly recommend.

4/5

^ See those numbers up there? That's four out of five stars, which means I really enjoyed this book. I'm gonna need y'all to keep that in mind because I prooomise that I really did actually quite like this book a lot, despite the complaints I'm about to drop. But first, the good!

Jay Kristoff is amazing at creating characters. While the MC, Eve, was by far not my favorite, she's still pretty great. The beauty of LIFEL1K3 lies in its supporting cast. Miss Lemon Fresh is one of THE BEST characters I've read in 2018 and I'd honestly like an entire series that focuses just on her getting every person she comes across to unwittingly admit how cute she is. The plucky little- hee hee- robot Cricket is also a delight to read.

LIFEL1K3 is a fast, fun read, with lots of humor. The world building is excellent. I absolutely love the vibe that Kristoff created with this story, while not wholly original, it's definitely something I haven't really seen in YA specifically.

Speaking of originality... There were times that LIFEL1K3 felt so, so derivative. It's SO Blade Runner-meets-Mad Max, but with dashes of Pinnocchio, biblical stories, and another something that I'm not gonna actually say because SPOILERS. And derivative doesn't always mean bad! Everything is derivative of something these days! I just really wanted a bit more Kristoff in this one that I felt like I got. His Nevernight books feel so original, and I guess they've set the bar pretty high for his writing because I feel like LIFEL1K3 just doesn't quite reach that level.

My other complaint is with the character development. I felt like it all happened off the page, before the story even started. I won't go into detail with this one because SPOILERS but I really didn't see many characters grow, either individually or in their relationships with each other, until the very end of the book.

Overall though, LIFEL1K3 is a really fun book to read, with a stellar, if predictable, ending. I can't wait for the sequel, and Jay Kristoff remains one of my favorite authors.

My Thoughts:

This is just my sort of thing! AI, nonstop space adventure, secret history, flashbacks, twists and surprising reveals: I was enraptured from the get go! The lifelikes are so complex! What/who exactly are they and all the gray morality questions that come up around them. Are they people? Do they have feelings? How should they be treated? It reminded me of I, Robot due to the three laws that they have to live by and some of the robot/human questions raised in the movie. (I also loved that movie.)

The cast of characters is fantastic: Lemon Fresh is so quirky and fun and a really good complement to Eve and I really enjoyed their friendship! Cricket was the BEST and the whole group was just so great. I think at one point reading this book I thought to myself “huh, this is all rather light hearted for Jay”. Well, I just had to wait for it apparently because the ending left my jaw hanging and thinking welp, just ignore everything I thought about it being light hearted!

Lifel1k3 is packed with action, adventure and jaw dropping moments. It explores a lot of interesting artificial intelligence questions. The sci fi world here is also fascinating with a super interesting history as far as the lifelikes go. I am so excited that Dev1at3 is out now and can’t wait to see what is going to happen – but also, terrified.

I was excited to read this one because I adored Nevernight. While I was waiting on approval for this title, I decided to read some of his other work. OH BOY IT WAS NOT GOOD. So needless to say I have been putting this off for a bit. I finally found time to read this book and I was surprised how much I actually liked it!

The world building was completely different from all his other titles and that of other authors in his genre. I believe that the violence and blood shed was my favorite parts! Those battle scenes were GREAT! I am very bloodthirsty so it was refreshing to find a book that meet my needs!!!
the plot twists had me on a roller-coaster ride that was out of this world!!! I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to read book 2! Shamelessly waiting for Darkdawn this September!

Fast paced. Full of action. Fabulous characters. I really liked the banter between the characters. Especially Lemon, who fast became my favorite character in the book.

I did not get a chance to read this one, but my high school readers have all loved it. We purchased it and it is always checked out.

I really wanted to like this book, but I just struggled through most of it. I think it's just me though, because even during the action and more exciting scenes, I just felt kind of bored throughout the whole book. There are some things I liked, for example how it was a sort of Anastasia retelling set in the future and I liked most of the secondary characters. I don't think the 'villain' in the book was well developed though, so I didn't really care all that much about the main conflict. There were still some surprises, and enough to keep me going, but overall, this ended up being not for me.

Early summaries of this young adult novel featured comparisons to Romeo and Juliet, X-Men, and Bladerunner. While not entirely inaccurate, this was far more of a heartfelt ride than I was anticipating. Eve and her friend, Lemon Fresh, live in a scrap yard with their grandfather Silas when one day they find the body of an android, Ezekiel, and suddenly they're all on the run while Eve gets flashback to a past she's never known. There are explosions, epic chases, and giant robot fights. There is a lot to like.

The friendships were one of my favorite parts. The characters are a little archetypical, but I couldn't get enough of Cricket's quips, Lem's addictive confidence, and Eve's sass. Ezekiel was kind of boring at times, but it played true to the idea of what a lifelike is in that universe. The villain—Preacher—was so deadly and indestructible, I found myself legitimately concerned for our main cast. The world-building is also solid and I didn't find myself getting too often confused by all the robot types.

If only there were a few more places to breathe between action set pieces that weren't very long interruptions for backstory. In addition to that, I had a slight problem with the insta-love. There is an in-story reason for it, which I understood, but it was a bit grating until that reveal happens (Ezekial is cute, we get it!). But if you can get over that, it's a fun ride.

I would compare Lifel1k3 to the Borderlands video game franchise, because the humor and the way everyone is an asshole who loves wanton explosions definitely comes from the same place.

Eve and her Grandpa are trying to make do in a futuristic world that's an environmentalist's nightmare. Their under-the-radar existence comes to an end when Eve finds an android in a crashed aircraft. The android is a Lifelike, a sentient class of robotics that's been outlawed for being too dangerous.

As far as sentient artificial intelligence is concerned, Lifel1k3 hits it out of the park. I did not expect those twists. But the plot itself felt like one chase scene after another, and it got a little tedious. Also, is anyone talking about the Anastasia nods? I didn't begin to put that together until the very end, and it was very intriguing.

The end of this book is a crazy cliffhanger. I'm sure a lot of people will be eager for the next installment in the series.

Another great book by Jay Kristoff! Solid plot, relatable and complex characters, and extensive world-building all combine for a binge-worthy read. Can't wait for the sequel!

While I am not the biggest fan of Science Fiction Jay Kristoff never seems to disappoint me. His writing style is so descriptive and engaging that it kept me wanting more the entire time.

This book was a wild ride! I loved the science fiction aspect of it and the plot really kept me on my toes. I didn't love some of the jargon and slang used and found it a bit distracting. Lemon Fresh was such a fun character! I can't wait to see where the story goes in the second installment.

In true Kristoff fashion, Lifel1k3 transported me to an entirely new world. It was like a gritty version of The Lunar Chronicles meets Mad Max Fury Road, and I loved every second of it.

Jay Kristoff has done it again. He has put together a world beyond my imagination and made me think about things better left in the dark. This futuristic tale takes place after WW4.0 which I take to mean world war four. We don’t have a specific year (that I remember) in which the story takes place, but it is far enough in the future that androids and intelligent machines exist and live among us like normal people and objects. Another clue to the future is that nuclear winter is over, and the atmosphere is fried due to the lack of an ozone layer.

Eve is a big machine fighter. She builds them, and then batters them in the name of winning to survive and pay for gramps meds. Meds are important in this world as cancer is rampant. See the ozone thing above. At her first big battle in the book things go wrong. So wrong that it puts her life, and all her friends life's in jeopardy. Friend number one, and most important is Lemon Fresh. The human girl who reminds me so much of Kenzie Solo from Lost Girl. She is a sidekick, but a kick ass, smart mouth, do anything for her friends sidekick. She is also the oft needed comic relief. The you have Cricket. The robot, or mechanical that isn’t an android but isn't’ alive either. He’s short and porcupine headed, almost like a robotic Sonic the Hedgehog. He is programed to obey the rules of robotics created by Isaac Asimov in 1940. He is not only Eve’s protector, but her friend. Her maniacal dog is amazing, and partially real. Gramps is a grump, but a loveable one. And then there is Ezekiel. He is a true android. He is almost impossible to distinguish from human. And he will either the be savior, or the destroyer of Eve. Only time will tell.

This is a story of life and death. Eve does something that she shouldn’t be able to do. When she screams, she can stop mechanicals. Almost like a private EMP. Humans are not supposed to be able to do this. She is a Deviant and the consequences could be death. Ezekiel has been searching for Eve. It has to do with Gramps. But she doesn't exactly know. How does Gramps know this very unique android. LifeLike 3s are super rare. Super Rare. Yet something is there. Eve and her posse will set out to recuse Gramps, run from the Brotherhood, and possibility find the clues to eternal life.

What sets this book apart from others is that Jay doesn’t just consider the future as a one dimensional setting, but in all dimensions, including what modern slang would sound like. It can be hard to read at the beginning, but once you get the hang of it, the book moves slowly. He thinks about the setting as more than just a place, but as an actual character. How does it move, how did it get where it’s at? What happened to make it the way it was now. Anyone can write great characters with lots of depth, but Jay does it with every aspect of the book. Yes, there are holes in the world he has built, but I have a feeling those holes will be patched in the sequels.

There are so many things in this book to think about. It would make great discussions for teen book clubs. You have the idea of life. What is life? Is it living organisms? Is it conscious thought? Is it just existing? Are the 3 laws or robotics still a good practice? Would they really work in our modern world? What scientific breakthroughs are just too much and shouldn’t be messed with? So much to contemplate and talk about.

So it wouldn’t be a Kristoff book without some heartbreak, tears, and hearts skipping beats. The major twist I did not see coming and was like YES!!!!! And OMG!!!, and ??????!!!!!!!! but it works. The twist at the very end I saw coming a mile away. It just made sense. Especially knowing that the sequel is out in 2.5 months.

If you like punk science fiction, dystopia, etc, pick up this book. Then pick up the sequel, because you are probably going to want it. It’s a wild ride. But an enjoyable one.

#MountTBR
#Booked2019 Political intrigue
#LittenLoveBingo
#NancyDrewChallenge Number in the title
#BNFantasyChallenge Robots and AI
#KillYourTBR Author I have met
#SFFTBRChallenge - written by a strait white male author

4.2 stars

SO THIS WAS SUCH AN APOCALYPTIC DELIGHT!!!

MAD MAX Post-apocalyptic vintage style with fighting domes, wastelands filled with the remains of "world before", weirdly pronounced names like USA = U-SA, genetically and techonoligal altered dwellers, steampunk googles and fingerless gloves... the whole nine yards!

I see now why people rave about Kristof so much. You got me Jay! I AM A BIG FAN NOW!

I was irremediably in love at the first page.!

I love stories that start with a bang. And, YES, Kristoff does know how to to do that! Gory murderous action!

LIFEL1K3 is the rare book that I mostly enjoyed until the end soured me on the whole thing. It’s a mash-up of a lot of genres and tropes, which gives it a certain amount of madcap charm, but it squanders that good will with some draggy pacing, an overload of teenage angst, and a final twist that feels like a gotcha moment designed only for shock value. It’s also overstuffed with plot and world-building, so it’s almost impossible to summarize succinctly.

When you live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, you have to make ends meet in whatever way possible. Eve builds and pilots homegrown battle-bots from spare parts and pits them against challengers in gladiator battles with the help of her trusty little robot, Cricket, and her best friend, Lemon Fresh. She has a cybernetic eye and a “memdrive” installed in her brain to help her remember her past life, cut short when she was shot and left for dead.

When the book opens, she’s about to fight a malfunctioning corporate bot to get medicine for her ailing grandfather, Silas. The battle goes south, but she’s saved at the last minute when she unleashes some kind of telekinetic power that fries the malfunctioning bot.

Only problem is, gladiator battles are broadcast throughout the local area, and her performance brings her to the attention of some unsavory types, including a religious sect who kill “deviates” on sight and a corporate bounty hunter who wants to capture her for nefarious purposes.

Lucky for her, she’s saved by a beautiful “lifelike” robot named Ezekiel, designed to resemble a handsome young man with super-strength, who she salvaged when his ship crashed nearby. When they try to make their getaway, another lifelike named Faith captures her grandfather, so Eve and her friends have to save him while also running from the bounty hunter hot on their tails. Complicating things is the fact that Ezekiel and Faith both seem to recognize her and call her by another name, Ana.

Now, it’s kind of hard to explain my criticisms of the book without spoilers, so I’m going to warn you now that the rest of this review will be full of them. When Faith damages Eve’s memdrive in a fight, Eve starts having flashes of another life different from the hardscrabble one she thinks she knows. It turns out that Eve isn’t who she thinks she is, which becomes a running theme.

Eve starts having flashes of her life as Ana, who lived in a corporate tower with her father, the inventor of the lifelikes. She knows the lifelikes and has a shared, tragic history with them! Also, her grandfather isn’t her grandfather. Instead, he’s an engineer who gave her fake memories so that she could have a fresh start.

Ezekiel was the boy of her dreams, Faith was her best friend, and the lifelikes (except possibly Ezekiel) betrayed her family and killed them in a revolution. The angst and the drama build as Eve tries to reconcile her identities and histories, deal with her buried feelings for Ezekiel, and fumes about people lying to her.

You might think that everything I’ve summarized up above is more than enough for one book, and you’d be right. However, Kristoff still has a few twists left up his sleeve. The first few twists just stir up more drama and angst, but the final twist is what soured me on the book.

It turns out that Eve isn’t even the real Ana – she’s secretly a lifelike designed to think she was Ana. After she was shot, Silas installed the memdrive to give her a fresh start as someone new. This revelation puts her over the edge, and she pushes her friends away and slides into apparent villainy in the final sentence of the book.

By that point, I’d already lost a little bit of patience with the number of plot twists and the angsty in-fighting characters, but I wouldn’t have minded the final twist so much if Eve’s final decision was less black-and-white. If she’d decided to go out into the world to find herself with mysterious motivations, I’d at least want to find out more about who she decides to become. Instead, she seeks out another lifelike with clearly villainous motivations and tells him that they have a lot of work to do.

It felt like Kristoff was trying to force Eve’s decision to BE EVIL, and it made me not care about her journey. LIFEL1K3 was a bit of an exhausting read thanks to its everything-plus-the-kitchen-sink storytelling, but that final twist just felt like it sold out the main character for a cheap shock.

I loved the Illumanae series so this one was a must read for me. I absolutely love scifi books. The pace was fantastic and the world building was pretty steady.

I received an ARC copy from netgalley for my honest review, so thank you netgalley and publishers for offering me this book! ♡
The cover and title is what originally drew me to this book.
On an island junkyard beneath a sky that glows with radiation, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap. Seventeen-year-old Eve isn't looking for trouble--she's too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she spent months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, she's on the local gangster's wanted list, and the only thing keeping her grandpa alive is the money she just lost to the bookies. Worst of all, she's discovered she can somehow destroy machines with the power of her mind, and a bunch of puritanical fanatics are building a coffin her size because of it. If she's ever had a worse day, Eve can't remember it. The problem is, Eve has had a worse day--one that lingers in her nightmares and the cybernetic implant where her memories used to be. Her discovery of a handsome android named Ezekiel--called a "Lifelike" because they resemble humans--will bring her world crashing down and make her question whether her entire life is a lie. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic sidekick Cricket in tow, Eve will trek across deserts of glass, battle unkillable bots, and infiltrate towering megacities to save the ones she loves...and learn the truth about the bloody secrets of her past.
This was my first book by this author. It was alltogether an easy read. ♡ I give this book a
4.5 star rating!

Unfortunately, this book was not a good match for me, and I will decline to review. I hope plenty of other readers find it more compatible, and thank you for the opportunity to review!

Jay never disappoints with his story writing! My excitement was through the room after receiving this review copy! I am very much looking forward to book two!