Arena 13 Trilogy, Book 1
Synopsis: Welcome to Arena 13. Here warriors fight. Death is never far away . . .
Leif has one ambition: to become the best fighter in the notorious Arena 13. Here, punters place wagers on which fighter will draw first blood. And in grudge matches, they bet on which fighter will die.
But the country is terrorized by the creature Hob, an evil being who delights in torturing its people, displaying his devasting power by challenging an Arena 13 combatant in a fight to the death whenever he chooses. And this is exactly what Leif wants . . .
For he knows Hob’s crimes well. and at the heart of his ambition burns the desire for vengeance. Leif is going to take on the monster who destroyed his family. Even if it kills him.
Review: Joseph Delaney has created an interesting world although sometimes a little too complex. I liked the similarity between the programming lacres and the programming computers. However, I expect now a lot from the author about the lacres and their consciences in the next book.
The characters are well introduced but I could not connect with the hero, Leif, neither with Kwin (I hope that she will grow up fast and change her behavior). The author has a nice writing-style that allowed me to enjoy this book despite this lack of attachment to the characters. The last part of the book deserved to be a bit more developed too.
It is a good read that makes you want to know what happens next. Attention to sensitive readers because there are bloody scenes; from 13 years old seems ok to me.
I tried this book with the Lecthot bookclub in exchange for my review.
Sophia Rose
Neat that it has good worldbuilding. Yes, hopefully, the heroine and hero will become more likeable for you.
That villain sounds really evil and I’d be cheering Leif on to beat him. 🙂
Lily B
i think it’s hard to write books in this genre with so much info dump in the first and still not covering enough, or too much and leaving the most important parts out.
Sorry you couldn’t connect with the characters, I am in the same boat when it comes to characters who need to grow up a little, they tend to really put the book off for me.
Hopefully if you give book 2 a try, it be a better experience as awhole.
Mary Kirkland
I can understand why you felt the way you did. Sometimes the characters just need a little more in order to connect with them.
Heidi
Thanks for reviewing this. It sounds good, but I don’t think it’s quite right for me right now.
ShootingStarsMag
Thanks for sharing. I’m sorry you couldn’t connect to the characters. That’s usually a negative for me.
Melissa (Books and Things)
I hate when you cannot connect to the hero. Always throws me off and just makes it so hard to get lost in the narrative. Still, I do think I know the perfect person for this book. Brilly review.
blodeuedd
The library has it, so maybe
Carole @ Carole's Random Life
Too bad you didn’t really like the characters. I think it says a lot that you still enjoyed the book because of the writing style. Great review!
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum
Why have I not heard of this?! The cover looks amazing. Seems like there might be some issues with its execution, but it sounds very promising.
Kristin @ AddictedtoHEA
If a cover could sell a book, then this cover could do it all by itself. I’m glad I read through your review because I would hate to be annoyed by Kwin and not connect to Leif!! Great review, Cass!!!
Carole Rae
Creating a complex story can be hard. This sounds pretty good, but interesting.
Christy LoveOfBooks
I’d be surprised if it weren’t bloody after seeing that cover. 🙂
Melissa (My World...in words and pages)
I’m curious about the complexity. That’s interesting.
anna @ herding cats & burning soup
That is quite the cover! I’m glad you enjoyed it even if you couldn’t quite connet with the characters. That does make it a bit more of a challenge.