LIFEL1K3

Hey reading owls, I’m back with a nice review (no spoilers btw)

My book arrived at 17^th May and I started reading it on 22^nd and LET ME TELL YOU: I’m thankful that I had the opportunity of being able to read it. 29^th May was the release date and that was the day I finished reading it. If you want to know some of my thoughts, read my initial non-spoilery thoughts on Goodreads! But here comes the review, which isn’t as emotional like my thoughts while I was reading.

Usually I’m not into the science fiction genre. It’s not what I like and after failing at understanding Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufmann, I thought it was a genre I’ll never get into – appearently that was a stupid assumption, because here I am (or here I will be?) raving about this amazing book, which happens to not only be one of my now-favourites and a Jay Kristoff book, but a – get a stool – SCIENCE FICTION BOOK!

It’s difficult to truly explain what this book is about, because no matter what I say, it could be seen as a spoiler and I like myself better alive … But there are some keywords that I associate with this book:

• Mad Max-Fury Road: I watched this movie, back when it was released, and I SWEAR there were some scenes in LIFEL1K3 that reminded me of this movie. Later on, I read Mr. Kristoff’s description of what the book is about and I was, in fact, right.
• Robots, robots, robots, rob- …: FIRST book ever to make me understand and actually like robots and all their types – that says something
• Forbidden Love
• Friendships
• Memories
• Lies
• PLOT TWISTS!!!! A whole lot of them

The tiny list above is, in fact, not really a description, I know, but these are the things I have in my mind while thinking about this masterpiece!

Now, we should talk about the characters. Just shortly, who they are and how I feel about them.

• Eve – I liked her. She’s our main character. A fierce, fighting, 17-year-old (I think) teenager who has sometimes self-doubts, as every being does at times. Also, she’s loyal to the point, where she would rather die, than let something happen to her friends (human or not). But what I liked about her most, was that she has flaws and is not perfect. Neither her looks, nor her actions are flawless, and that makes her real, in my opinion.

“This is not the end of me.This is just one more enemy.”

• Lemon Fresh – 15 years old and my little freckled cutie, who could probably kill me. Well, well … she’s flawed, too and she’s selfish at times, but like all of Mr. Kristoff’s characters, she feels real and relatable. Lemon is Eve’s best friend, partner in crime and where Eve is, Lemon isn’t far behind. And the other way around.

“I’m too pretty, to sweat.”

• Gandpa Silas – that old man melted my heart and I think you’ll like him, too.
• Cricket – I want someone like Cricket … right now (won’t say anything else – when you decide to read this book, you’ll understand)
• Ezekiel – Oh Ezekiel … what can I say … nothing really, because I’d spoiler you all. He is an android. A robot that looks, feels, acts like a human being and was created based on an actual person. He bleeds, thinks and feels. But his kind has to follow the Three Laws all robots have to. (You’ll get to know them in the books)

“It’s simple to love someone on the days that are easy. But you find out what your love is made of on the days that are hard.”

As I said, Jay Kristoff actually succeed at making me understand the robot, mechanic and science fiction stuff. That’s why I ordered Gemina and Obsidio so I can devour those as well.

But before I do, I want to tell you how much I loved this book. Jay Kristoff has this way of using language to his benefit and creating a whole new world and a ton of feelings. His characters feel alive and relatable. The plot shocked me THREE times and that says something, because most authors can’t even shock me once. The friendship between Lem and Eve is amazing, I really love it. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine. There is jealousy, there are arguments – but the good stuff is there, too.

Eve smiled. “Stronger together.”Lemon nodded. “Together forever.”

I truly recommend LIFEL1K3. Not sure into which genre to assign it, but I would say it’s a YA science fiction read. There are some brutal scenes, but I think we pretty much familiarised ourselves with fighting scenes, etc. in YA books.

I hope you’ll consider reading it, because I’m sure you won’t regret it. It’s a masterpiece, a lingual artwork and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel that is supposed to be out in May 2019. Can’t wait to follow the journey these characters are going to make.

Okay, that was it for today. Love you, my reading owls and I promise I’ll try to post more.

The Raven Boys

Hi my dear reading owls! 💜📚

Today I want to write a blog post, which means a lot to me. I wrote it in German and English. There are no spoilers, just thoughts which I want to share with you.

First of all, I’ll start with the facts and then I’ll continue by writing about the story itself. After that, I’ll write a lot about every single character and finally about my thoughts, the rating and if or if not I recommend this book.

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)

Number of pages: 419

Language: English

Genre: Young Adult

Publishing house: Scholastic Ltd.

ISBN: 978-1-407134-61-1

Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰

‘The Raven Boys’ is the first book in ‘The Raven Cycle’ – quartet.

Plot:

I’ll start by saying that I ABOSLUTLY ADORED, LOVED & ENJOYED this book. I reread it one month after I read it the first time, which never happened before. I enjoyed every word and letter of it.

                The story starts by introducing one of our main characters, Blue Sargent, who tells us a little bit about herself, her fate and her family. Her mother, her mother’s friend, her aunts and cousins are all psychics. Every woman in her family is, except her. But her fate is still special, because she is destined to kill her true love, by kissing him. A short while after that, Gansey and his friends are introduced and the story starts. This story is about five friends, who are searching for a sleeping, welsh king named Glendower, who will grand, the person who wakes him, a wish. Together Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam and Noah are searching for the king and find unbelievable things, they never even dreamt of.

                Many people will think that the start is slow, but it’s just perfect. Everything is so perfectly timed that, once you are pulled in, you can’t get out of it. Believe me that I was more than shocked, when I started to realise, how much I’m captured by this story an it’s characters. It’s more than you’ll ever expect or dream of – That’s why you need to read this story to see for yourself!

“She wasn’t interested in telling other people’s futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.” (p.9)

Characters

Blue

Blue Sargent … she is brave, kind, awesome … there are so many positive adjectives describing her that I can’t even write them all down. She is such an amazing character. All her flaws make her perfect in my opinion. Even if she doubts herself and her decisions from time to time, she knows what to do and lives with the consequences. She says what’s on her mind and I think that’s what I like about her the most. The honesty, sincerity and her wittiness make her so unique and also my favourite female character of all time.

Gansey

Oh Gansey … Richard Campbell Gansey III. is my little baby … I love him so much I can’t even explain it properly so that you would know how much he means to me. He is so dedicated … not only to his friends, but also to the quest of finding Glendower. These books aren’t only about love between teenagers like most of the books in the YA Genre – no, they are about friends who love each other, and a boy who loves his dead welsh king … but even if he loves Glendower, his friends are his priority. It doesn’t matter how Adam or Ronan are treating him (they aren’t always nice), he would never leave them. Everybody seems to think, that he is just money, but he is not. He has such a kind and great heart and I’d like to kick everyone who says otherwise. He does so much for the people he loves, that it hurt me every time someone is making fun of him or has prejudices before getting to know him.

“’My words are unerring tools of destruction, and I’ve come unequipped with the ability to disarm them.’” (p.371)

Ronan

Ha! Ronan Lynch is awesome and fabulous. He seems like a meanie, but he really isn’t … okay well, sometimes he is, but still in a funny way. He loves his friends and is prepared to do everything for them. He has different facets that don’t seem to find a connection, but somehow they make a great character out of him. He is so special, that I want to hide him from the world, so nobody would ever hurt him, because that would break my heart.

Adam

Hm … Adam Parrish – he isn’t a bad character. He really isn’t, but I don’t like him as much as the others. I understand why he acts the way he does, but he hurts Gansey all the time in the first book and I can’t accept that. He is so frustrated because of Gansey and Ronan being rich that he isn’t even thankful for all the things they try to do for him … I mean his friends try to help him, but the only thing he does, is being rude to them! I know why and if you read this story, you will know after reading some chapters into the story – but I’m seeing this of my point of view and for me, the way Adam acts, just isn’t right.

Noah

Noah is a sweetheart and innocent like a puppy … oh he is a puppy, let’s face it

Maura

Coolest mom on earth … she reminds me a lot of mine.

Calla

Ha! She is the second funniest person in these books. Ronan is number one, of course!

Persephone

She reminds me of a little, sweet kitten – a powerful one, but still.

“Some secrets only gave themselves up to those who’d proven themselves worthy.” (p.24)

My thoughts & Recommendation

I think my thoughts are obvious, but I’m still going share them with you. These books, even if they are very famous, are totally underrated. These words, sentences and the whole story, everything is so special, that I want to share it with the whole world. I keep on renting about it and I’ll never stop, because these books (YES the whole Raven Cycle Quartet) have a big place in my heart. I never loved characters as much as I love the Raven Boys and Blue. So do I recommend it? HA! YES OF COURSE! GO BUY THESE BOOKS NOW!! Please buy them, read them and text me afterwards. I want to hear every single word, because I just can’t get tired of talking about The Raven Cycle.

Lots of love,

Your reading owl 💜😊