Book: Lifer by Beck Nicholas

Expected Publication is November 16, 2014 by Month9Books|Expected Number Of Pages: 330

Where I Got It: I got an digital ARC directly from Month9Books, which hasn’t influenced my review in any way.  Promise!

Series: None

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Post-Apocalyptic

You can find Lifer on goodreads

Goodreads Summary: 

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. Bourne Identity meets Under the Never Sky in this intergalactic tale of love and deception from debut novelist Beck Nicholas.

What I Thought:

Lifer…I have thoughts on Lifer!  I liked it, but not as much as I thought.  I really liked Asher’s story, and the structure of the people on the ship was interesting and different, but also familiar.  Generations being punished because of what their ancestors did- it’s something I can see happening (and probably has happened in the past), and I hope it doesn’t happen again (even though it probably will).

Blank’s story wasn’t as intriguing to me, and I get why his story is told the way it is, but it also made it hard for me to care about his story, and trying to figure out what happened and who he is.  Still, I liked seeing how it connected to Asher’s story.

This is one of those books where I wish it were a series, because I’m still not quite sure what the deal is with the alien attack or the Upheaval or The Company.  It’s possible I missed something, and the story did come together by the end of the book, but I really wanted to know more about what was going on. and how this world came to be.

The structure on the ship was really interesting- the Nauts are at the top, the Lifers are at the bottom, and the Fishies are in the middle.  I wish it were explored a little more, because while I got a sense of the divides between the groups, I also wish we saw more of it.

Let’s Rate It:

I like the idea of people trying to escape aliens by going to space, and the structure of the ship, and what earth is like after everything happened.  I liked seeing how Asher and Blank’s story connected, and Asher’s story was interesting, but I also wanted to know more about what this world was like and how it got to the way it was in the book.  Lifer gets 3 stars.