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A review by blurrypetals
Firstlife by Gena Showalter
5.0
There is a part of me that knows this book kind of sucks. It's not very well-written, the conversations are stilted and awkward, we drift from scene to scene with seemingly no through lines, and we hear the word "zero" said as a swear word way, way, wayyyy too many times.
But then there's a part of me that just likes fun shit, and man, this shit was fun. The audiobook was a breezy listen (Emma Galvin with a little bit of Zachary Webber thrown in makes that a given) and it was just fun YA garbage that turned into fun YA garbage that I liked and cared about.
As I said in one of my updates, this book is sort of a Frankenstein's monster of a hodgepodge of things from a lot of other books I love and maybe that's why I ended up liking it so much, but there are definitely elements from several books I've read in the past 5 years including but definitely not limited to the Matched trilogy, The Darkest Minds, Angelfall, and any dystopian novel written since The Hunger Games with the lead character being the tipping point in a struggle much bigger than herself. And damn, Matched aside, I love those books! They're proudly displayed as favorites all over my bedroom and because of that, I can't hate this book for taking so many of the things I love about YA and wrapping them up in a package that still felt like its own thing.
I'm really impressed in a different way with this one. When I started it, I thought I was going to hate it, that these cliches were going to weigh it down, but nope. It was fun and I can't wait to see what happens next.
(as an aside: Because of all the YA it borrows from, I found myself going back through a lot of the books I've read this year so far and even though I realize I've read a lot of trashy stuff this year, I feel like this book has made me realize that even if it IS just YA trash, if I have fun and love it, I'm going to rate it a 5 out of 5, my sense of pride be damned. I'm going back and rating The Dark Elements Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout 5's because I love them and they are fun THE END)
But then there's a part of me that just likes fun shit, and man, this shit was fun. The audiobook was a breezy listen (Emma Galvin with a little bit of Zachary Webber thrown in makes that a given) and it was just fun YA garbage that turned into fun YA garbage that I liked and cared about.
As I said in one of my updates, this book is sort of a Frankenstein's monster of a hodgepodge of things from a lot of other books I love and maybe that's why I ended up liking it so much, but there are definitely elements from several books I've read in the past 5 years including but definitely not limited to the Matched trilogy, The Darkest Minds, Angelfall, and any dystopian novel written since The Hunger Games with the lead character being the tipping point in a struggle much bigger than herself. And damn, Matched aside, I love those books! They're proudly displayed as favorites all over my bedroom and because of that, I can't hate this book for taking so many of the things I love about YA and wrapping them up in a package that still felt like its own thing.
I'm really impressed in a different way with this one. When I started it, I thought I was going to hate it, that these cliches were going to weigh it down, but nope. It was fun and I can't wait to see what happens next.
(as an aside: Because of all the YA it borrows from, I found myself going back through a lot of the books I've read this year so far and even though I realize I've read a lot of trashy stuff this year, I feel like this book has made me realize that even if it IS just YA trash, if I have fun and love it, I'm going to rate it a 5 out of 5, my sense of pride be damned. I'm going back and rating The Dark Elements Trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout 5's because I love them and they are fun THE END)