Thursday, February 4, 2016

Book Review: Lifer by Beck Nicholas (Lifer Book 1)

Lifer
Title: Lifer
Author: Beck Nicholas
Page Count: 300
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Rating: 2 Stars
Source: I received this book from Month9Books in exchange for an honest review
Blurb: The Bourne Identity meets Under the Never Sky in this intergalactic tale of love and deception from debut novelist Beck Nicholas.

Asher is a Lifer, a slave aboard the spaceship Pelican. A member of the lowest rung of society, she must serve the ship’s Officials and Astronauts as punishment for her grandparents' crimes back on Earth. The one thing that made life bearable was her illicit relationship with Samuai, a Fishie boy, but he died alongside her brother in a freak training accident.

Still grieving for the loss of her loved ones, Asher is summoned to the upper levels to wait on Lady, the head Official’s wife and Samuai’s mother. It is the perfect opportunity to gather intel for the Lifer’s brewing rebellion. There’s just one problem—the last girl who went to the upper levels never came back.

On the other side of the universe, an alien attack has left Earth in shambles and a group called The Company has taken control. Blank wakes up in a pond completely naked and with no memory, not even his real name. So when a hot girl named Megs invites him to a black-market gaming warehouse where winning means information, he doesn’t think twice about playing.

But sometimes the past is better left buried. As Asher and Blank’s worlds collide, the truth comes out—everyone has been lied to...


Review:

I feel so bad writing this because I have very little good to say about this book. I am going to format this review a little differently. I will start with 10  not so good things about this book and end on 10 positive things.
Things that did NOT work...
1. The writing itself lacked in its depth. I found it very surface level, very telling instead of showing, and although I myself often am guilty of that, I felt very bored way too often.
2. Asher's POV started out very boring. I didn't like the style and I was struggling to get into it.
3. Davyd. Holy crap. Creep alert.
4. The name Fishie in general.. I cringed... I... gah.
5. Everything seemed so underdeveloped.
6. Going off of #5... I was confused. I didn't understand the different character relations. I understood that Nauts are better than Fishies and Fishies better than Lifers... Lady is of the utmost importance.
7. I was only interested in half the storyline for over half the book.
8. The descriptions of everything happening, though well thought out at times, overall it lacked.
9. The rebellion/revolution itself lacked something that made sense.
10. Blink immediately saying he was plain at the beginning of his thoughts. GAH NO DONT DO THAT.

Things that DID work!
1. Character names. Loved them. Blink, Asher, Zed, Tesae, Megs, Keane, Jaric... I loved them all!
2. Blink's POV. It was more interesting to me than Asher and I connected more with Blink. While reading, I was confused at what was going on... similar to how Blink was feeling.
3. The well thought out rebellion.
4. Beck Nicholas clearly put so much planning into this book and thought and I commend that.
5. The cheap move that was pulled, that is a commonality in YA today. Though predictable, it wasn't done horribly
6. Blink's character and character development felt mostly natural.
7. Asher's growth by the end of the novel. I liked her more than I did at the beginning.
8. Davyd. He's creepy but he made sense to me... Yes I put him on both lists... I am so conflicted with this book
9. Keane. Oh the lovely Keane. He should be the main character because there is so much depth to him that wasn't there with the other characters except maybe Blink.
10. THE GAME. Though it could have used a little more description (Like what Karen Bao did in Dove Arising... something more detailed, more emphasized... I feel it was more important and shouldn't have been skipped over so quickly.)

Consensus: Though Lifer promises us something grand and intriguing and mysterious, the dull writing and dull characters overwhelmed the interesting idea behind the story. Keane and Blank are the sole reason this book is getting two stars, because I feel like their characters deserve to be read at some point. I pray the sequel is better, because I do care, at least a little.

I feel bad for this because the writing has potential, this just wasn't for me...

Feel free to try it if you wish! It has an interesting storyline, even if it does get muddled!





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