Synopsis

From the bestselling co-author of the Illuminae Files comes the thrilling finale in the LIFEL1K3 trilogy–hailed by Marie Lu as “a breathless, action-packed exploration of what humanity really means.”Best friends have become enemies. Lovers have become strangers. And deciding whose side you’re on could be the difference between life and death. For Eve and Lemon, discovering the truth about themselves–and each other–was too much for their friendship to take. But with the country on the brink of a new world war–this time between the BioMaas swarm at CityHive and Daedalus’s army at Megopolis, loyalties will be pushed to the brink, unlikely alliances will form and with them, betrayals. But the threat doesn’t stop there, because the lifelikes are determined to access the program that will set every robot free, a task requiring both Eve and Ana, the girl she was created to replace. In the end, violent clashes and heartbreaking choices reveal the true heroes . . . and they may not be who you think they are. 

Review

5 stars

Thanks for the free book @PRHGlobal/@prhinternational! I was lucky to get an ARC of that story but it has no influence on my review.

That book was brilliful!

What’s that word? It’s a word for something both beautiful and brilliant.

“First rule of the Scrap:  Stronger together. Together forever.”

Long review ahead #sorrynotsorry !

First, we begin with a helluva opening scene that will set the tone and the pace for the whole book!

There are some deep topics here!

Like : what makes us human? Biomaas chose the path of no free will everyone honed to be the best of his kind. Similar.

Daedalus thinks the best is to have every mechanics under control. Ne free will for robots and humans above all else. Just another form of slavery from Biomaas as both live by  control and order.

The other life form like the deviate is chaos. More alive and more humans than what these companies want humans to be.

So I’d say that what makes us human come down to free will.

“But in trying to make everything fit in these neat little boxes with these oh-so-helpful labels, you’re taking away the stuff that makes us special! To you people, what you are is more important than who you are!”

And who are you? What makes you you? Who do you want to be?

What defines a person? That’s when Jay went Dumbledoresk on us with quotes like “You’re not defined by what you are, Eve. You’re defined by what you do.”

Also what makes a family? The blood you share? The people who have your back no matter what?

This book is also full of second chances: at love, at friendship, at living on this planet.

Now let’s talk about some of the characters!

From the end of book one I wanted Fresh to be something other than somebody’s sidekick! Lifl1k3 focused on Eve as main female character but Miss Fresh had already hijacked my heart and I wanted her to have the floor! Well in Dev1at3 and certainly now in Truel1f3 my wish has been granted!

Freckles will have to up her game and true cert, she’ll be fizzy doing it!

“Truth was, part of her still felt like that snot-nosed, punk kid who’d set out as the tagalong in someone else’s story. The sass on tap. The comedy relief. She wondered who she was to be standing up in a fight like this. To be counting on others to do the same. Despite her speech in the silo, she didn’t feel like any sort of leader.”

Cricket had clearly been inspired by Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. He was Eve’s conscience in a way. He began this series as a wee thing and ended up as a giant robot. Hit outer growth only mirroring his inner growth.

Because one thing that I loved in this series was the personal growth and journey all main characters went on, Cricket included! Yes, that’s right: a robot had his own evolution!

And as in real life, some characters had a rocky growth, often erring on the dark side for some time and Jay made it so convincing that I never knew if one day, some of them would see the light again!

Let’s talk about my boy Ezekiel now or Dimples.

He was worthy of all my admiration through all these books! Mind you, he will fight to prevent Gabriel to make more of his kind, knowing that he and his remaining brother and sisters are the only left of their kind. All that because he realized how wrong they were for human kind! He knows who he wants to be and that’s someone who has hope, no matter what and who will believe in other’s goodness.

He has an ingrained sense of right and wrong and will do everything, even make hard choices, to do what’s right. Deeply loyal, love and friendship are things he believes in wholeheartedly. And of course, being pleasing on the eye is an extra bonus right?

“He said nothing. Just looked into her eyes. Seeing her hurt like this, seeing her pain, he couldn’t help but feel a stab of pity. He and Faith were still family, despite everything, and that still counted for something. That was just who he was. Who he’d decided to be.”

But the characters and topics are not the only things that make this series stand out!

What I also adored and that’s something Jay excels at was all the inner lingo and “Lifl1k3” language this book offers! Expression like “Fizzy”, “True cert” fill the book, giving it its own special flavor! One of my favorite expression, derived from our common ones: “Can’t make a mint julep without crushin’ some ice.” Or another one “She realized how deep in the fertilizer she actually was.”

I love when authors invent nearly a new language in their books! Something that makes us feel that we are in that universe they imagined for their heroes. It’s like a personal seal. The series brand, more than the author’s brand!

Last but not least, I got all the FEELS !

Jay made me cry with what’s been done to Lemon, with what happened to Ezekiel that resurfaced the little lost boy. But he also made me shed tears for happy reasons as some scene of reunion between friends, machine and human were packed with so much tenderness that my eyes just teared up.

Mister Kristoff also surprised me with plot Twists! Some betrayals I never had seen coming!

He also made me rage, often. Fear the worst for our heroes! This book is filled with guns blazing heart pounding escapes. With loss and grief. Full of battles, dangers and turning points, so much that I was sitting at the edge of my seat thinking “Don’t make Grimm die Jay” or “Don’t make Fresh die!” or “If you destroy Zeke, I will hunt you to the end of the earth Jay”. Because guys you know Hell hath no fury like a reader scorned!

#sponsored #partner @PRHGlobal/@prhinternational

Have you read this series already?

Thanks for reading

Sophie