Life Is Strange: Heatwaves

De: Brittney Morris

Narrado por: Erika Mori

An official spin-off to Life Is Strange: True Colors featuring beloved characters Alex and Steph trapped in a small town’s climate disaster. Alex’s powers are tested against a dying hope for a sustainable future.

Alex and Steph have left Haven Springs in the rear-view mirror to travel the country, chasing the horizon. Though they don’t have much money, they have their guitar and drums and each other. But when their vehicle breaks down, they are stranded, their only hope a repair shop in a struggling town in the middle of nowhere.

The town is dealing with a severe drought after an extended heatwave wreaked havoc on local crops, plunging its inhabitants into poverty and water rationing. What remains of its essential resources are being diverted to indulge the local senator, gathering support for their out-of-touch political campaign.

Feeling the anger and despair of the town’s inhabitants, Alex and Steph are compelled to do everything they can to help. But when Alex uses her powers to amplify the senator’s fear of the climate crisis, in the hope of galvanizing their support, her plan backfires, and emotions spiral wildly out of control. Alex and Steph now need to find a way to revive the hope of a failing town and resurrect its history of political action to save the townsfolk—and themselves.

©2024 Brittney Morris (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

Expanding the universe

I was hesitant to see how this all played out with Alex and Steph and how her powers would be used but everything was executed so well. honestly I'm hoping to see a new book come out after double feature's release

Steph is the best

I've fallen in love with Steph and Alex all over again in this adventure that follows the two after they decide to leave Haven Springs to start their own adventure and Journey together. They both have tragedy that bonded them together and now they will go on so many more adventures. I hope they write more stories with these two. Steph is such a funny, loving, and loyal character and I love how nerdy and cool she is. Alex is musically talented, a heart of gold but she also has her own traumas that push her to be better and to do better. Together the pair help one another grow.

A treat for anyone that loves the Life is Strange series / Life is Strange True Colors game.

* Little to no spoilers *

As a standalone story, the plot may take some getting used to. The story wastes no time jumping into the plot...but I found myself going back to chapters I already listened to better immerse myself into the audiobook. If you're a hardcore fan, I'd get the physical copy of the book in addition to the audible.

The performance was en pointe. Erika Mori was a treat to hear again and we honestly needed more plot in True Colors to fully appreciate the entire cast. I look forward to seeing more work from Mori. Occasionally I was convinced Katy Bentz also co narrated this book.

Overall, even if I was biased, the story felt very written to a YA audience with a dash of " sequelitus ". Naturally the plot will assume some player decisions unique to a playthrough of True Colors. The easter eggs aren't overbearing either and there are a fair amount of callbacks to the previous original games. If you loved Life is Strange: True Colours, Life is Strange: Wavelengths, and/or Life is Strange: Steph's Story and wanted more fleshed out story on Alex and Steph, you'll be in for a treat. Speaking unbiasedly however, the plot takes several hours to establish a true conflict to the story and many new characters new to this story felt hollow for lack of a better word.

Great performance, emotional but meh story

After the Steph’s Story book which got better as it went along, this book I quickly realized had a storyline that wasn’t quite as interesting. It acts as a decent sequel to the game True Colors and has a lot of similar themes involving family drama mixed with environmental activism. The political aspects felt unrealistic and the ultimate reveal was convoluted. The parts of the book that I really liked were the continuation of the relationship of Alex and Steph and wish that was more the focus of this book instead of small town politics. The narration by Erika Mori was excellent. She did a great job with both the character she originated, Alex Chen, but also everyone else. If you’re a LiS fan looking for new content before the new game this will fill that gap but not much more.

Alex is inconsistent

The way Alex acts and uses her powers in this book are just not consistent with any version of Alex. In True Colors, Alex uses her powers to make human connections to people to help foster understanding. In this, she uses them to be nosy and manipulative. In the game, her powers help create a greater understanding. In this book, they make everything worse. The only redeeming part of the book is Erika Mori.

great

great addition to the life is strange world. really highlights the weight of choices and consequences, which is what the whole game series is about