Hai Beautiful!

Why did I choose this book to read during NaNoWriMo?

TrueLife was everything I expected (and more) from the last book in a very action-packed, heart-shattering series!

Goodreads Summary

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.

I will warn you that this is a spoiler-free book review/ book chat, where I will be chatting about the events of the entire novel. This review may be all over the place but please bare with me as I gush over this masterpiece!

★ Rating ★

I rated this book ★★★★★ (4.75/5 stars) because it was absolutely spectacular! TrueLife was everything I expected from a Jay Kristoff series final, although that’s where it fell .25/5 stars short.

The pattern of this novel mimicked DarkDawn slightly and was a little bit predictable at times. I am someone who can’t usually predict events in real life and in books, so for me to not be surprised lets me down a little.

Regardless, I was actually super happy with how it ended and would have been absolutely broken had it gone any other way! But enough of this, let’s get into the actual, very spoilery and chatty review.

REVIEW!

I checked my Reading List the other day – where I manually track my reading – and noticed that I have read this entire series only this year, which is such a crazy thing to think about since TrueLife was released only mid-2020!

TrueLife picks right up from the disastrous cliffhanger ending of Deviate. If you’ve read the second book (or my book review for it), you’d know how heart-shattering that cliffhanger was!

I loved that fact that this novel, like the previous one, focused on Lemon Fresh as the main character, flawlessly bringing the character who started out as the side-kick/ comic relief – and was aware of it – to the front of the story.

Lemon is utterly convinced that two fellow mutated freaks, including the boy she has fallen for, have driven head-first into a nuclear blast and died. Because what other explanation can she have for it when she sees a mushroom cloud in the direction her friends were headed?

The most interesting part of the story was how Lemon was yet again taken by BioMass (one of the two major corporations in Yousay) and how we get a glimpse into how perfect and yet utterly flawed their system is.
I was (wrongfully) convinced at times that Lemon may actually agree to work with BioMass and actually let them harvest her DNA to stop the rival corporation. But of course, I was wrong because although grief-stricken and alone once again, Lemon would never let herself be sold and used by capitalism. She is a child of the scrap and a survivor, although some of her survival tactics were slightly questionable.

BioMass has the right idea by making the world green and bringing life back to the earth, although the way they wish to go about it – by creating a single cloned being for every role that needs to be played in society and eradicating all humans to achieve this – is, for lack of a stronger word, extreme.
It was easy to want to agree with BioMass and their goal, although with Lemon’s questioning, hesitancy and contradictions, the reader keeps questioning who is actually write in this world.

It was at this point in the novel I found myself continually asking the same questions: Who of the big players will do good for Yousay? If not them, then whom?

We find the later one answered at the end of the novel, which might I add is a freaking roller coaster of emotions with twists that you really don’t (but also do) see coming.

There are wholesome moments too. Like when Grimm and Deisel rescue Lemon and Grimm learning the full extent of his powers and using them. Although I will admit those parts stressed me out a lot, you know, with the potential for him to die and all!

Also, Lemon reuniting with Ezekial and how they slide so wonderfully back into the banter they had. Oh, we can’t forget how protective Cricket is over Lemon, arguing with Ezekial and even when infected with Liberatus he remains loyal to her. Protecting her to his last breath.

Of course, there were sad moments too, but significantly less (significant) deaths than I expected from Jay. We lose Abraham, the Brotherhood freak boy who fixed Cricket and looked after him, the robot finding a soft spot in his code for the boy. We also lose Solomon, the comic relief to Cricket’s story arc, but he was a dick when we saw his true colours so I’m kinda not mad about his passing.
What hurt the worst was Gabriel murdering Cricket. Absolute annihilation of another living, thinking thing. His blatant disregard for the lives of the sentient robots, especially those whom he infected really showed how much of a monster he actually was. But I had some consolation that although Cricket was theoretically dead, there would be potential to piece him together… Right?

The lead-up and the final fight in Myriad’s core was *chefs kiss* amazing. A wonderful fight scene that was less about strength and more about who was one whose side because ultimately, there was only one person who could end it all.

Eve.

And so we came full circle. Eve saved Lemon, killed crazy Gabriel and Myriad was destroyed by Grimm’s nuclear power reserve. Cricket is theoretically closer to being restored and Ezekial gets the girl.

Wow, can you tell I really didn’t think much of the ‘old’ Ana Monrova because I only just now remembered her existence and lack of it. Where she was really significant to the story, I’m glad Jay Kristoff kept her boring and pretty separate. It worked really well and meant that I didn’t have to be mad over losing yet another character.

I hope you enjoyed that chatty review!! 

I had a lot of fun writing this but now it’s time for me to go to sleep for five hours, wake up at six, go climbing, grab a coffee, come home, then drag myself through another seven and a half hours of audit training for work…Uhhh.

If you needed it; Here’s your warning to not leave your blog posts till last minute kiddos!

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See you back here on Monday’s (book reviews), Wednesday’s (storytime/ writing updates) and Saturday’s (other bookish content).