Reviews tagging 'Death'

LIFEL1K3 by Jay Kristoff

7 reviews

kathrynleereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

There are very few things in this world that are as reliable as Jay Kristoff's ability to write a plot twist. Knowing that, there is no reason that I should've audibly gasped, not once, not twice, but numerous times throughout this book.

Lifel1k3 follows Eve through the future dystopian country of Yousay, as she tries to rescue her grandpa and get answers to questions she never even knew to ask.

Along for the ride we have Lemon, Eve's lovable and snarky best friend; Cricket, a logika designed to keep Eve out of trouble; Kaiser, Eve's blitzhund (part Rottweiler, part robot, 100% deadly); and Ezekiel, who the rest of the gang aren't sure if they can trust. 

Like I said, Lifel1k3 was filled with more twists and turns than I could keep track of, so even when I thought there couldn't possibly be more... Surprise! There was.

After Lifel1ke's dramatic end, I'm very excited to see where Dev1at3 takes Eve and the rest of the gang!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, War, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Grief, Slavery, Gore, Terminal illness, Torture, Vomit, and Violence

Minor: Car accident, Deadnaming, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry

laurenevlyn's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This took me a while to read but it was going well up until the ending.

I know her whole world turned upside down but working with Gabriel? Becoming evil? Way too out of character.

This could have been a 5 star book, but the weird and overly complicated slang plus what I already mentioned kept it from greatness in my opinion. I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Blood, Child death, Gun violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Gore, and Body horror

Minor: Confinement, War, and Cancer

hide_the_rum's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Let's start with a tbh. Tbh I didn't really like Eve. I loved Lemon though. The characters felt pretty flat. The worldbuilding was interesting but the plot was quite predictable. It also felt a little rushed in my opinion. Not the best of Jay's books but a light and enjoyable read.

I'm the only one who hated how dismissive was Eve/Ana with Ezekiel? Like girl let him explain himself.💀

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Gun violence, and Suicide attempt

hlhayes7's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Child death, and Animal death

rinku's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 LIFEL1K3 was my first book by Kristoff, and I enjoyed it quite a lot. The atmosphere and the settings created were great, and most of the characters as well. The book had its length but at least had an amazing finale. 

The story focusses on Eve who has to survive in a post-apocalyptic world through robot fights. After an unusual incident at one of those fights, she has to flee where she meets Ezekiel, a lifelike robot. Together with him and other companions, she goes on a travel to uncover the secrets of her past and find closure in the main building of the Babel cooperation. 

What I noticed is that Kristoff’s storytelling is very engaging and exciting, but sometimes a bit try-hard edgy. The way Eve’s quite dramatic backstory was told was great with switching from the past to the present and her realizing that everything she believed in as a lie. Those reveals were great and not predictable besides the fact that

Ezekiel was the one who shot Eve

. Other things I quite enjoyed where the fighting scenes, the political aspect around the labs, and the romance. 

I especially liked the ending:

It was such an impactful moment when Eve entered the Babel corporation, knowing that the radioactivity will make her seriously sick. The reveal at the end that Eve is not Ana but only the lifelike for Ana was so clever. Also, Silas’ death was so sad

. 

A problem I had with the story is that the pacing was not always so great. For example, the sequence where our characters are inside those whale boats was just too long and I didn’t like this setting compared to others as well. Also, some problems could’ve been solved by better communication; I didn’t understand why

Lemon didn’t tell Eve that she was the one with the abilities

. At other points I furthermore struggled with understanding what was happening. 

In contrast, what I especially enjoyed about this book were the atmospheric settings. They had such Fallout vibes for me: It’s a post-apocalypse, there are talking robots, radioactivity, a group called the Brotherhood, and the Priest with his cowboy outfit also fit the picture. 

I don’t have much to say about the characters besides that I liked most of them. I especially loved Lemon and Gabriel was an amazing unsettling villain. 

I’m a bit sad about the ending since we leave some characters behind that I would love to hear more about. Nevertheless, the world and characters created in LIFEL1K3 are interesting enough for me to keep me invested in the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Torture

Minor: Body horror

maryshelleys's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

it's been a long time since i've read a purely sci-fi book, and even longer since i've even tried reading a book with a post-apocalyptic setting. but this book was fun! the worldbuilding, the characters, the plot... i had a good time. looking forward to getting my hands on the second installment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide, Grief, and Mass/school shootings

sundayray's review against another edition

emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, and Gore

Moderate: War, Suicide, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Grief