Firstlife by Gena Showalter
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Genre: Fantasy/Young Adult
Goodreads // Book Depository // Amazon
Review
I’ll be honest from the start: After about 100 pages I did way more page-skipping in this book than I did reading.
Really, this book would have received just 1 start is it wasn’t for the totally awesome concept of the ‘Firstlife’ and ‘Everlife’. I was so excited to read this book the second I read the blurb in the bookstore. The idea of people knowing there is a second life sounded like a super cool setting for a book – where there are two different realms you can choose to live and where both are as attractive as each other.
The idea had potential, and it could have been amazing, but the writing let it down.
BIG TIME.
Like, BIG, BIG, BIG time.
RED ALERT: Choppy writing.
I just cannot cope with choppy writing, and this book dished it out in handfuls. Basically, when I pick up a book and the writing is choppy, it immediately gets a 1 star and then it has about 50 more pages to prove to me why it should be higher. This book didn’t accomplish that.
Even if I could get past the chopping writing, there was just so much more to dislike that I could not bring myself to rate this book higher.
Words were continually italicised – sometimes what felt like at random. It felt like the reader was being dumbed down, like we would not understand the emphasis without the italics.
The main character ,”Ten”just did not sit well with me, especially the fact that she kept saying things like “Dang it” and describing situations (including serious situations where she gets tortured) as “It sucks”. Ugh, it just downright annoyed the hell out of me. She didn’t feel real, and felt more 2D than 3D.
The humour had way too many sexual innuendos that just didn’t fit the characters or the setting at all, especially given that Ten is supposed to be a virgin do-goody teenager.
And lastly, the writing was just plain. Nothing outstanding, nothing poetic, nothing deep. Just plain and simple and unmemorable.
My Book Diary 
What you’ve said in this review is pretty much exactly how I felt about this book. The whole everlife concept was fascinating, but everything else was just disappointing. Great review!
LikeLike
Yes exactly. I felt so cheated after I read this book – the blurb gave of such high hopes!
And thank you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great review! I thought the premise seemed very interesting but I think I might pass because the same things that bother you, bother me too!
LikeLike
Thank you. Unfortunately yes, I wouldn’t recommend this book – it’s one of the ones I wish I could just re-write as the idea is so good haha!
LikeLiked by 1 person