Hi friends! I’m back to share with you a review for Lifel1k3 by Jay Kristoff. If the name sounds familiar to you, Jay has written many books including the Illuminae Files (read my review of Illuminae here) and Nevernight Chronicles. 

I was very excited to receive an ARC of this book because I adore Jay’s previous work and the book’s tag line was very intriguing to me. Keep reading if you want to hear my thoughts on the story!

About the book. 

Recommended for: Anyone 13+

 

My thoughts.

{ writing }

This book is divided into sections and each section is divided into chapters. I found this set up to be quite interesting because you could see the book building up with the first section being the introduction and the second being the rising action and the third and fourth being the climax (because he just left you on an absolute CLIFFHANGER OMG!). I love when books are set up uniquely because it adds that extra bit of interest to a story.

I found the writing at the start to be quite slow. It took me about a week to get through the first few chapters and two days after that to finish off the book. I do wish it had picked right up, but I think with most of Jay’s books, it’s a build up and waiting game which you are ultimately rewarded for in the end. 

I found some of the jargon used in the story to be confusing however. There was no glossary (which would have been uber helpful to refer to if there was!) and I feel like that may have taken away from the reading experience a tiny tiny bit. 

{ idea }

I personally adored the idea of this! It’s kind of like the love child of Illuminae (with all the sci-fi minus the space) and Nevernight (with the fantasy minus the bloodthirsty assassin and serious gore) with elements of futurism and robots. 

It was a very unique story, because while I’ve read stories about robots and how they all take over the world and what not, I feel like Jay’s story stood apart because he seemed like he really knew what he was talking about. You could tell Jay had spent time and effort researching and learning and he knew a lot about machinery and robotics and AI and all of that sci-fi goodness. The book was authentic and brimming with terminology and descriptions of the world which were super cool and meant I got into the story pretty easily. 

I loved how this book was basically a culmination of Jay’s favourite books and movies and how he drew inspiration from things like the X-Men and Romeo and Juliet, but it also had his own unique spin on it. 

{ plot }

Jay can write a plot! This plot was no exception because it had twists and turns that I didn’t see coming at all. Won’t be saying too much here other than sit back and enjoy the ride because it’ll be a bumpy one. 

{ characters }

I quite liked the characters in this! Firstly, can we take a moment to appreciate that there was a robot-doggie LIKE YES OMG CAN I HAVE ONE TOO PLEASE AND THANK YOU! But in all seriousness, I quite like Eve, she was a badass and I loved how she could think for herself. She didn’t give up easily and fought to find the truth. 

Lem was such an adorable human! I loved her personality and the comic relief she provided as well as her relationship with Eve. There is nothing I love more than girls supporting girls. Their friendship only grew stronger as the book continued and it was so adorable! Same goes for Cricket and Eve and Lem!

Zeke, however, was kinda meh. I could see why he was the way he was, and the things I don’t like about him, I can see were selected deliberately by Jay because they fit with the story very well (sorry can’t say what they are!) but I also thought he could be super meh at times too oops?

I was not a fan of the romance sadly. It felt a little too rushed to me and way too instalovey and just over the top and not something I could get behind which is probably one of the only real criticisms I have for the book.

{ finally… }

There is no doubt Jay Kristoff is a very good writer and that Lifel1k3 is an enjoyable read! If you love sci-fi and fantasy and books with futuristic elements, you’ll love this one!

Have you read this? Do you plan to?