This book was quite the surprise of ‘Fallout’ mixed with a ‘Fifth Element’ kind of unlikely companion story. A Woman falls from her posh life amongst a generation ship into a treacherous wasteland of Earth to be discovered by this ‘Han Solo’ of the junkyard. A swindler and scrap dealer, he knows people, the ins and outs of this world and now Diane has to rely on him for her survival.

We know that Virgil’s motives aren’t entirely pure and well-intended. He’s in it for himself though there’s something about seeing the hope in Diane that just starts to plant the sed of becoming a better person.

This story is rich with action, mad-max chases, battles with giant leviathans, technology-enhanced humans, sewer monsters, raiders, and an overzealous leader that can’t seem to be touched. Though there was also plenty of mistrust, moral struggles, funny dialog, and overconfident heroes that never let their nerves show.

Virgil’s arc was wonderful and i really enjoyed it, Diane was well played and she eventually got her gusto rather than being the scared out-of-place visitor to a new land. I loved her character shift as well.

All in all it was a really great hidden gem for those who love some post-apocalyptic action with quippy dialog and a imaginative cast of side characters and monsters.

Thank you @netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about 2 MC's. Diane, a teen, who lives on a colony ship that orbits the planet until it crashes to earth and the first person she meets, old man Virgil, and they team up to face the horrors of this futuristic dystopian Junkyard together and try to accomplish their own goals.

It took me a while to get into this one, possibly cuz its an eBook and I usually read audiobooks.
But the worldbuilding is lush and terrifying to imagine, the characters are likeable despite their flaws.
My only negative is it maybe felt too long and maybe a bit padded.

I will recommend this one to people who like dystopias!

Whew, where to begin here? Wait I know, first a disclaimer: I read this book mostly on vacation. This was maybe not the best book to read whilst tired? Because I can’t quite figure out if the confusion was on me or the book. So, there you have my main downside, that I genuinely don’t know whether is my fault.

To begin, I loved the premise and the world and especially the characters. They were definitely my favorite part. I appreciated their struggle, even if I wasn’t totally sure what was happening. And that’s really the crux: everything I “got” about this book, I really liked. But I also felt that I was missing a lot, like I didn’t fully understand what was causing the sicknesses, and I was definitely a bit lost on how some of the more minor characters and alliances fit into things.

I definitely recommend this book, but I’d also make sure to read it when you have time to fully delve into the world. Then, you can do me a solid and let me know if it was my exhaustion or if the book was actually confusing.

Bottom Line: The characters were great, and I loved the overarching concept, but found some of the content confusing.

This book is part sci fi, part road warrior, and part dystopia. The earth is toxic and wars have created an inhospitable environment ruled by corporations and warring clans. Centuries ago, when all this mess started, one corporation put a self-sustaining space station in orbit that was living peaceably and well, until a system disaster caused it to crash to earth, with one survivor, a teen girl. She gets locked in a mech suit and becomes part of a team that is working to quash a tyrannical new leader. This book is full of action, an interesting re-imagining of life on earth that feels more like another planet, complex characters, and lots of new tech. I normally don't like this much world-building, but the characters and the plot kept me reading. I particularly liked how the characters interacted and worked together (or undermined each other). I am recommending this to my sci fi as well as my dystopian readers.

The absurdity of some of the novel will stick in my mind for a while, in a good way. This is an imaginatively told story, and I stayed engaged. Good stuff.

Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!

Battery Life was exactly like the description presents. Out of this world dark comedy where as a reader you are not sure what to really expect because the absurdity of it all just feels out there. I enjoyed this book and would say if you like dark humor, a great story, excellent characters, and an arc that will keep you guessing this is the one for you.

While I enjoyed the book overall, I want to note that I nearly DNF'd it around 5%. The very quick introduction of four different POVs was really jarring within that really short span of text, and it put me off initially. After making it through, I enjoyed Battery Life, but I think I would have DNF'd outside of this review environment.

Battery Life
By Brennan Gilpatrick and Gregory Lang

Welcome to the apocalypse. It’s messy, it’s gritty, it’s constantly trying to kill you. No one’s in charge and everyone’s fighting for survival. Good thing we’ve got our ragtag team to save the day.

This book explores themes such as: what is freedom? what can be forgiven? and what is worth compromising your morals for?

We have a great cast of morally gray characters. Virgil you want to root for completely, but he makes decisions for survival that are sometimes hard to swallow. Diane is a bit naive and new to the road but I had no qualms rooting for her. The other crew members were a great addition and I really enjoyed the character work/development.

The world building was also well done. I’m really interested in learning more about it if there ends up being a sequel. It’s set mostly in the US but alludes to some big things across the ocean. Each of the places we do visit have that distinct apocalyptic feel but each still had its own character as well.

The writing took me a little bit to really get into. I thought the beginning meandered a little bit but then it all came together and I had a lovely time at the end of the world.

Thanks to @netgalley and @blackstonepublishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review