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kathrynleereads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Jay Kristoff has done it, once again. After the twists and turns that brought Lifel1k3 to a close, I was a little worried that Dev1at3 might be lacking the awe-factor that made me fall in love with Kristoff's writing.
As usual, I was very quickly corrected. Dev1at3 focuses more closely on Lemon, Ezekiel, and Cricket, Eve taking more of a backseat, as they fight their way through the week or so following the events of Lifel1k3.
Following four such different characters allowed readers to observe how many different ways character growth can be shown.
As the only human among the four, Lemon's growth was the most traditional, in terms of what might be expected from a YA dystopian book. She met people, learned more about family (and, more specifically, found family, which is my personal favorite), and really came into her own.
Eve, Zeke, and Cricket, on the other hand, are each going through what I consider to be less as growth, and more as awakenings.
Cricket spent the later parts of the book experimenting with what it meant to follow orders from humans, using Solomon as a guide. He learns to question things that he has just accepted and taken for granted in the past.
Ezekiel starts to come to terms with the fact that, despite his high breadth of knowledge, he is really only a few years old, and isn't as emotionally mature as he might seem, even to himself.
Eve spends Deviate trying to reconcile who Ana Monrova was, who she herself was, and who she is now. As Eve's POV was significantly less present in Dev1at3 than in Lifel1k3, it was sometimes difficult to understand where her head was.
I believe this was done to put readers in the same shoes as the other characters, who were just catching glimpses of her atrocities instead of really being able to understand her reasoning (not that her reasoning would have helped much, she was committing some pretty awful acts).
As Kristoff (again), wrapped up the book with most character's fates up in the air, I am dying to know where Truel1f3, the final installment in the series, brings our characters.
As usual, I was very quickly corrected. Dev1at3 focuses more closely on Lemon, Ezekiel, and Cricket, Eve taking more of a backseat, as they fight their way through the week or so following the events of Lifel1k3.
Following four such different characters allowed readers to observe how many different ways character growth can be shown.
As the only human among the four, Lemon's growth was the most traditional, in terms of what might be expected from a YA dystopian book. She met people, learned more about family (and, more specifically, found family, which is my personal favorite), and really came into her own.
Eve, Zeke, and Cricket, on the other hand, are each going through what I consider to be less as growth, and more as awakenings.
Cricket spent the later parts of the book experimenting with what it meant to follow orders from humans, using Solomon as a guide. He learns to question things that he has just accepted and taken for granted in the past.
Ezekiel starts to come to terms with the fact that, despite his high breadth of knowledge, he is really only a few years old, and isn't as emotionally mature as he might seem, even to himself.
Eve spends Deviate trying to reconcile who Ana Monrova was, who she herself was, and who she is now. As Eve's POV was significantly less present in Dev1at3 than in Lifel1k3, it was sometimes difficult to understand where her head was.
I believe this was done to put readers in the same shoes as the other characters, who were just catching glimpses of her atrocities instead of really being able to understand her reasoning (not that her reasoning would have helped much, she was committing some pretty awful acts).
As Kristoff (again), wrapped up the book with most character's fates up in the air, I am dying to know where Truel1f3, the final installment in the series, brings our characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Medical content, Gore, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, War, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Abandonment, Car accident, and Cursing
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Dev1at3 continues right after the mean cliff-hanger of the first book and what a continuation it was. Both things I like the most about this series – the characters and the world – get more fleshed out and things in general just get more dramatic.
We have many different POVs – four, if I remember correctly – in this novel but all of their storylines were great and exciting. We first follow Lemon, Ezekiel, and Cricket who try to figure out what they should do next after the battle against the other lifelikes. Predictably, they get separated and everyone experiences adventures on their own. In parts, this was a bit tiring since they are so close to each other but never notice it. We also sporadically get Eve’s POV who’s trying to figure out what she should do now, knowing the truth of her existence.
At the beginning, it was a bit complicated to remember all the different parties and their stakes in the main conflict, but later, I was fully invested and so scared for many of the characters. There are so many dangers awaiting them which leads to many well written and amazing action and fighting scenes. I enjoyed furthermore that the robots came more into focus and how well their struggles were depicted. What wasn’t written too well in comparison was Eve’s corruption arc which just proceeded too fast for my taste.
Dev1at3 is like its prequel full of twists, some of them were quite unexpected, some of them were a bit more predictable. At first, I found it so cute how Lemon supposedly found her grandpa. Of course, I was just like Lemon tricked there since the Major is Saint Michael in reality which shocked me quite a lot . And the ending of this novel? It was so epic and dramatic, and I wonder how and if our characters will be able to recover from it.
What I also enjoyed again were the settings which I could imagine so well. Compared to this, the writing style still tries a bit too hard to be edgy and the many fourth wall breaks, like characters saying stuff like “Oh, I’m just the funny sidekick!”, got a bit annoying.
There’s not too much to say for the characters expect that I got quite attached to most of them. I love Lemon so much, but I found it a bit annoying that she had an insta love here. Cricket found a place in my heart, and it was amazing to see how, towards the end, he finds creative ways to break the robot laws but sadly, I guess he’s dead now ? What we also learn here is that we shouldn’t trust any of the characters which just creates a great tense atmosphere.
All in all, Dev1at3 was a great sequel and had everything what made the first book great. But again, not everything about the story and the pacing was perfect, but it was still a great novel with characters and a world that got me invested.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Vomit, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Body horror, Abandonment, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death
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