Turner's Antics

Firstlife by Gena Showalter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am a huge fan of Gena Showalter and her White Rabbit Chronicles. I haven’t had the chance to read any of her other books, but do have quite a few in my collection. When I learned of Firstlife being released, I was super excited to read such a unique book that held me captivated until the very end. I’ll be honest, I was a little confused about the whole firstlife and everlife worlds and the afterlife. There were so many elements happening at once that I was little muddled about what would happen and when, spirits or humans or none.

Tenley Lockwood or Ten to her friends, is a seventeen-year-old girl that has been incarcerated for the past thirteen months. She is an inmate at the Prynne Asylum and is counting down her days until her release on her eighteenth birthday. Ten is a numerology girl, everything she sees, reads and thinks has a formula of numbers in it.

Ten’s story:
17 = years of age – existed
1 = boys she’s dated
2 = friends she’s made and lost since being in the whack shack
2 = lives she’ll live
2 = number of choices she has for her eternal future (1. Do as her parents say; or 2. Suffer)

There are two realms, Myriad: boasts about autonomy, bliss, indulgence. Firstlife is a stepping stone to the Everlife. Everything happens for a reason and when they experience 2nd death, death in the Everlife, their spirit returns to Earth to fuse with another spirit. They are willing to negotiate a contract to win over a human.
Troika: structure, constant study, absolute conformity. Firstlife matters as much as Everlife. Fate is a myth. When they experience 2nd death, they enter the REST, never to be seen by human or spirit again.
The two realms are complete opposites and have been at war with each other for centuries.

There is also another realm, a 3rd spirit realm, THE REALM OF MANY ENDS. This is where nightmares come to life and is where you are sent when you haven’t made a choice between Myriad or Troika, you are classed UNSIGNED.

Ten is an UNSIGNED and the asylum is meant to be neutral territory where it’s the doctors job to “persuade” you to choose. Everybody knows though that Dr Vans can be bought and they don’t care how the job gets done as long as they have their desired result.

It appears that Ten is extremely important to both realms and they have sent their best labourers to “convince” Ten to choose their realm. The problem is, Ten has no intention of choosing and seems to be developing feelings for both of them.

Which side will Ten choose? Why is Ten so special to both realms? Does The Realm of Many Ends truly exist? Will Ten ever truly be at peace?

Firstlife is a great introduction to the series and the characters within. I loved Ten and Killian, Bow too is a fun and entertaining character. Even though I was a little confused with the realms, it was certainly an action packed adventure that everybody can fall in love with. It has a little of something for everybody, including romance. Fantasy lovers should definitely give this a go.


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