TRUEL1F3 (Truelife)

LIFEL1K3, Book 3

By: Jay Kristoff

Narrated by: Erin Spencer

From the best-selling coauthor 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' 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.

©2020 Jay Kristoff (P)2020 Listening Library

3 jailbreaks & a Battle of 5 Armies. Goldilocks!

Things pick up at Barney, as in Barney Rubble, rhymes with trouble.
Book 3 picks up right where 2 leaves off, with the Freaks divided and in peril. The first half follows as
(1) Ezekiel, Faith, and robot Solomon aim to jailbreak Eve and Gabriel from Daedalus, (2) Grim and Diesel try to jailbreak Lemon Fresh from The Hive, and (3) Cricket and Abraham try to jailbreak the nukes and prep them for all out war.

They’re “fighting for the keys to her Underoos“
I said of book 1 that it felt like the author set out to take the best apocalypse movies and Frankenstein them together in an epic tribute trilogy. This book builds on apocalypse stories and adds in superhero movie tributes and popculture lingo. The finale has a New Mutant or Avenger’s Infinity War vibe. It’s a Battle of the Five Armies’ style fight for the fate of the world in humans v. robots v. bugs v. zealots v. homo-superior (or Daedalus v. Lifelikes v. Biomaas/Hive v. The Brotherhood v. The Freaks).

“It’s all Robin!” As in Robin Hood. Good.
This author’s Lotus War series was too angsty and his Nevernight series too raw, but this trilogy found my Goldilocks zone. This author loves dark, sharp fantasy, with bad heroes and good foes and no-so-happy endings. And, this book still has that (case in point: Eve’s bloody descent), but thankfully also brings more action, fun, and humor to balance things out. Just when you think they’re all rubber ducked, envision Doctor Strange and that one win-win solution. Brillaful!