Ok, Wow, this book just sort of…. Wow. Jay Kristoff just jumped to the top of my list of favorite ScFy authors. This series is everything that I like about science fiction, great characters that you fall in love with, kick-ass technology and snarky AI’s and other intelligent robots. Plus some great friendships and a little bit of romance. Awesome!

The narration is split between Lemon Fresh, Ezekiel, Cricket and a little bit from Eve and a few other characters. I continue to love Lemon Fresh. She is just so likable and I love her devotion to her friends, old and new. Ezekiel is awesome, he too will do anything to help his friends and to find Ava. Cricket is always a fun character to have around. His need to follow the Three Laws of Robotics, keeps him from doing some things, but he is determined to help the humans he considers friends.

We meet many new characters in this one. Some good, and others not. Some human, some robots and some others who are hard to classify.

Lemon saves and then joins up with some other deviates. I loved them as much as her. Fix was very charming and I loved his gift, Diesel was a take no prisoners type of gal, but also very sweet when she wanted to be. She also has the most amazing gift that I have ever seen. Then there is Grimm, loved him to pieces, and his gift was pretty cool. The Major was someone who I never quite trusted, with as it turned out that was a good thing.

Cricket also makes some new friends. I adored Abraham. He really wants to do the right thing, but his circumstances often prevented him from doing so. Solomon is a logika like Cricket, but he has quite the personality. He is the one that shows Cricket how to bend the rules a bit.

We see much more of the Brotherhood in this book, and my oh my, are they evil.. Just really nasty, but necessary to the plot. We also meet some more biotech from BioMass Inc. I kind of liked Hunter, but she was also kind of creepy. Biomass is also on my list of not very nice people in this world.

The plot is amazing. I had a hard time putting this book down at times, especially as I got closer to the end. And Wow what an explosive ending! It blew me away. Unfortunately, there is quite the cliffhanger. You might want to wait to read this one till closer to the release date of the last book. That way you won’t scream and want to throw the book when you get to the end, because you have to wait a year for the next one. (I did not throw my i-pad but I did let out a small scream of frustration)

Final thoughts, I loved it and can’t wait for the next one! The cover makes more sense once you have read the book. If you enjoy science fiction this is one you shouldn’t miss.

As soon as I found out this was a book with Lemon Fresh, I was all over it. Then the first page was a glossary slash refresher of all of the characters and I couldn’t stop grinning.

I loved Lemon so much. I was thrilled to get so much time in her head. She’s snarky and maybe a little prickly, but really the softest of marshmallows. There are a few new characters, but I’m going to leave that super vague. Same for what’s going on with the old characters.

Plot wise, it starts with a bang and doesn’t let go. It’s filled with robot battles and explosions and killer bees and rifts opening in the sky and so many other things that could be spoilery. My main complaint is that I never really felt settled into the story. There are so many pieces and so many directions and it was a bit much for me.

Overall, it’s one hell of a roller coaster and as usual the ending makes me want book 3 right now.

**Huge thanks Knopf BFYR for providing the arc free of charge**

This picks up right after the first book and things go from bad to worse for our little group of misfits. Everyone gets separated, so we follow Lemon, Zeke, Cricket, and Eve separately. And oh boy, it gets all kinds of crazy. There’s a lot going on in this book that easily kept me invested right up to the end. Omg, that ending! Anyway, I’m not going to say much, but it’s cool how Kristoff brought it all together.

One thing is for sure, Lemon is still my favorite. Lemon Fresh, you certainly are not a sidekick! Then there’s Eve, who … well, let’s just say she takes a drastic turn. We also meet a whole slew of interesting new characters that are totally enduring, and some not so much.

I really do love this series and don’t know how I’m going to wait for the next book. Because, again, that ending!

<u> <b>Review for <i>DEV1AT3 (Deviate)</i> by Jay Kristoff </u> </b>


ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Thanks for the opportunity to review this book!

<u>All opinions are my own.</u>

<b>Trigger Warnings (TW):</b> For violence, warfare, guns, etc. Be safe, friends!

<u> <b>Summary: </u> </b>
<u> <b>SPOILERS FOR LIFEL1K3 AHEAD</u> </b>

<b> “Lemon Fresh has seen better days.

After the climactic battle in Babel, she finds herself separated from Ezekiel and Cricket in the wastelands. Lemon’s abilities to manipulate electricity mark her as a deviate, and deadly corporate operatives are hunting her to use as a weapon in the war between BioMaas Incorporated and Daedelus Technologies. Instead, Lemon finds herself falling in with a group of fellow deviates—a band of teenagers with astonishing abilities, led by an enigmatic figure known as the Major, who may hold the secrets to Lemon’s past.

Meanwhile, Cricket finds himself in possession of the puritanical Brotherhood, a religious cult set for a head-on collision with the Major and his band. Searching for Lemon, Ezekiel finds a strange ally in an old enemy, and uncovers a plot that may see him reunited with his beloved Ana.

And inside Babel, a remade Eve hatches a plan to bring an end to the world.” </b>

In <i> DEV1AT3 </i> we pick up right where we left off at the end of <i>LIFEL1K3</i>.
We continue to follow Lemon, Cricket, and Ezekiel as they make their way as far from Babel as they can. Lemon and Zeke are both coming to terms with their recent fall out with Eve. As they make their way through some desert wastelands, they’re eventually all split up, and we follow each one as they try to make their way back to the others.

<u> <b>My Thoughts </u> </b>

<b>WOW </b>
I remember last year, when reading <i>LIFEL1K3</i> how much I adored this world. It is reminiscent of Mad Max, Borderlands, and Fallout to me.

<b><i>“Lemon stepped on the brake with both feet, brought her monster truck (which she’d secretly named Trucky McTruckface) to a skidding stop.”</b></i>
<i> <u>Quote taken from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication. </i></u>

This quote made me immediately think of Tiny Tina from Borderlands and is one of the many things I enjoyed about this book. We get to see so much more of the world in <i>DEV1AT3</i> due to the fact that everyone is spread out and searching for each other all over it. I would happily read all of the books Jay ever wants to write in this setting.

If the setting and book one hasn’t compelled you to pick this one up, I’ve got a few quotes about some of my favorite types of humor as well. Jay gives each of his characters such a huge personality, and I’ve absolutely loved Lemon from the beginning for her smartass comments and dead-pan humor, as I feel it mirrors my own.

<b><i>“Hi,” Cricket waved. “I don’t suppose you just wanna be friends?”
“Target acquired,” the Storm called in a booming voice, turning on Cricket. “Mission: Destroy.”
“Okay, then.” Cricket nodded. “Good talk.”</b></i>
<i> <u>Quote taken from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication. </i></u>

Throughout this story we meet many new characters, two whom I think will be new favorites for entirely different reasons. First, Lemon meets Hunter, who is essentially a hive that uses their bees to kill anyone who gets in their way.

<b><i> Hunter nodded. “A Hunter sees with many eyes, Lemonfresh.”
“Right,” the girl replied. “Out into the street, walk it like we own it, head straight for the gate. If a patrol stops us, keep your deathbees calm, let me talk. Fizzy?”</b></i>
<i><u> Quote taken from an ARC and is subject to change upon publication. </i></u>

And further throughout the story we meet many others, though I don’t want to spoil the magic of meeting those guys for any of you. Needless to say, if you were a fan of book one, I have no doubts that you will love book two. I would say I loved book two a little bit more than I enjoyed book one, mainly because I love Lemon and we got to hang out with her more than we did in the first book.

I’m also personally a fan of the terms Jay incorporates into his book. He does it to show the reader they’re in a completely different world from our own, and for me, it’s definitely a win. I know that some people had issues with this in book one, or from his other series, but for me personally, it works, and I dig it.


<b> <u>Overall (TLDR)</b> </u>

5/5 Stars for me.
If you loved book one, just do yourself a favor and pick this one up so that you can laugh and cry just as much as I did.
If you didn’t read book one and you read this review (even though I gave you a spoiler warning), you should go read <i> LIFEL1K3 </i> and then read <i> DEV1AT3</i> as well.

This series is absolutely for fans of Borderlands, Mad Max, Fallout, or post-apocalypse books with an incredible amount of witty banter and humor. If you’re a fan of robot sidekicks and magical abilities that Jay’s incredibly unique characters have and use against each other, then this one is definitely for you.

Thanks again to NetGalley for letting me have a chance to read and review this book! All thoughts are my own.

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Oh Jay Kristoff, you make me want to thump your head after that ending! How am I going to wait another year to find out what happens to my girl, LemonFresh, and Cricket, and the new friends they’ve made?? Grrrrr...

Lifel1k3, book 1, was touted as “Romeo & Juliet meets Mad Max meets X-Men, with a little bit of Blade Runner cheering from the sidelines" Dev1at3 was all of the above times 3!! It felt way more Mad Max and X-Men and to top it off, sidekick Lemon starred in this book! Her and Cricket were my favorites from book 1, so to have book 2 feature both characters as the main POVs, I enjoyed it even more! And then both Lemon and Cricket meet new friends and I adored them all just as much! Well... most of them.

In Deviate, the story picks up a few hours after Lifelike ends with Lemon, Ezekiel, and Cricket leaving Evie (per her request). Not long after, the 3 get separated, and each go on to have their own action packed crazy adventures.

In the meantime, every so often, we’d get snippets of Eve’s story.

I can’t wait to see how the series ends! Kristoff is kind of scaring me as he doesn’t seem to feel bad at all about going to the dark side. I’m already worried about how some of my favorite characters will fare in book 3. Overall though, this book is just pure fun!!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Knopf Books for the advance copy!*

Jay has such a unique voice that as soon as you opened a book of his without looking you would know it was a Kristoff book.

I love how masculine his writing is but still appeals to everyone. Definitely recommend this!

The book begins about five hours after the last events of Lifel1k3, in which Ezekiel, Lemon and Cricket are running away from Babel Tower, leaving their friend Evie behind. Very quickly they are separated in the wastes and their individual adventures begin.

The story has different POV's which is great because I love getting to see their individual characterizations and the development without the other characters being present. Lemon Fresh is seen struggling not only with her powers but with being left without any of the people she cares about. I think her struggle with trying to find a family was portrayed beautifully and very realistically. When she finally meets others like her, she feels a sense of belonging and a sense of finally finding a real family.

As for Cricket, I loved getting to see more of him! I think he is such an underrated character and his development was absolutely incredible in this book. We get to see him dealing with having new 'owners' who treat him horribly, something he is clearly not used to because Lemon and Eve treated him with love and compassion.

Finally, we get to see Ezekiel and his struggle with loving both Eve and Ana, and trying to figure out if he loved Evie because she was supposed to be Ana or if he loved her as her own person. He also struggles with his love for his family versus what he knows is right: saving the human race.

All in all, the plot was very fast paced, interesting and had a heck of a lot of action and adventure. I felt like I was on a roller coaster of emotions, feeling scared for a moment and then being incredibly angry the next. There was a moment where I had to roll my eyes because I could see the plot twist coming from a mile away, but it was nothing that I would say took away from the story. If anything, it kept you on your toes, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I would highly recommend this book for any fans of Jay Kristoff's writing style and for anyone wanting to read an amazing dystopian fantasy, complete with robots trying to end the human race, humans developing powers and lots and lots of drama!

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

Dev1at3 is book two in the Lifel1k3 series by Jay Kristoff and trust me…if you haven’t started reading these books you definitely need to fix that. They are a mix of sci-fi, dystopian, post-apocalyptic…and I love it! I will do my absolute best to not spoil anything here but be warned that there could be spoilers to the first book if you haven’t yet read.

This book picks up where we left off in Lifel1k3 and Kristoff ends up giving us a view into each character’s storyline by giving us chapters from each perspective and I really appreciated that because very quickly they all find themselves on different paths. Evie, Lemon, Ezekiel, and Cricket are the perspectives we get, and I loved how each chapter pulled all the separate stories along even though the characters weren’t together.

If you’ve read anything by Kristoff, you know he doesn’t take it easy on his characters and that is certainly the case in this book. Each one of these characters is on a journey and whether they end up in a good place (or not) is something you will just have to pick up the books to find out. There are some new characters in this book too and I loved how they added more to the existing stories vs distract. Abraham, Grimm, Diesel, and so many more…I just can’t say enough about how I loved how Kristoff aligned all of these character’s stories with the overarching plot.

I can’t say too much about the actual story without ruining it so I’m not going to. Just know that Evie is determined to destroy the world, Lemon is figuring things out, Ezekiel is making some real difficult choices, and Cricket is finding new ways to survive within the confines of the laws of robotics. I’m really looking forward to the third book in this series. So much happened in the last few chapters of Dev1at3 that all I can say is brace yourself.

If you are looking for a story that is unique, has tons of action and twists, and will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what the characters will have to face next, this is a book for you. I’ll just be over here waiting for the next book so I can see who will make it out of the situations they are in…hopefully as undamaged as possible.

This was a great book, as good, if not better, than the first! It action, drama, suspense! Wonderful characters all with different plans and agendas that interconnected. Some characters changed, some for the good, some not so much. The ending was crazy good, I cannot wait until the next one to see what happens!

The action picks up right where LIFEL1K3 ended. There’s a very natural recap of what’s happened in to ease you back into the story and the characters. Lemon gets a staring role here too. Which I was incredibly happy to see.

You’d think by now that I’d learn to expect Kristoff to fuck with my mind as I read his work. I haven’t learned. My notes from my read include things like: shit wasn’t expecting that, good twist, oh crap, no no no no, and DAMN IT. This is basically my way of saying in typical fashion for Kristoff there are some crazy things happening here.

Lemon meets some new people living in a bunker deep in the desert. We delve into the Brotherhood. A cult of religious fanatics who believe “deviates” are unnatural, pure humans are where it’s at, and that nailing unnatural’s on an X is the solution. Eve goes in a totally different direction where you start to question her motivation and it gets very bloody. Ezekiel finds an unlikely ally in a dusty black coat. There’s some explosions, more epic car chases, and some craziness in the War Dome.

On the serious side, there are a lot of questions brought up about what constitutes life in the bots. Not just from the lifelike’s, but from Solomon and especially from Cricket. The rules they have to follow. The orders. Even when they don’t want to. When they consider them to be wrong. Due to their programming and the three laws they must obey though, without question. With free thought, choice, and a will is it wrong to order them about? To make them fight in a War Dome or to shut down just because they are asking tough questions?

It’s good stuff here.

For those that enjoy Kristoff’s other work I would highly recommend this book. Even those that aren’t typically into science fiction I would feel comfortable recommending this series to them. It’s entertaining, fast paced, has excellent characters, and is full of lovely twists.

DEV1AT3 is the second installment in author Jay Kristoff's LIFEL1K3 trilogy. In the wake of an uprising in a post-apocalyptic USA, the robotic populace have been reduced to slaves, and androids (robots who look like humans) have been outlawed. LIFEL1K3 was about a girl named Eve and her best friend Lemon who find a ruined android in a scrap heap; an almost-boy named Ezekiel, who knows the truth behind the robotic revolt and has been searching for one Ana Monrova.

While LIFEL1K3 gave readers the making of a villain in Eve, DEV1AT3 focuses on Lemon’s rise to claim her destiny as a hero. The story itself alternates between Lemon, Ezekiel, Cricket, as well as Evie who made an interesting choice at the end of the previous installment. The story begins 5 hours after Lemon, Ezekiel, and Cricket escaped Babel Tower and the revelations that have no divided one best friend from the other. After a short fight for their lives, Lemon, Ezekiel and Cricket end up going in different directions for pretty much the entire length of this story. So, let's start with Lemon.

Lemon is coming to terms with a power that she has long denied. She is also being hunted by Daedalus who wants to use her for her powers that can be used as a weapon between two conglomerates who are fighting over world dominion. Lemon is her usual sassy self and we see her delve further into her abilities, bolstered by those who are like her. While searching for Ezekiel and Cricket, she meets a boy named Grimm. Grimm, Fix, and Diesel are like her. They are considered to be abnormal. Lemon finds a sense of belonging among the other genetic deviates. But all is not what it seems, and with enemies and friends, heroes and villains wearing interchangeable faces, Lemon, too, will join the race to locate Ana Monrova before her former best friend can get to her.

Meanwhile, Cricket who was given a new body in the previous installment, finds himself being sold to the Brotherhood and is forced into fighting in the War Dome. If you know anything about Cricket, he is fiercely loyal to Evie, as well as Lemon. He hates being separated from his friends, but with the Brotherhood in control of the city where he now is forced to fight other Bots, it will take a miracle for him to escape and be reunited with Lemon. Cricket finds a way to unlock the 3 laws which are an imperative for all bots. This actually is pretty straight forward but adding in Solomon was a nice touch by the author.

Ezekiel is the hardest character for me to review since he has been forced into considering new avenues after finding out the truth about Eve, and the fact that the real Ana who he is in love with, is now a target for Evie and her L1felike brothers and sisters. Ezekiel ends up being teamed up with the dreaded Preacher for a great chunk of this story. He also ends up attempting to remind Evie that she isn't like the rest of her brothers and sisters who want to destroy humankind. But, will Evie listen, or will she go full villain?

Evie is such a twisted character which is typical of the author. He loves making them as conflicted as possible, and then laughs when the readers scream bloody murder for what happens when he tosses in a bunch of twists and turns and some curious questions as well. Is Evie really a villain? Or, will she rediscover that ending the human race isn't what she really intends to do? How can she possibly have feelings about Ana who she was modeled after while at the same time, hoping to find and take her DNA to open even more devastating wars?

DEV1AT3 introduces a new life form called Hunter. Their purpose is to hunt down high priority targets like Lemon. Lemon somehow managed to catch the eye of BioMass, and now Hunter is on her trail. These beings that blur the line between organic and artificial life make questions of robotic autonomy even harder to answer. Plus, there is the creep factor where these Hunters use bees to do their dirty work.

It is fair to say that in Jay Kristoff fashion, there is a brilliantly devious cliffhanger ending that leaves just about every single character hanging on for dear life. Will Lemon be able to stand and deliver? Or, will she become a pawn between Daedalus and BioMaas? Will Eve really become a villain, or will she discover a way to step back from the newest attempt at destroying the world? Will Ezekiel ever find happiness again, or will he crash and burn once he has to face his family one last time?

The primary character of interest in DEV1AT3 changed from Eve to Lemon Fresh. This isn’t surprising given the title of the book, and other abnorms have a large part to play in the trajectory of the plot. I really enjoyed learning more about Lemon and exactly what she is capable of. Her life before the series began was not an easy one true cert, and her former hardship comes to the fore in her interactions with new characters.

Cricket has the 2nd most page time (I think?), and I loved seeing him come to terms with his new state of being. The nature and validity of robotic minds remains a huge focus in DEV1AT3. Kristoff constantly asks questions about what constitutes being alive, what death means for a creature made of metal, and of course how much respect robots owe to their makers and other humans. Short of providing hard and fast answers, Kristoff finds new thought puzzles to throw his characters into. Just when the moral right seems clear, another situation makes the reader question their stance.

The cyberpunk vibes continue in this book. Several large conglomerates vie for control of the Yousay. My personal favorite is BioMass, a company that strives to create enhanced organic beings that perform complex higher order functions. In LIFEL1K3 a large whale that processed technological waste makes an appearance. DEV1AT3 introduces a new life form called Hunter. Their purpose is, unsurprisingly, to hunt down high priority targets. A certain red haired deviate caught the eye of BioMass, and now Hunter is on her trail. These beings that blur the line between organic and artificial life make questions of robotic autonomy even harder to answer.

One note I did have is that certain aspects of the plot felt a bit contrived. Certain reveals were really over the top, and downright difficult to believe. Regardless, I enjoyed the zany atmosphere those moments created. It kept the story from feeling overly pessimistic or fatalistic. I found myself accurately predicting some twists and turns which was a lot of fun for me.

If you enjoyed the opener of this series, or if you were slightly let down by it I encourage you to pick up the sequel. In a lot of ways, elements of book 1 I didn’t love are improved in book 2. It’s safe to say that this book does NOT suffer from second book syndrome. The pacing and plot is fast paced and structured well. The POV shifts were done well, and were necessary after so many core characters found themselves in different corners of the map.

So…confession time.

While I remember liking book one, I don’t actually remember much about it. Even after reading this one, very little of book one came back into my mind. It could be that I’ve just read too many books since then.

But…

I really liked this! I loved Lemon Fresh. She’s our girl power star of this book and she’s so awesome. Cricket has a major storyline here too, and it’s wonderful and heartbreaking and…um… very robot power?

As for Ana/Eve, that was okay. I like psycho-Eve and fear that she’ll turn marshmallowy in the next book.

If the next book were available today, I’d already be reading it!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

I’m picky about the sequels I read these days but thought the 1st book in the Lifel1k3 series was as imaginative as it was action-packed. (You can read that review here.) It pulled me in for another 448-page romp through post-apocalyptic cities and barren desert with Jay Kristoff and his characters. I wasn’t disappointed.

Science fiction fans will appreciate Kristoff’s reinterpretation of Asimov’s 3 Law’s of Robotics, which he uses to underpin the conflict in this series. His characters include machines made to serve humans, humans—all sorts, including deviates with special abilities, and machines made to be better than humans. While Lifel1k3 was primarily told from a human point-of-view, Dev1at3 gives more time to the viewpoints of the machines. This allows Kristoff to explore more deeply their thoughts and choices, and the prejudice each faces at the hands of others. The correlation between this prejudice against the “other” in Kristoff's dystopia and that in the world around us boils under the story’s surface.

At the surface level, I love Kristoff’s characters. Whether human or machine, they come alive with voice and personality. The world he builds is larger-than-life and the story's action is out-sized enough to fill that world. Growing conflict and quick pacing make the story a page-turner.

What did I not like about this book? That because I read an advanced reader copy, the wait for book 3 will be really, really long.

Highly recommended!

Book review will be on The Winged Pen.com 6/11. Thank you for the arc.

4.5 Stars and WOW am I shocked...

Deviate by Jay Kristoff continues the story of Lifelike in this second installment. This time we follow Lemon Fresh's journey to find herself and to find a family after being kicked to the curb by Eve in the last book. This book is full of heartbreak, tragedy, and lots of destruction. These characters just can't seem to catch a break but are we really surprised? This is a Jay Kristoff novel after all. I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I did not enjoy Lifelike that much but I wanted to give this book a chance because I absolutely loved Lemon Fresh in the last one. I was not disappointed at all, I really liked this book. Deviate is way better than Lifelike and that is hard to do. It is rare that a second book in a trilogy is the standout.

This series is a dystopian, which typically is not my favorite genre, but there is something about it that makes it stand out from its predecessors. Deviate was a mix of X-Men, Star Wars, and I, Robot with some sass and dystopia thrown in. Where have you ever heard of a combination like that? The only place you can find it is in this series.

I don't want to say much about the plot of this book because I think it is best to go in not knowing much. What I will say is that we see the squad from the first book split up and doing their own things and finding their purpose. I think this choice to split up the characters was important and the perfect decision. They all grew so much (with the exception of one character who I will not name) in this book and it makes me so excited for the next one.

The reason this book is not a 5 star is because I just can't stand by or understand some of the characters' actions. I also am not super sold on all the characters, I liked most of them a lot better in this book but Lemon Fresh is still my standout favorite. There was some slow moments in this book as well that just had me a tad bit bored. Lastly dystopian novels are just not my favorite settings to read.

If you did not like Lifelike that much and are weary of continuing the series here is my advice: DO IT! READ THIS BOOK! It was so worth the chance and I'm glad I took it.

I always find it difficult to review books written by Jay Kristoff. I’m either too stressed out and/or mad over a tense cliffhanger or I’m just annoyed by how darn well this man can write. With DEV1AT3, I find that I am stressed out, mad, AND annoyed, because dear lord was this book a wild ride through Kristoff’s fever dream of a world.

First off, I need to point out that this book has a recap of the events of LIFEL1K3 before the main story starts and can all books do this forever, please? It was HUGELY beneficial, especially considering the intricacies and intensity of LIFEL1K3. And in typical Kristoff fashion, it was snarky and amusing as well.

DEV1AT3 starts off almost right where LIFEL1K3 left off: Eve has found out her true heritage and left Ezekiel and Lemon Fresh to fend for themselves on the Glass. From here, we follow each of our mains on their separate, yet intertwined, journeys. While I couldn’t give you an exact percentage, the bulk of the book focuses on Lemon Fresh, which is nice because she is a god-damned delight. However, with Lemon Fresh in the limelight (oh god, I hate myself a little for that), Eve’s story suffers. Maybe it is intentional, but she just doesn’t evoke any emotion for me in this book. I felt for Eve deeply in LIFEL1K3, but she feels truly lost to me here. Considering where her story goes, it could be that Kristoff intended for readers to feel this way, but I’m not sure. Thus, ends my only criticism of this book.

What I enjoyed most about this book, besides Lemon’s witty retorts, was the deeper exploration into the wild world that Kristoff has created. We get robot fight club, more deviates, and a peak into the evolution of the post-apocalyptic societies. The world building is so easy to absorb and doesn’t fall into the clunkiness that happens in a lot of dystopian stories. Of course, this is a Kristoff books so the writing is sharp and full of snark. There are plenty of little plot twists and more than a few big ones. The ending is intensely Robin Hood (you’ll know what I mean when you read the book).

DEV1AT3, like its predecessor, is a shining story of friendship and family set against a dark, dystopian desert background. I am desperately looking forward to the next book in this wonderfully wild series.

DEV1AT3 is an outstanding sequel to Jay Kristof's Lifel1k3. These pages will hook readers from start to finish. If you enjoyed the first in the series, you will be ecstatic with the results of the second. Fast-paced and filled with addictive writing, readers will be unable to put this down. The world-building is fantastic and the characters are excellent. Ending on a cliffhanger, readers will struggle to wait for the third in the series. Highly recommend this book series to readers who enjoyed Illuminae or anyone looking for a great YA sci-fi series.

Whew! One of the greatest things that has happened in my reader life is my discovery of Jay Kristoff. He writes *exactly* the type of books I never knew I wanted to read. And it's glorious.

In this installment of the LIFEL1K3 series, the focus is heavily on Lemon Fresh and her adventure after being sent away from Evie.

I have to admit, I questioned the wisdom of taking the story away from Evie for book 2, but I'm SO glad it's Kristoff's job to write these books, and not mine. Because it was EXACTLY the right thing to do. We do get glimpses of Evie and the other lifelikes, and of Ezra and of Cricket, but the story is categorically about Lemon. And now I'm wondering if the story's ALWAYS been about Lemon - that the first book was just a decoy.

The story is so much bigger than I thought. And I am eagerly waiting for book three. (You hear me, Kristoff? Forget about the vampires. THIS is more important!)

Wow. Just wow. I'm a big Jay Kristoff fan, and while I liked LIFEL1K3 and really died over the concept, I didn't love it. DEV1AT3 though. Wow. WOW.

Lemon as the protagonist was just perfect, but most of my rave just has to do with the mashup of worldly topics Jay tackled in this. He looked at the world, saw climate destruction, nuclear armament, extreme conservatism, mega corporations, the power of AI and genetic modification, cracked his knuckles and went HAM. The synthesis of all these things just made for a maddeningly good book. Combine this with Mad Max style truck chases, Transformer battles, Kristoff signature original fun lingo, sassy characters, and just general awesomeness, this is a 5 star read. He's so good at action scenes and perfectly building tension. I love that twist at the end. And I also really like his ability to make you like characters you previously hated.

I loved Cricket's perspective. We got some awesome meta on free will and the philosophical debate on what constitutes life. Also I love the Brotherhood just as a story element. Like they're crazy but they're an awesome thing to have in there. Make for such good conflict and they're so true to life.

I could really just go on and on about the perfection of this book, but let's just say I've read this already and I'm gonna pre-order it anyway because it's so good I'm gonna reread it as soon as I get in in hardcopy. And also, I LOVE GRIMM. That is all.

I love Jay Kristoff's works but I did think that this suffered from the sophomore slump. I will definitely read more from this author in the future though.