I was not a fan of Firstlife. I only finished it so that I could review Lifeblood. And I have some thoughts on that too.
Tenley was obnoxious in Firstlife and SPOILERS: she’s still obnoxious. And Lifeblood was still guilty of many, many YA tropes, but I had significantly more moments which I enjoyed.
Watching Ten figure out her new role in the afterlife/everlife and having to deal with fighting against someone who had helped to protect her was great. But, like she did in Firstlife, she spent a lot of time milling over boys she’s loved and boys she’s lost rather than really coming into her own being.
The action didn’t feel like I needed to see. A bit more like action for the sake of action, than action to bolster the story. It was definitely a sagging book. So much so that sagging middle syndrome doesn’t begin to explain it.
Reading through Firstblood just felt like reading Firstlife over again. It wasn’t as bad as Firstlife, but it didn’t read much better. The realms are still fighting, there is still light verse dark, good verse evil, a lost/dead boyfriend. Did Tenley learn anything from being human? From being fought over? Meh.
So once again, I really loved the idea and the attempt to explore the grey area that is the afterlife–I just don’t think it was done very well. Despite the fact that I didn’t like it-I still think that you should go pick it up and check it out. The world is very interesting and I think everyone should pay it a visit.