Book Review: Lifeblood by Gena Showalter

Author: Gena Showalter
Series: Everlife #2
Audience: +16
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: February 28th 2017
My Rating: 4 Cup
Source: Own Copy
Blurb (from Goodreads):

My Firstlife is over, but my Everlife is only now beginning.

With her last living breath, Tenley "Ten" Lockwood made her choice and picked her realm in the Everlife. Now, as the war between Troika and Myriad rages, she must face the consequences.

Because Ten possesses a rare supernatural ability to absorb and share light, the Powers That Be have the highest expectations for her future—and the enemy wants her neutralized. Fighting to save her Secondlife, she must learn about her realm from the ground up while launching her first mission: convincing a select group of humans to join her side before they die. No pressure, right?

But Ten's competition is Killian, the boy she can't forget—the one who gave up everything for her happiness. He has only one shot at redemption: beating Ten at a game she's never even played. As their throw-downs heat up, so do their undeniable feelings, and soon, Ten will have to make another choice. Love…or victory.

*phew* This book was a roller-coaster, guys!

Lifeblood picks up where Firstlife ended, right after Ten dies and chooses Troika. What follows is a journey full of bumps, heartache, pain, and love. I love how the central themes of this book seem to be love, loyalty and forgiveness. I am curious to see how these themes will be used, if they will be used in the next book.

When we meet Ten in this book she’s still the same girl we know, the girl who wants to find her place without being forced into it, the girl who is in love with a boy she shouldn’t be, the girl trying to just fit in and be loved. Ten goes through a transformation process. Her love for Killian makes her do things that don’t endear her to her fellow Troikans. At the same time, while she’s trying to find Archer, she learns that love can heal someone’s soul. Not romantic love, but love through forgiveness. She learns some more about her family, and she meets important people to herself in this book, people she knew about, people she hasn’t yet met, as well as old friends. She makes some new friends too, and it’s interesting to see how each and every one of them plays a part in Ten’s journey. Throughout the book Ten discovers some interesting things about the two realms, things that somehow change the rules of the games in my opinion. They’re subtle, yet important things too.

Killian is, as usual, fantastic, and I wonder how his decision will affect the last book and the war itself. The brilliance of this story is that, while we see everything from Ten's POV, and we know that some people are loyal and honest, I have to wonder if, in the very end, Killian will prove to be who he says he is. There's a part of me, a tiny part of me, that kind of wants him to be bad.

There were a few characters in this book that I liked, some of them people we meet for the first time in Lifeblood. I'm curious to see the future of these characters, who lives, who dies. There are some old faces around as well, and I'm intrigued by them.

This book helped unveil a little bit of the hidden rules of Myriad and Troika, some details that people from these realms haven't yet thought about, or they relate to things the people have taken for granted. I can't wait to see if these rules will keep changing or if somehow they can be broken. We also learn a little bit more about the history of the two realms, as well as how exactly Troika functions. By default, we learn a little bit about Myriad as well.

The pace is pretty great, and the glimpses behind the scenes that we get through the messages between various parties from both realms make the story even more interesting. Ten's obsession with numbers continues, as well as her double poems. I like the double poems, as well as her numerology skills, her ability to find a numerical connection everywhere. I liked that there were things I couldn't anticipate. I also liked that just because you're a Troikan, doesn't mean you're 100% good, just like being a Myridian doesn't make that person fully bad. I like the grey areas and I'm curious to see if that will be discussed in Everlife or if it will somehow play a part in the final battle.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and I am biting my nails, waiting for Everlife.