Who is Eve? Is she a dome fighter and top tier bot doc, or is she a virtual princess named Anna who has never slept under the stars, seen the ocean or fallen in love?

Life as Eve was simple. Looking after her Grandpa, and making sure he had enough meds. To do this, she had to win in the Wardome with her self-built machines that fight to the death. She had to dodge the vicious salvage crews – the Fridge Street boys, and the boys called The Brotherhood, a religious group who will blast you off the face of the Earth if they feel you are an abomination.

Unfortunately, they have labelled Eve as such after her latest Wardome fight. Fortunately she survived, but did so unnaturally, frying her opposition with a scream that became an electrical pulse. Fleeing from the Wardome with her life intact, her robot pounded into oblivion, and her mind spinning, Eve returns to her home in shock. She is an abnorm? A trash breed? A deviate? How did this happen? What is she going to do for money now?

She must start again, looking through the discarded piles of metal scrap to find what she needs to build a new fighter. On the way she finds an-almost boy. He’s special tech, but with a coin slot in his chest. He’s pretty and broken and needing care, but Eve knows she has the knowledge to fix him.

Her grandfather gave her this knowledge in the shape of an implant on the side of her head. He also gave her a bionic eye with night vision and telescopic ability. He did all this after saving her life when she was younger, and now she does everything she can to keep him alive and comfortable.

Soon this handsome android, Eve, her bestest Lemon Fresh (named after the box she was found in), her rottweiler cyborg dog and her robot friend Cricket are on the run. Not only from others who want the android she found, but The Brotherhood too. When she discovers there is a bounty hunter in the mix, this steps up the pressure, tension and action in their lives.

Eve soon discovers who she, the android she found, and her grandfather really are. It’s all connected to Corp Royalty and she’s a key part of it.

Can she evade the bounty hunter, keep her friends safe and save the man she thought was her grandfather, all while trying to find out the truth?

Pure pulse-pounding action in an apocalyptic world like a cross between The Terminator and Mad Max – LIFEL1K3 is full-on! There are twists and turns aplenty, not only as the characters both robot and human alike dodge flying bullets, flame throwers, and androids keen for human destruction, but with the very identity of who these characters truly are.

These characters are fiercely loyal as they wrangle truths, past love affairs, and the history of almost total annihilation of the city they lived in. They find themselves inside giant ocean beasties, stealing a car that would be super comfortable in a Mad Max movie, and then are thrown off balconies by old friends.

Looking forward to the next in the series as I am still reeling at the final reveal of this book. What is going to be fired at the reader next?

Author – Jay Kristoff

Age – 13+

WINNER: Aurealis Awards, Best Science Fiction Novel, 2018
SHORT-LISTED: Aurealis Awards, Best Young Adult Novel, 2018
SHORT-LISTED: WAYBRA awards, Older Readers, 2019
LONG-LISTED: Indie Book Awards, Best Young Adult Fiction, 2019

(2018, Allen & Unwin, Mad Max, Action, Friendship, Love, Betrayal, Courage, Animals, Family, Series, The Terminator, Technology, Robots, Androids, Fighting back, Religious Zealots, Bounty Hunter, Rockets, Guns, Flame Throwers, Fleeing, Escape, Truth, Identity, Loyalty, Badass, Fighting ring, Dystopian, Future, Apocalyptic, Award winner)