Author: Jay Kristoff
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: June 25th 2019
Summary:
Lemon Fresh has seen better days. After the climactic battle in Babel, she finds herself separated from Ezekiel and Cricket in the wastelands. Lemon’s abilities to manipulate electricity mark her as a deviate, and deadly corporate operatives are hunting her to use as a weapon in the war between BioMaas Incorporated and Daedelus Technologies. Instead, Lemon finds herself falling in with a group of fellow deviates—a band of teenagers with astonishing abilities, led by an enigmatic figure known as the Major, who may hold the secrets to Lemon’s past. Meanwhile, Cricket finds himself in possession of the puritanical Brotherhood, a religious cult set for a head-on collision with the Major and his band. Searching for Lemon, Ezekiel finds a strange ally in an old enemy, and uncovers a plot that may see him reunited with his beloved Ana. And inside Babel, a remade Eve hatches a plan to bring an end to the world.
*This review contains spoilers of LIFEL1K3*
After the end of LIFEL1K3 I was desperate to read DEV1AT3! The shocking ending to LIFEL1K3 had me reeling and questioning everything I knew about this world and these characters. This installment of the series reveals revelations and events that are going to change all of the characters in one way another.
*This paragraph is going to contain a bulk of the spoilers, if you would like to skip ahead*
There is a lot to talk about but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. So, at the end of LIFEL1K3 we learn that Eve is actually the Lifelike of Ana, Nicholas Monrova's daughter. Nicholas who is the head of Gnosis laboratories is the master mind behind the Lifelikes, and couldn't accept the fact that his "children" were flawed. Nicholas couldn't deal with the fact that after the attack on his family that killed Grace (The Lifelike that Gabriel is desperate to recreate) Ana was left brain dead. With the help of Silas, who we learned isn't Eve's grandfather, they were able to transfer her personality profile into the newest Lifelike. Eve's memories are false, all implanted by the mem drive that attached to her skull and after her mem drive was damaged by Faith, another Lifelike, she begins to see memories that don't belong to her. In the climax of the story we learn several important things that lead us to where we are in DEV1AT3. The body of Ana Monrova is still alive but brain dead and being held in an known Gnosis facility, Ezekiel shot Ana two years earlier when her family was executed, Lemonfresh is actually the anomaly who has powers and Eve has send both of them away.
Which brings us to DEV1AT3! In this novel we don't get much of Eve's point of view, there is only a handful of chapters and they don't give us much to work with. A majority of this novel is told from Lemonfresh, Ezekiel, and Cricket's perspective. But I like the fact that there wasn't a lot of Eve chapters. We get to see her downfall and the monster she is becoming from the perspective of the people who love her the most and how they deal and comprehend it. Which I enjoyed a lot more then I initially anticipated that I would.
In DEV1AT3 the search for Ana's body begins. With Ana's blood Gabriel will be able to unlock Myraid, the super computer in Gnosis labs that contains information on how to create Lifelikes and the virus that destroys the three laws in robots. But Ezekiel is going to do everything in his power to stop this, but first he has to find and rescue Lemonfresh who disappears in the beginning of the novel. Ezekiel struggles with the promise he made to Lemonfresh about never leaving her behind and his desperate search for the girl he loves. We see a lot of back and forth on his actions and what he does through out the entirety of DEV1AT3. We see more of Ezekiel's emotionally maturity in this novel. How he has this attachment to Eve, but he fell in love with Ana and he can acknowledge that but there is also something about Eve he can't get out of his head. He rushes head first into danger before thinking things through and he trusts super easily. We see a progression of his emotional growth through this novel, but I am hoping Ezekiel continues to grow in the next book.
A lot happens in DEV1AT3 that changes the whole course of the plot. We are introduced to new essential characters, new settings and shocking secrets that are uncovered through out the novel. I still stand by the fact that I love Jay's world building and I love the new settings he introduced in this novel to expand on this world. I'll leave it with this: We learn more about the mysterious Brotherhood and a resistance group.
Overall I really enjoyed DEV1AT3 and I can't wait to see what is going to happen in TRUEL1F3 considering the painful cliff hanger that we are left with. I'm writing this review after completing the whole series and I'll say this: We've seen nothing yet.
Check back on 4/20/20 for my review of TRUEL1F3!
No comments
Please note that if your comment doesn’t appear right away, it’s because we have to approve it. Make sure to click the Notify Me box so you can check back once your comment has been approved! ❤️