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The Survival Trilogy #1
Arena One: Slaverunners
New York. 2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the violent gangs, predators who live in the big cities. They patrol the countryside looking for slaves, for fresh victims to bring back into the city for their favorite death sport: Arena One. The death stadium where opponents are made to fight to the death, in the most barbaric of ways. There is only one rule to the arena: no one survives. Ever.
Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death.
Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission.
What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena?
Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death.
Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission.
What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena?
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
Morgan Rice
210 books3,153 followersMorgan Rice is the #1 bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the epic fantasy series THE SORCERER’S RING, comprising seventeen books; of the #1 bestselling series THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, comprising twelve books; of the #1 bestselling series THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY, a post-apocalyptic thriller comprising three books; of the epic fantasy series KINGS AND SORCERERS, comprising six books; of the epic fantasy series OF CROWNS AND GLORY, comprising 8 books; of the new epic fantasy series A THRONE FOR SISTERS, comprising eight books (and counting); and of the new science fiction series THE INVASION CHRONICLES. Morgan’s books are available in audio and print editions, and translations are available in over 25 languages.
TURNED (Book #1 in the Vampire Journals), ARENA ONE (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy), A QUEST OF HEROES (Book #1 in the Sorcerer’s Ring) and RISE OF THE DRAGONS (Kings and Sorcerers—Book #1) are each available as free downloads!
Morgan loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.morganricebooks.com to join the email list, receive a free book, receive free giveaways, download the free app, get the latest exclusive news, connect on Facebook and Twitter, and stay in touch!
TURNED (Book #1 in the Vampire Journals), ARENA ONE (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy), A QUEST OF HEROES (Book #1 in the Sorcerer’s Ring) and RISE OF THE DRAGONS (Kings and Sorcerers—Book #1) are each available as free downloads!
Morgan loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.morganricebooks.com to join the email list, receive a free book, receive free giveaways, download the free app, get the latest exclusive news, connect on Facebook and Twitter, and stay in touch!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 773 reviews
February 28, 2012
I'm not completely done with the book however I wanted to write some of my review down now. There is very little left of the book and it wont effect how I feel about this book.
First of all I was wrong thinking that the author had copied from the Hunger games. There is some parts some small parts that it is cleared she copied and they are right at the start.
I wish Goodreads had the same things at a website called Gamespot, in their reviews you could label a game such as "Too much Hype","Been there done that","Lived up to the Hype" or "Guilty Pleasure"
This book I most certainly will label as "Guilty Pleasure"
The book overall is horrible, It's just horrible however despite that I liked it for some strange reason, There is typos through out the book and the whole story feels like I'm reading a script. I just couldn't emerge my self into the world Morgan Rice tried to create.
The story is about a girl called Brooke we find her after a 2nd Civil war in the U,S. Breeth has a younger sister called Bree. At the start it takes a long time to get into the story. I don't know about the start at all to be honest, I could tell what would happen way before it happened.
The story is so unrealistic, The author tried to set the world in what I call a "It could possibly happen" I mean by this that she tries to make a world in which the things she mention "could" possibly happen.
However she screws up so many times, She involves the political parties of America's government and she either switch the profiles round or she is clueless about the Democrats and Republican parties. She puts the Republicans in a "good light" making me think she used her own preferences and got it horribly wrong.
Either way she destroyed her world building, Describing how the Country entered into the "Nuclear apocalypse age". The way she explained away how Nuclear weapons were used is abysmal the entire time I was reading this, I kept asking/saying "and none of the other countries, like Russia or UK did anything and just sat and watch and let it all happen?" 2nd point if the amount of nuclear weapons she described were actually used, the Atmosphere would of been un-breathable The hole in the O-zone layer would be the size of Sky-scrapper.
She makes the main person look so stupid and I didn't feel attached to them. Not nearly like how I felt to the characters in the vampire series.
Also I know authors can use a some creative license every now and then. However what the main person goes through, any normal person would be in Intensive care unit (ICU). I kept count of all the injures Breethe earned her self. I know just for one example if you get shot, stabbed in the upper arm that you wouldn't be able to use that arm at least not a full capacity. With 3 or more Broken ribs, trouble breathing and a concussion. She was able to control a vehicle at speeds of 150 mph. YEAH RIGHT! You would need two hands fully functional to be able handle any vehicle. You would just have to look at John Green's YT video when he gave him self a concussion.
So in the words of my favorite. Show Myth busters,: can someone who's seriously injured with multiple broken ribs, a right arm that had something stabbed right through the bicep, still bleeding. With a concussion, be able to control a vehicle doing excess speeds of 120-150 and be able to pull off 360 turns and tight 90 degree turns with out crashing..?
Myth - BUSTED
That I feel is what makes the entire book a horrible, The author tries to write a story in a world, that ok isn't likely to happen at all but could still be possible. Then through out the book she makes all these horrible mistakes that ruins the world building that shout out unrealistic.
I purchased this book from B&N for the Nook, it has 1579 pages and it skips 2 page numbers every time you turn the page. There are lots of mistakes like, miss spelling the word slide and instead writing side.
This is a book we purchased from B&N, if it came from someone who copied it over I'd understand, however being as it is. Means it is bad editing.
The author failed all round basically and you can tell the author just rushed out the book without any research to get the book out to join in on the Hype of the Movie Hunger games that comes out in March.
My personal note to the Author, The vampire series was good because you brought something new to something that has been done so many times, the time travel. In here there is nothing new to offer and it is just clear what this book was about - You jumping on the band wagon with the Hunger games.
Very disapointed with you Morgan.
First of all I was wrong thinking that the author had copied from the Hunger games. There is some parts some small parts that it is cleared she copied and they are right at the start.
I wish Goodreads had the same things at a website called Gamespot, in their reviews you could label a game such as "Too much Hype","Been there done that","Lived up to the Hype" or "Guilty Pleasure"
This book I most certainly will label as "Guilty Pleasure"
The book overall is horrible, It's just horrible however despite that I liked it for some strange reason, There is typos through out the book and the whole story feels like I'm reading a script. I just couldn't emerge my self into the world Morgan Rice tried to create.
The story is about a girl called Brooke we find her after a 2nd Civil war in the U,S. Breeth has a younger sister called Bree. At the start it takes a long time to get into the story. I don't know about the start at all to be honest, I could tell what would happen way before it happened.
The story is so unrealistic, The author tried to set the world in what I call a "It could possibly happen" I mean by this that she tries to make a world in which the things she mention "could" possibly happen.
However she screws up so many times, She involves the political parties of America's government and she either switch the profiles round or she is clueless about the Democrats and Republican parties. She puts the Republicans in a "good light" making me think she used her own preferences and got it horribly wrong.
Either way she destroyed her world building, Describing how the Country entered into the "Nuclear apocalypse age". The way she explained away how Nuclear weapons were used is abysmal the entire time I was reading this, I kept asking/saying "and none of the other countries, like Russia or UK did anything and just sat and watch and let it all happen?" 2nd point if the amount of nuclear weapons she described were actually used, the Atmosphere would of been un-breathable The hole in the O-zone layer would be the size of Sky-scrapper.
She makes the main person look so stupid and I didn't feel attached to them. Not nearly like how I felt to the characters in the vampire series.
Also I know authors can use a some creative license every now and then. However what the main person goes through, any normal person would be in Intensive care unit (ICU). I kept count of all the injures Breethe earned her self. I know just for one example if you get shot, stabbed in the upper arm that you wouldn't be able to use that arm at least not a full capacity. With 3 or more Broken ribs, trouble breathing and a concussion. She was able to control a vehicle at speeds of 150 mph. YEAH RIGHT! You would need two hands fully functional to be able handle any vehicle. You would just have to look at John Green's YT video when he gave him self a concussion.
So in the words of my favorite. Show Myth busters,: can someone who's seriously injured with multiple broken ribs, a right arm that had something stabbed right through the bicep, still bleeding. With a concussion, be able to control a vehicle doing excess speeds of 120-150 and be able to pull off 360 turns and tight 90 degree turns with out crashing..?
Myth - BUSTED
That I feel is what makes the entire book a horrible, The author tries to write a story in a world, that ok isn't likely to happen at all but could still be possible. Then through out the book she makes all these horrible mistakes that ruins the world building that shout out unrealistic.
I purchased this book from B&N for the Nook, it has 1579 pages and it skips 2 page numbers every time you turn the page. There are lots of mistakes like, miss spelling the word slide and instead writing side.
This is a book we purchased from B&N, if it came from someone who copied it over I'd understand, however being as it is. Means it is bad editing.
The author failed all round basically and you can tell the author just rushed out the book without any research to get the book out to join in on the Hype of the Movie Hunger games that comes out in March.
My personal note to the Author, The vampire series was good because you brought something new to something that has been done so many times, the time travel. In here there is nothing new to offer and it is just clear what this book was about - You jumping on the band wagon with the Hunger games.
Very disapointed with you Morgan.
December 3, 2012
Where to start . . . there were several things that turned me off this book.
1. I don't like present tense writing. That's just me, though, so technically, this shouldn't count against the book.
2. Caps Locks do NOT belong in a novel. Email, Facebook, ok, but not in a novel.
3. The foreshadowing killed me.
4. The action is nonstop . . . which could be ok if it weren't for the constant, "if this happens, we're dead for sure" and "there was no way we could survive this," plus multiple crashes, explosions and injuries, dead people, yet the main character (who cracks one rib at a time, btw) manages to stay on top of things, though she's constantly complaining that her life has no meaning, so what does it matter if she dies? I'm pretty sure she couldn't die if she tried though.
5. The romance factor was, um, dead. You can have a book without romance and quite frankly, this one would have been better without the attempt, which fell flat on its face. Twice. Logan was actually interesting, but there was 0 chemistry. Ben was a wet noodle and I wouldn't look at him twice, yet the MC spends a few seconds before heading to her death in the arena wondering if he likes her or not. I'd be far more concerned with my imminent death. And where my sister was.
6. The abrupt introduction of new plot pieces. In the middle of the book, there are suddenly a new species of people, which are never explained. I'm assuming they were melted by the nuclear bomb, but not sure why they didn't die. And then another species appears, Crazies, who do seem rather crazy and without purpose. And a sex trade suddenly looms, after all the focus was on the arena. It's a little confusing and while it works, it needed a bit more explanation and introduction.
7. Finally, I have no idea how Brooke and Bree survived for 2-3 years (timeline is a bit unclear) in the mountains if she didn't know how to trap, hunt or even fish. What did they eat all those winters? We won't even get into the fact that they didn't leave town until after a nuclear bomb exploded just a few short miles from their home.
In all, I wanted to like this book, I really did. The story idea was awesome, slaverunners capturing people after a new American war and pitting them against each other in an arena, fighting to the death, but it just didn't come together like it should have. And that makes me a bit sad.
1. I don't like present tense writing. That's just me, though, so technically, this shouldn't count against the book.
2. Caps Locks do NOT belong in a novel. Email, Facebook, ok, but not in a novel.
3. The foreshadowing killed me.
4. The action is nonstop . . . which could be ok if it weren't for the constant, "if this happens, we're dead for sure" and "there was no way we could survive this," plus multiple crashes, explosions and injuries, dead people, yet the main character (who cracks one rib at a time, btw) manages to stay on top of things, though she's constantly complaining that her life has no meaning, so what does it matter if she dies? I'm pretty sure she couldn't die if she tried though.
5. The romance factor was, um, dead. You can have a book without romance and quite frankly, this one would have been better without the attempt, which fell flat on its face. Twice. Logan was actually interesting, but there was 0 chemistry. Ben was a wet noodle and I wouldn't look at him twice, yet the MC spends a few seconds before heading to her death in the arena wondering if he likes her or not. I'd be far more concerned with my imminent death. And where my sister was.
6. The abrupt introduction of new plot pieces. In the middle of the book, there are suddenly a new species of people, which are never explained. I'm assuming they were melted by the nuclear bomb, but not sure why they didn't die. And then another species appears, Crazies, who do seem rather crazy and without purpose. And a sex trade suddenly looms, after all the focus was on the arena. It's a little confusing and while it works, it needed a bit more explanation and introduction.
7. Finally, I have no idea how Brooke and Bree survived for 2-3 years (timeline is a bit unclear) in the mountains if she didn't know how to trap, hunt or even fish. What did they eat all those winters? We won't even get into the fact that they didn't leave town until after a nuclear bomb exploded just a few short miles from their home.
In all, I wanted to like this book, I really did. The story idea was awesome, slaverunners capturing people after a new American war and pitting them against each other in an arena, fighting to the death, but it just didn't come together like it should have. And that makes me a bit sad.
April 14, 2013
If you liked Hunger Games, do yourself a favor and never read this dreck. This is a terrible book about simple-minded, apparently invulnerable children taking a walking tour of Thunderdome New York. I hated this book, and while I'm glad I got this from the library because that means I didn't buy it, I am furious that the library spent money on it.
Sometimes you read a book and your heart races because you're attached to the characters and the author is good at suspense or emotion. Reading this book, my heart rate frequently spiked, but it was out of frustration. Summary of the story: teenagers surviving in post apocalyptic upstate New York have their younger siblings kidnapped by "slaverunners", bound for a fight-to-the-death Arena in Manhattan. Teenagers pursue siblings, etc etc. This is the summary that makes you think the story might have potential.
But the devil is in the details, and this book is TERRIBLE at details except for the times when details make no damn sense, at which point it won't shut up with the details. I'm too pissed of to parse, so here comes the spoiler:
I think the most egregious flaw in this book is that the heroine doesn't think. She acts on impulse, but shows absolutely no curiosity or logic or even tactical thought. What made Hunger Games great was Katniss' constant mental calculus, trying to outwit her opponents and society. But Brooke's only thoughts are a one-note "I must rescue my sister" and "this guy is attractive, I think he likes me". That means that the only thing going up against this apparently massive slaverunner machine is a 17 year old emaciated girl who was taught self-defense by her marine father five years ago. And then she KEEPS triumphing in hand-to-hand combat with well-fed, full-grown, armed men. While she's starving, hideously injured, and a stranger on their turf. It's practically comedy.
Honestly, this is just a weird mash-up of Mad Max and an Xbox driving game with an utterly transparent effort at humanizing the story with a cosmetic Hunger Games gloss. It doesn't work, and it doesn't make a lick of sense, avoid avoid avoid.
Sometimes you read a book and your heart races because you're attached to the characters and the author is good at suspense or emotion. Reading this book, my heart rate frequently spiked, but it was out of frustration. Summary of the story: teenagers surviving in post apocalyptic upstate New York have their younger siblings kidnapped by "slaverunners", bound for a fight-to-the-death Arena in Manhattan. Teenagers pursue siblings, etc etc. This is the summary that makes you think the story might have potential.
But the devil is in the details, and this book is TERRIBLE at details except for the times when details make no damn sense, at which point it won't shut up with the details. I'm too pissed of to parse, so here comes the spoiler:
I think the most egregious flaw in this book is that the heroine doesn't think. She acts on impulse, but shows absolutely no curiosity or logic or even tactical thought. What made Hunger Games great was Katniss' constant mental calculus, trying to outwit her opponents and society. But Brooke's only thoughts are a one-note "I must rescue my sister" and "this guy is attractive, I think he likes me". That means that the only thing going up against this apparently massive slaverunner machine is a 17 year old emaciated girl who was taught self-defense by her marine father five years ago. And then she KEEPS triumphing in hand-to-hand combat with well-fed, full-grown, armed men. While she's starving, hideously injured, and a stranger on their turf. It's practically comedy.
Honestly, this is just a weird mash-up of Mad Max and an Xbox driving game with an utterly transparent effort at humanizing the story with a cosmetic Hunger Games gloss. It doesn't work, and it doesn't make a lick of sense, avoid avoid avoid.
September 8, 2012
I was enjoying it in the beginning, and then it unfortunately went downhill with errors and inconsistencies that became increasingly annoying.
Ugh. By this point I knew was just reading out of morbid curiosity to see how bad it could get. I already knew it was unredeemable.
It's like watching one of those really bad action movies, where it's blindingly obvious the hero should have died about a dozen times in the first hour. If you liked The Hunger Games, *don't* read this.
Ugh. By this point I knew was just reading out of morbid curiosity to see how bad it could get. I already knew it was unredeemable.
It's like watching one of those really bad action movies, where it's blindingly obvious the hero should have died about a dozen times in the first hour. If you liked The Hunger Games, *don't* read this.
May 4, 2013
Rediculously horrible book. 90% of the book was a very long car-ride consisting of crashes, passing out, driving, crashing again, driving again multiple times all the way until almost the end where the plot is squished into the last 10% of pages. It was utterly boring. The author couldn't even make the bulk of the book (which was the car ride/car collision path) even slightly interesting! It was all 'right-turn, left-turn, sharp bend, car flips, u-turn, onto this street, then that street' Boring! I recommend this to no living soul. The romance was pathetic also, falling for men she knows nothing about, it seemed like a cheap attempt at getting the romantic competition found in the hunger games series. Waste of time in my opinion.
February 20, 2016
This is, without a doubt, the worst book I have ever read. It doesn't seem like the author has an editor because there is at least one grammatical error on every page. The main character should have died at least a dozen times, and she comes out of multiple car crashes unscathed. Also, there is so much repetition, I wanted to scream. Whenever Ben was mentioned, the author always said, "to his credit, he did this." It got old. I also hated how similar the plot was to The Hunger Games. This book does not even deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as that series. The only thing original about this story was the government, which was poorly developed. The arena scenes basically described certain scenes of Gladiator, with teenagers instead of gladiators. There is also a very forced love triangle which made absolutely no sense. I have already read the sequel and it is even worse than this book. I wish I could stop reading the series, but I find it impossible to leave a series unfinished, although at this point, I will be reading book 3 out of sheer curiosity about how much worse the writing in this series can get. There are so many typos that I couldn't understand most of the book. For example, "light" was spelled "lite." It got really annoying. I highly recommend skipping this book, as well as anything else by this author.
June 7, 2022
2.5 Stars ✨
Some parts intrigued me, other parts I skipped bc they were ridiculously impossible even in a fiction book. This is basically just a hunger game/walking dead fan fiction with other things mixed in it. So many holes, it’s like it was written right off the top of her head- which is kinda cool but not … ?! The part that upsets me is I actually care to know what is going to happen next when I shouldn’t care 😂. Maybe I’ll read the next one … maybe, ugh why am I like this 🤦🏻♀️
Some parts intrigued me, other parts I skipped bc they were ridiculously impossible even in a fiction book. This is basically just a hunger game/walking dead fan fiction with other things mixed in it. So many holes, it’s like it was written right off the top of her head- which is kinda cool but not … ?! The part that upsets me is I actually care to know what is going to happen next when I shouldn’t care 😂. Maybe I’ll read the next one … maybe, ugh why am I like this 🤦🏻♀️
August 5, 2012
If the book The Hunger Games was a tree, you would have a very hard time cutting it down. This is because there would be so many layers of depth to cut through. You would be too tired to continue before getting halfway through.
If Arena One were a tree, it would just take a small poke with your index finger to cut it down because there is no depth. There might be some moss on the tree to symbolize character relationships, but it would be light moss that wouldn't be heavy enough to make much of a difference.
But Jay, books aren't trees! You might say. I would then reply: Books come from paper and paper comes from trees so indirectly books are trees! Then you would say: You're getting off topic! and you would be right and I would continue with the review.
Sometimes I lose myself.
Anyway, if you read the summary of this book, you would probably notice how typical and unoriginal this book's plot is. You would be right. It, like another book we know, is about a teenage girl trying to prevent her sister from competing in a death tournament after their mother abandons them. The fact that this book sounds so much like a certain other dystopian novel that we all know and love should have stopped me right there. To make matters worse, the author has a history of mooching off the success of popular young adult themes. She has a book series about vampires.
But you know how the saying goes: You can't judge a book by its stereotypical plot or its author with a history of writing knock-offs. With that in mind, I read the book.
Big mistake.
Arena One can easily be fit split into five parts. The plot is so lacking in depth that I can summarize those parts in sentence fragments.
Part 1: Nature Walk
Part 2: Car Chase
Part 3: Arena Fighting
Part 4: Rescue Attempt, Part 1
Part 5: Rescue Attempt, Part 2
This book is full of unrealistic action. The protagonist barely escapes death so many times that it is sickening. The writing is awful. Sometimes phrases are repeated over and over again. The editing could also be to blame for this. Arena One boasts no character development, little to think about, and a love triangle. (If you don't think a love triangle is a bad thing, you haven't read enough YA books.) To the book's credit, the story is action packed and although the action is unrealistic, it makes the novel easy to get through.
Bottom Line: If you're an action lover that just wants to read about fights and battles no matter what the writing quality, this book is for you. But if you are bothered by poor writing and little depth, leave this one on the shelf.
Grade: D
If Arena One were a tree, it would just take a small poke with your index finger to cut it down because there is no depth. There might be some moss on the tree to symbolize character relationships, but it would be light moss that wouldn't be heavy enough to make much of a difference.
But Jay, books aren't trees! You might say. I would then reply: Books come from paper and paper comes from trees so indirectly books are trees! Then you would say: You're getting off topic! and you would be right and I would continue with the review.
Sometimes I lose myself.
Anyway, if you read the summary of this book, you would probably notice how typical and unoriginal this book's plot is. You would be right. It, like another book we know, is about a teenage girl trying to prevent her sister from competing in a death tournament after their mother abandons them. The fact that this book sounds so much like a certain other dystopian novel that we all know and love should have stopped me right there. To make matters worse, the author has a history of mooching off the success of popular young adult themes. She has a book series about vampires.
But you know how the saying goes: You can't judge a book by its stereotypical plot or its author with a history of writing knock-offs. With that in mind, I read the book.
Big mistake.
Arena One can easily be fit split into five parts. The plot is so lacking in depth that I can summarize those parts in sentence fragments.
Part 1: Nature Walk
Part 2: Car Chase
Part 3: Arena Fighting
Part 4: Rescue Attempt, Part 1
Part 5: Rescue Attempt, Part 2
This book is full of unrealistic action. The protagonist barely escapes death so many times that it is sickening. The writing is awful. Sometimes phrases are repeated over and over again. The editing could also be to blame for this. Arena One boasts no character development, little to think about, and a love triangle. (If you don't think a love triangle is a bad thing, you haven't read enough YA books.) To the book's credit, the story is action packed and although the action is unrealistic, it makes the novel easy to get through.
Bottom Line: If you're an action lover that just wants to read about fights and battles no matter what the writing quality, this book is for you. But if you are bothered by poor writing and little depth, leave this one on the shelf.
Grade: D
April 29, 2018
How far would you go to keep a promise...
Let go of reality and fall into a world decimated by war, where monsters rise to control what is left with brute force and terror tactics. Survivors have gone to the fringes of civilization, hiding out in the wilderness. Seventeen-year-old Brooke and her sister Bree have barely survived in the Catskill Mountains, hiding out from the slaverunners who would see them dead or worse, living a nightmarish existence as slaves.
Just as Brooke thinks their luck has changed for the better, Bree is captured and Brooke will do anything to keep her promise to her sister, that she will always take care of her. Now she will stop at nothing to save young Bree and all the years of her Marine father’s training is about to pay off in spades, if she can survive ARENA ONE.
As Brooke takes chase to get her sister back, she encounters an ally, Ben, also desperate to get his stolen brother back. Together they will brave ice, snow and bullets in a fever-pitched chase across unforgiving land to the heart of Hell on Earth, New York City.
Rapid-fire action, over-the-top battles to the death, a car chase to rival all chases and one teen determined to save the all family she has left. Only sheer luck and the grit of her father’s memory on her side, Brooke is about to turn the slaverunners’ world upside down.
Morgan Rice has created that “against-all-odds” tale and turned up the heat to blazing hot in a tale that will pit one teen against a world gone mad. Fabulous writing, pure entertainment and high-powered fantasy comes to life with a bang! Enjoy the ride, white knuckles and all!
Series: The Survival Trilogy (Book 1)
Paperback: 226 pages
Publisher: Morgan Rice (February 5, 2012)
Genre: YA Post-Apocalyptic | Dystopian
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews, Giveaways, Fabulous Book News: http://tometender.blogspot.com
Let go of reality and fall into a world decimated by war, where monsters rise to control what is left with brute force and terror tactics. Survivors have gone to the fringes of civilization, hiding out in the wilderness. Seventeen-year-old Brooke and her sister Bree have barely survived in the Catskill Mountains, hiding out from the slaverunners who would see them dead or worse, living a nightmarish existence as slaves.
Just as Brooke thinks their luck has changed for the better, Bree is captured and Brooke will do anything to keep her promise to her sister, that she will always take care of her. Now she will stop at nothing to save young Bree and all the years of her Marine father’s training is about to pay off in spades, if she can survive ARENA ONE.
As Brooke takes chase to get her sister back, she encounters an ally, Ben, also desperate to get his stolen brother back. Together they will brave ice, snow and bullets in a fever-pitched chase across unforgiving land to the heart of Hell on Earth, New York City.
Rapid-fire action, over-the-top battles to the death, a car chase to rival all chases and one teen determined to save the all family she has left. Only sheer luck and the grit of her father’s memory on her side, Brooke is about to turn the slaverunners’ world upside down.
Morgan Rice has created that “against-all-odds” tale and turned up the heat to blazing hot in a tale that will pit one teen against a world gone mad. Fabulous writing, pure entertainment and high-powered fantasy comes to life with a bang! Enjoy the ride, white knuckles and all!
Series: The Survival Trilogy (Book 1)
Paperback: 226 pages
Publisher: Morgan Rice (February 5, 2012)
Genre: YA Post-Apocalyptic | Dystopian
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
For Reviews, Giveaways, Fabulous Book News: http://tometender.blogspot.com
April 3, 2016
I love how this book is really fast pace, all action packed, a wonderful idea for movie I would watch. But I hate how stupid Brooke is when it comes to Ben and Logon. Her thinking sounds like a 12 year old. I also didn't like some of the writing. The author was redundant and stated the obvious a little too much. Also, Brooke was a little too lucky almost all the time.
July 14, 2013
This review is going to be a bit disjointed, but the book was much the same, so I won't take too much time to make this a great review. This mess only earned one star due to the fact that I couldn't give it a half a star. That half-star, by the way, would be granted only because it was something to keep me busy while I couldn't sleep. I confess, folks, I absolutely LOVED The Hunger Games, and this is just trying to fit in that niche, with no success.
The 17 year old female protagonist must be super-human to accomplish all she does over the course of the several days the book covers. With hardly any sleep or food, she is capable of feats which aren't even close to possible. 160 mile per hour car chases in blinding snow storms, two crashes, grenades launched at her, battles with trained killers, etc. Its not even close to believable.
Very annoyingly, we have the famous love-triangle, without any events building up to it. She questions the possibility of whether or not she has feelings for young men she has only known for a day, and wonders if they have feelings for her. None of them had even had a real conversation at this point.
Overall, I can't remember ever having read such a carelessly thrown together story. There are two more books in this series. I couldn't care what happens next and won't be reading them.
The 17 year old female protagonist must be super-human to accomplish all she does over the course of the several days the book covers. With hardly any sleep or food, she is capable of feats which aren't even close to possible. 160 mile per hour car chases in blinding snow storms, two crashes, grenades launched at her, battles with trained killers, etc. Its not even close to believable.
Very annoyingly, we have the famous love-triangle, without any events building up to it. She questions the possibility of whether or not she has feelings for young men she has only known for a day, and wonders if they have feelings for her. None of them had even had a real conversation at this point.
Overall, I can't remember ever having read such a carelessly thrown together story. There are two more books in this series. I couldn't care what happens next and won't be reading them.
April 1, 2015
The writing is fast paced and hooks the reader from the beginning. I loved how it started, with Brooke finding something amazing after all this time without the necessities. I was instantly worried for the sister, which created a sickness in my stomach. That kept me reading and then it got to the motorcycle/car scene. My adrenaline doesn't pump that hard when I've run five miles. OMG. I was wore out. Honestly, and many have noted it, there were problems with that scene and it went on too long. Also as others have noted, there are inconsistency problems in the book. I also found the writing to take me out of the story at times. However, it was an adventuresome read and one that I'd recommend. I loved Brooke's strength and that she doesn't always react the way the reader will expect. I don't need cookie cutter character. I want real people and Brooke appears to be that. The love triangle wasn't as fulfilling as I would have liked, but that may progress with the series. And there were aspects of this tale that were a little too gruesome for me and also too akin to other books. It's a promising story with some really great aspects.
July 16, 2016
As a lover of YA, I eat up the crazy dystopia stories, and this one was no different. I read it. It sucked.
Overused plot idea, awful character development (if any), multiple plot holes, CLICHES UPON CLICHES, + terrible writing. And to top it off, the addition of the love triangle with absolutely no background or character development was an awful idea. Who cares about "does he like me?" when you're in a post-apocalyptic dangerous world were you're about to die. The main character's good fortune is outrageous and unbelievable; three cracked ribs, bullet to the arm, broken bones, snake bite, concussion, and she's still kicking. SHE SHOULD BE HOSPITALIZED IF NOT DEAD. Oh and if you plan on incorporating politics in your writing, please research or know what you're taking about before you include it in your story.
Please, do yourself a favor and never read this book :)
Overused plot idea, awful character development (if any), multiple plot holes, CLICHES UPON CLICHES, + terrible writing. And to top it off, the addition of the love triangle with absolutely no background or character development was an awful idea. Who cares about "does he like me?" when you're in a post-apocalyptic dangerous world were you're about to die. The main character's good fortune is outrageous and unbelievable; three cracked ribs, bullet to the arm, broken bones, snake bite, concussion, and she's still kicking. SHE SHOULD BE HOSPITALIZED IF NOT DEAD. Oh and if you plan on incorporating politics in your writing, please research or know what you're taking about before you include it in your story.
Please, do yourself a favor and never read this book :)
October 17, 2019
An action packed, dystopian YA novel, with a very cool premise.
I agree that it is in dire need of some good editing and that it is a totally unrealistic story.
This isn’t one to take too seriously, but I found it to be more of a quick joy ride with a kick ass female lead.
I agree that it is in dire need of some good editing and that it is a totally unrealistic story.
This isn’t one to take too seriously, but I found it to be more of a quick joy ride with a kick ass female lead.
February 24, 2022
This book was on my TBR through the library for a while. I got to it this month:
1. It was a free bonus borrow
2. It fit an UNO task
Boy, am I glad I didn't use a monthly borrow on this crap. I'm convinced any review of this book higher than a 2 is a paid review.
It's a lousy Hunger Games rip off. Except that the "plot" is much worse, there's an endless amount of plot holes, and the main character is an idiot. Everything you love about the Hunger Games... yeah it's all the exact opposite in this book. I'm going to save myself from any further mental suffering due to this book by ending here. Do yourself a favor and never read this book. And if you think *maybe* the book isn't as bad as I'm saying, read the other reviews. The proof is in the pudding my friends.
Quite frankly, I'm shocked that a whole trilogy of this was able to be published. Cheap, lousy, lazy rip off
1. It was a free bonus borrow
2. It fit an UNO task
Boy, am I glad I didn't use a monthly borrow on this crap. I'm convinced any review of this book higher than a 2 is a paid review.
It's a lousy Hunger Games rip off. Except that the "plot" is much worse, there's an endless amount of plot holes, and the main character is an idiot. Everything you love about the Hunger Games... yeah it's all the exact opposite in this book. I'm going to save myself from any further mental suffering due to this book by ending here. Do yourself a favor and never read this book. And if you think *maybe* the book isn't as bad as I'm saying, read the other reviews. The proof is in the pudding my friends.
Quite frankly, I'm shocked that a whole trilogy of this was able to be published. Cheap, lousy, lazy rip off
March 23, 2013
I don't know why I'm giving it two stars. I think it's just because I can't admit that I actually took the time to finish a one-star book. Primary flaws:
1) It falls guilty of relying way too much on telling and not showing. I know it's told from the first person, but it reads like a middle school boy's poor short story filled with "and then I did this. Then this happened, so I did this. And then I did this."
2) Every single chapter tries to end with a cliffhanger, but it's so poorly done it's laughable. Almost every "cliffhanger" is something like "and then I wondered if this is how I'm going to die." Well, obviously you're not going to die because the story is still going, and this obviously isn't written well enough to have an unreliable narrator (and there's still too much book left for that, as well).
3) Her abilities and how she emerges victorious over nearly every single thing thrown at her are just ludicrous. Sure, I get the idea of a girl who can hunt and who was trained by her military father, but her survival skills and the repeated deus ex machinas are just annoying and really would knock me out of my suspended disbelief if it weren't for the fact that everything else has already kept me out of it.
4) As another commenter noted, the one attempt at foreshadowing was just absurd. Foreshadowing is supposed to be subtle, not a hammer over the head with "Hey! Guess what's going to happen next!!!"
I don't know why I finished this book. I guess I just wanted it to get better. Maybe one possible use for this book is to get a reluctant reader who gets bogged down by even the slightest hint of description and depth to start reading. Maybe.
1) It falls guilty of relying way too much on telling and not showing. I know it's told from the first person, but it reads like a middle school boy's poor short story filled with "and then I did this. Then this happened, so I did this. And then I did this."
2) Every single chapter tries to end with a cliffhanger, but it's so poorly done it's laughable. Almost every "cliffhanger" is something like "and then I wondered if this is how I'm going to die." Well, obviously you're not going to die because the story is still going, and this obviously isn't written well enough to have an unreliable narrator (and there's still too much book left for that, as well).
3) Her abilities and how she emerges victorious over nearly every single thing thrown at her are just ludicrous. Sure, I get the idea of a girl who can hunt and who was trained by her military father, but her survival skills and the repeated deus ex machinas are just annoying and really would knock me out of my suspended disbelief if it weren't for the fact that everything else has already kept me out of it.
4) As another commenter noted, the one attempt at foreshadowing was just absurd. Foreshadowing is supposed to be subtle, not a hammer over the head with "Hey! Guess what's going to happen next!!!"
I don't know why I finished this book. I guess I just wanted it to get better. Maybe one possible use for this book is to get a reluctant reader who gets bogged down by even the slightest hint of description and depth to start reading. Maybe.
June 14, 2013
Arena One is the first in a trilogy (yes there’s three of them, sadly) that many are calling a Hunger Games rip-off. Brooke and Bree survived the war by hiding in their dads hunting cabin up in the mountains, life in the US has been decimated by a civil war that turned nuclear (insert endless political rants here), the survivors are split into several groups the ‘bio victims’ or ‘crazies’ that survived the bombs, the slave runners and their counterparts, and those, like the sisters, that got out and are living a basic life scavenging to survive. The girls are starving, winter is here and food is scarce, they can’t have fires as they don’t want to attract the slave runners (which are exactly what you think they are - they take the survivers, turning them into slaves or take them to Arena one to fight to the death for entertainment). But of course Brooke’s younger sister Bree is taken when Brooke is away and she has to get her back, thus starts an endless journey where she faces challenges beyond imagination and fights to get her sister back. Along the way she meets Ben who’s brother is in the same car as Bree, and they work together (insert cliched love interest here, the triangle comes later).
I really don’t know what to say. The book was like an early Jackie Chan film, or some low budget Van Damme movie. Dialogue was horrendous, the plot ridiculous and everything was so far from believable that it might as well have had pink unicorns in.
The writing was shocking (I’m paraphrasing here to give you an idea) ‘I was shocked, I couldn’t believe my eyes, there was an amazing array of jars in front of my shocked, amazed eyes, I blinked away my amazement, still shocked and was amazed to see they were still there, and to my further shock and amazement they were full of amazing products’ and on and on. This girl used ‘shocked’ ‘amazed’ ‘unbelievable’ and didn't believer her eyes on every other line, in many cases using the same words over and over again. You may think I’m exaggerating but I’m really not. It would make a good drinking game, take a shot every time she’s amazed, you’ll be out cold by page 3. Its not just her amazement either, its the descriptions of everything that are repetitive - the spiked walls of the cage had large spikes sticking out, ready to spike their next victim (or something like that).
Then there was the superhuman healing abilities of Brooke, she broke ribs, crashed cars, she was bitten by snakes, had an infection that was so bad she collapsed, but one dose of penicillin cleared it right up, she was starved, punched, shot and so on and so on, yet manages to drive humvees at 100mph and more, jump off buildings and more.
The characters were completely unlikeable, Brooke needs to be shot down with her ‘me me me me’ attitude, which she pretends is about her sister, but in reality is about how the loss of her sister affects HER. She is a right bint (I love that word). Ben is worth nothing, he can’t fight (yet somehow survives - how?!), he’s a wimp and in all honesty the sort of guy I’d of left behind.
There was a lot of discussion about Rice’s politics and the bias in the book, as a UK reviewer I don’t really know a republican from a democrat so can’t comment, what I can say is that it was yet another thing that was beyond belief (see I’m channeling Brooke now). To expect the world to sit by and watch as the US destroys itself, not likely.
So I hear you say - why two stars? Because it was a train wreck, but one you can’t look away from, whereas some books (**carrier of the mark**), I just wanted to end, I enjoyed the guilty pleasure that Arena One is. Once you get past the stupidity that is the plot, the characters and the writing, and accept it for what it is - a fun piece of dumb action, you can enjoy it. I would even go so far to say that I’d consider book 2, maybe not yet, I need to be unamazed for a bit, but one day.
March 4, 2012
I felt my opinion changed for this book more times then I would like. I feel that comparing it to the Hunger Games ruined it for me. Although The Hunger Games was an amazing series, I don't like knowing that this book was written because of it. I kept comparing it with the two and that brought my hopes for this book down significantly. There were so many different things in this book that seemed to almost copy the Hunger Games. Morgan Rice has a great imagination and I loved her Vampire Journals and this is why I gave this book a shot.
The beginning started out great. Getting to know the characters, understanding the plot etc. Then, slowly it seemed to turn for the worse.
Another thing that annoyed me to no end was the fact that the end of every chapter ended with a "my world turned to blackness." or "this is what death feels like" or "this will be my last moment on earth" For the love of god she is a main character and we know she isn't going to die. I know your trying to throw some thrill and anticipation in your chapters but it was so expected and annoying that I seemed to roll my eyes every time I read a line like that.
In the end the story wasn't that bad. I love giving a new series time to grow, so no, I'm not through with this series. I just hope that the second installment to the series is alot more thought out, and less rushed. I felt like it was one big thing to the next and I would have liked to enjoy the characters getting to know each other and spending some sort of "downtime" as we know a single human being can not with stain that much energy/injuries and be on the move through-out almost the entire series.
So I give the book 2.5 stars, not great and I expected a bit more, but lets not give up yet!
The beginning started out great. Getting to know the characters, understanding the plot etc. Then, slowly it seemed to turn for the worse.
Another thing that annoyed me to no end was the fact that the end of every chapter ended with a "my world turned to blackness." or "this is what death feels like" or "this will be my last moment on earth" For the love of god she is a main character and we know she isn't going to die. I know your trying to throw some thrill and anticipation in your chapters but it was so expected and annoying that I seemed to roll my eyes every time I read a line like that.
In the end the story wasn't that bad. I love giving a new series time to grow, so no, I'm not through with this series. I just hope that the second installment to the series is alot more thought out, and less rushed. I felt like it was one big thing to the next and I would have liked to enjoy the characters getting to know each other and spending some sort of "downtime" as we know a single human being can not with stain that much energy/injuries and be on the move through-out almost the entire series.
So I give the book 2.5 stars, not great and I expected a bit more, but lets not give up yet!
July 22, 2015
Today I was cleaning out all my archived books and I ran across this little gem that I read and forgot to review. I should have probably done this a year ago but now I get to base it on memories and impressions. So here goes. I remember thinking this was a poorly done imitation of The Hunger Games. I remember that the main character was basically a kick-ass action chasing adrenaline junky on rocket fuel. Sounds great right? Wrong. Nothing about her seemed real and I couldn't stand her. I think she was trying to rescue her sister (which makes the story unoriginal,aren't they always looking for a sibling after the apocalypse?)and along the way she meets potential love interest number one or two, honestly I cannot remember if there was a triangle or not. The entire story felt like one long action-packed chase scene. If you have ever watched a movie where there is a car chase that goes on and on until finally the car speeds off the end of the bridge, flies through the air and lands, bounces once and lands again perfectly on all four tires and continues speeding along no problem at all, well this is how the story felt to me. I also remember a puppy or a cute little dog of some sort and who doesn't love a puppy?
The worst thing about this book was that the main character was unrealistically unbreakable. She survived mishap after car crash after high speed motorcycle chase practically unscathed.
The best thing about this book was the cover. It really sucked me in. I don't know why, something about it appealed to me.
I've read that fans of The Hunger Games will love this series. I have to disagree. I think fans of the Hunger Games will be really let down by it.
The worst thing about this book was that the main character was unrealistically unbreakable. She survived mishap after car crash after high speed motorcycle chase practically unscathed.
The best thing about this book was the cover. It really sucked me in. I don't know why, something about it appealed to me.
I've read that fans of The Hunger Games will love this series. I have to disagree. I think fans of the Hunger Games will be really let down by it.
October 24, 2015
Three pages was all it took for me to start skimming through this book & cataloging the atrocities committed upon me, the poor, unsuspecting reader. Oh editing, why hast thou forsaken me? The colossally bad writing was enhanced by improbable, laughable scenarios involving our fearless heroine, who keeps insisting she has no idea what she's doing, yet managing to do everything amazingly well. All while grievously injured, undernourished, & starving. My favorite? Impromptu motorcycle chase (she's chasing cars) of speeds up to 160 mph on icy winter roads, culminating in her ramming a car at 150 mph. Car's driver is killed, our heroine survives with bruises. Wow. I could go on. And on. And on. But unlike this book at 1211 pages (ebook), I know when to stop beating a dead horse. If the premise of this book sounds interesting to you, please pick up Blood Red Road by Moira Young instead. Similar concept only it's, um, brilliant.
March 24, 2012
This is another great work by Morgan Rice, which I was able to read for free on Goodreads.
I loved this book; it was a perfect combination of strong characters, an amazing environment and a ton of "edge of your seat" action.
Not giving too much away, this book follows the trials and tribulations of an older sister during a post-apocalyptic event. Enter the presence of radioactively damaged humans and "slave runners" and her already difficult life gets even more challenging. To make things even more interesting, Morgan Rice introduces two polar-opposite male characters who further put our heroine to the test.
This book was so awesome I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Can't wait for the second book in the series, it can't be soon enough for me!
I loved this book; it was a perfect combination of strong characters, an amazing environment and a ton of "edge of your seat" action.
Not giving too much away, this book follows the trials and tribulations of an older sister during a post-apocalyptic event. Enter the presence of radioactively damaged humans and "slave runners" and her already difficult life gets even more challenging. To make things even more interesting, Morgan Rice introduces two polar-opposite male characters who further put our heroine to the test.
This book was so awesome I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Can't wait for the second book in the series, it can't be soon enough for me!
April 21, 2022
I am a high school English teacher. I can read anything. This book, however, was atrocious. I have literally read stories written by kids that were better written than this was. It also seems as if the author has no clue about anything she really needed knowledge about. I rolled my eyes so many times I lost count within the first two chapters.
I couldn’t make myself finish it, so I guess I’ll never know if she ever bothered to try to explain why some illogical American civil war somehow led to a dystopian world as if the rest of the world is irrelevant or doesn’t exist.
One star feels generous.
I couldn’t make myself finish it, so I guess I’ll never know if she ever bothered to try to explain why some illogical American civil war somehow led to a dystopian world as if the rest of the world is irrelevant or doesn’t exist.
One star feels generous.
January 22, 2015
Maybe mild spoilers. Not really.
I can't quite bring myself to give this one star because I did finish it and I did like the overall storyline. But it definitely doesn't get more than two stars. The writing is full of mistakes, practically every other paragraph Brooke is 'shocked' or 'awed' or 'amazed' usually at fairly unexciting things. A lot of things happen suddenly too. 'Suddenly she found the keys' etc. there were also a lot of points where I questioned the realism. Especially when Brooke is feverish and in pain with a multitude of injuries including a bad snake bite and is given an injection of what is apparently penicillin. Which makes some sense because it should stop it getting infected or something. But then Brooke goes to sleep and wakes up magically healed (pretty much) she's not in pain, her leg isn't swelled up it just all seems so unrealistic.
But really the thing that annoyed me the most throughout the book is the totally unnecessary romance element. For most of the first half of the book, Brooke is chasing down slaverunners with Ben who she met at the beginning of her chase. A couple of hours later after minimal interactions mostly orders or shoot or get in the car etc. and while both seriously injured and still worried about their siblings we get this from Brooke: "I find myself losing my sense of time. His are eyes are so sensitive, so out of place here. They are the eyes of a poet, or painter— an artist, a tortured soul. I force myself to look away. There’s something about those eyes that makes me unable to think clearly when I look back at them. I don’t know what it is, and that bothers me. I’ve never felt this way about a boy before." It gets worse as the author tries to set up a love triangle later in the book and it all seems so unnecessary and out of place.
Tl;dr: If there was no mention of romance, some serious editing and removal of unnecessary adjectives and better fact checking I'd probably have enjoyed this a lot more because the storyline was enjoyable.
I can't quite bring myself to give this one star because I did finish it and I did like the overall storyline. But it definitely doesn't get more than two stars. The writing is full of mistakes, practically every other paragraph Brooke is 'shocked' or 'awed' or 'amazed' usually at fairly unexciting things. A lot of things happen suddenly too. 'Suddenly she found the keys' etc. there were also a lot of points where I questioned the realism. Especially when Brooke is feverish and in pain with a multitude of injuries including a bad snake bite and is given an injection of what is apparently penicillin. Which makes some sense because it should stop it getting infected or something. But then Brooke goes to sleep and wakes up magically healed (pretty much) she's not in pain, her leg isn't swelled up it just all seems so unrealistic.
But really the thing that annoyed me the most throughout the book is the totally unnecessary romance element. For most of the first half of the book, Brooke is chasing down slaverunners with Ben who she met at the beginning of her chase. A couple of hours later after minimal interactions mostly orders or shoot or get in the car etc. and while both seriously injured and still worried about their siblings we get this from Brooke: "I find myself losing my sense of time. His are eyes are so sensitive, so out of place here. They are the eyes of a poet, or painter— an artist, a tortured soul. I force myself to look away. There’s something about those eyes that makes me unable to think clearly when I look back at them. I don’t know what it is, and that bothers me. I’ve never felt this way about a boy before." It gets worse as the author tries to set up a love triangle later in the book and it all seems so unnecessary and out of place.
Tl;dr: If there was no mention of romance, some serious editing and removal of unnecessary adjectives and better fact checking I'd probably have enjoyed this a lot more because the storyline was enjoyable.
November 8, 2012
Now, I must say this: This book was completely free, I would not waste my money on a stupid book like this.
Firstly, Morgan's style of writing is awful. It's non-descriptive, stupidly fast-paced and sounds like a load of utter gibberish.
Secondly, Morgan has no imagination. I didn't bother reading the blurb of this book, I just new it was a YA, dystopian, post-apocalypse novel (which was exactly my thing), so I thought: "Why not give it a go"?
I started reading and thought it had a remarkable resemblance to 'The Hunger Games' (which is amazing, btw, obviously!!!) I was right. It DID… (I mean, it might as well have been copyright)! }:-(
I searched up Morgan's other books and found out that they are called: 'The Vampire Journals'. Can you think of a book name like that?…'The Vampire Diaries' maybe??? (Which are a good series of books. The TV show on ITV is great btw, but it's completely inaccurate compared to the books. Team Damon forever!!!)
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the book is RUBBISH. If you're thinking of reading it, THINK AGAIN!!!
Oh, and btw, you cannot relate to the characters at all. They're just stupid, pathetic, wayyyy too heroic (as if!!!) and you cannot relate to them in any way!
Firstly, Morgan's style of writing is awful. It's non-descriptive, stupidly fast-paced and sounds like a load of utter gibberish.
Secondly, Morgan has no imagination. I didn't bother reading the blurb of this book, I just new it was a YA, dystopian, post-apocalypse novel (which was exactly my thing), so I thought: "Why not give it a go"?
I started reading and thought it had a remarkable resemblance to 'The Hunger Games' (which is amazing, btw, obviously!!!) I was right. It DID… (I mean, it might as well have been copyright)! }:-(
I searched up Morgan's other books and found out that they are called: 'The Vampire Journals'. Can you think of a book name like that?…'The Vampire Diaries' maybe??? (Which are a good series of books. The TV show on ITV is great btw, but it's completely inaccurate compared to the books. Team Damon forever!!!)
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that the book is RUBBISH. If you're thinking of reading it, THINK AGAIN!!!
Oh, and btw, you cannot relate to the characters at all. They're just stupid, pathetic, wayyyy too heroic (as if!!!) and you cannot relate to them in any way!
July 19, 2021
A strange title that is severely flawed
Where to begin. How about...
The good.
:The landscape, the amazing story and wholesome Ben.
The bad.
:The grammar errors, the strange love relationships of Brooke and the 5 minute arena setting.
And the ugly.
:The almost dying every chapter... for suspense then in a few words of the next chapter she is all fine, the narrow escapes every time something happens, the zombie like crazies and the endless street names of New York.
All in all, I wish I read this while I was young but right now I am going to leave this series for a while and am actually hesitant to read the second one.
As always...
2 Stars.
Where to begin. How about...
The good.
:The landscape, the amazing story and wholesome Ben.
The bad.
:The grammar errors, the strange love relationships of Brooke and the 5 minute arena setting.
And the ugly.
:The almost dying every chapter... for suspense then in a few words of the next chapter she is all fine, the narrow escapes every time something happens, the zombie like crazies and the endless street names of New York.
All in all, I wish I read this while I was young but right now I am going to leave this series for a while and am actually hesitant to read the second one.
As always...
2 Stars.
May 11, 2017
כמו סרט אקשן. הזכיר לי את "חטופה". שטחי אבל מהנה אם רוצים משהו קליל.
August 27, 2023
I would give this a 2.5 star.
It does not have any real depth, character development or plot twists. It is a read that you don’t have to pay much attention to and is really short.
But, that being said, it was completely action packed. The scenarios in which the characters survived is inconceivable but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a wild ride. I feel like it’s similar to watching an action movie, knowing that no one could survive any of those scenarios but you still enjoy the movie type of vibe.
The author used a lot of repetitive phrasing which can kind of get annoying and I think they gave the characters way too many problems to overcome, it was like it never stopped. As soon as they solved one problem, 5 more would present themselves.
I may check out the rest of the series though, just to see where this insanity goes.
It does not have any real depth, character development or plot twists. It is a read that you don’t have to pay much attention to and is really short.
But, that being said, it was completely action packed. The scenarios in which the characters survived is inconceivable but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a wild ride. I feel like it’s similar to watching an action movie, knowing that no one could survive any of those scenarios but you still enjoy the movie type of vibe.
The author used a lot of repetitive phrasing which can kind of get annoying and I think they gave the characters way too many problems to overcome, it was like it never stopped. As soon as they solved one problem, 5 more would present themselves.
I may check out the rest of the series though, just to see where this insanity goes.
December 1, 2021
I’m counting this as read because I read past 50%. Completely unbelievable, driving high speeds on snow, surviving a motorcycle accident and two or three car accidents? I’m sure somehow she will survive a fight to the death with a professional killer. I can’t. Don’t care, wouldn’t believe it.
Not just that, but the narrator of the audiobook pronounces “corps” as “corpse” “chasm” as “CH-asm” and chassis as “CH-asis”. Does no one proof listen? It’s ridiculous and very off putting.
Not just that, but the narrator of the audiobook pronounces “corps” as “corpse” “chasm” as “CH-asm” and chassis as “CH-asis”. Does no one proof listen? It’s ridiculous and very off putting.
April 29, 2012
If the book The Hunger Games was a tree, you would have a very hard time cutting it down. This is because there would be so many layers of depth to cut through. You would be too tired to continue before getting halfway through.
If Arena One were a tree, it would just take a small poke with your index finger to cut it down because there is no depth. There might be some moss on the tree to symbolize character relationships, but it would be light moss that wouldn't be heavy enough to make much of a difference.
But Jay, books aren't trees! You might say. I would then reply: Books come from paper and paper comes from trees so indirectly books are trees! Then you would say: You're getting off topic! and you would be right and I would continue with the review.
Sometimes I lose myself.
Anyway, if you read the summary of this book, you would probably notice how typical and unoriginal this book's plot is. You would be right. It, like another book we know, is about a teenage girl trying to prevent her sister from competing in a death tournament after their mother abandons them. The fact that this book sounds so much like a certain other dystopian novel that we all know and love should have stopped me right there. To make matters worse, the author has a history of mooching off the success of popular young adult themes. She has a book series about vampires.
But you know how the saying goes: You can't judge a book by its stereotypical plot or its author with a history of writing knock-offs. With that in mind, I read the book.
Big mistake.
Arena One can easily be fit split into five parts. The plot is so lacking in depth that I can summarize those parts in sentence fragments.
Part 1: Nature Walk
Part 2: Car Chase
Part 3: Arena Fighting
Part 4: Rescue Attempt, Part 1
Part 5: Rescue Attempt, Part 2
This book is full of unrealistic action. The protagonist barely escapes death so many times that it is sickening. The writing is awful. Sometimes phrases are repeated over and over again. The editing could also be to blame for this. Arena One boasts no character development, little to think about, and a love triangle. (If you don't think a love triangle is a bad thing, you haven't read enough YA books.) To the book's credit, the story is action packed and although the action is unrealistic, it makes the novel easy to get through.
Bottom Line: If you're an action lover that just wants to read about fights and battles no matter how unrealistic, this book is for you. If you are bothered by poor writing and little depth, leave this one on the shelf.
Grade: D (2 stars)
If Arena One were a tree, it would just take a small poke with your index finger to cut it down because there is no depth. There might be some moss on the tree to symbolize character relationships, but it would be light moss that wouldn't be heavy enough to make much of a difference.
But Jay, books aren't trees! You might say. I would then reply: Books come from paper and paper comes from trees so indirectly books are trees! Then you would say: You're getting off topic! and you would be right and I would continue with the review.
Sometimes I lose myself.
Anyway, if you read the summary of this book, you would probably notice how typical and unoriginal this book's plot is. You would be right. It, like another book we know, is about a teenage girl trying to prevent her sister from competing in a death tournament after their mother abandons them. The fact that this book sounds so much like a certain other dystopian novel that we all know and love should have stopped me right there. To make matters worse, the author has a history of mooching off the success of popular young adult themes. She has a book series about vampires.
But you know how the saying goes: You can't judge a book by its stereotypical plot or its author with a history of writing knock-offs. With that in mind, I read the book.
Big mistake.
Arena One can easily be fit split into five parts. The plot is so lacking in depth that I can summarize those parts in sentence fragments.
Part 1: Nature Walk
Part 2: Car Chase
Part 3: Arena Fighting
Part 4: Rescue Attempt, Part 1
Part 5: Rescue Attempt, Part 2
This book is full of unrealistic action. The protagonist barely escapes death so many times that it is sickening. The writing is awful. Sometimes phrases are repeated over and over again. The editing could also be to blame for this. Arena One boasts no character development, little to think about, and a love triangle. (If you don't think a love triangle is a bad thing, you haven't read enough YA books.) To the book's credit, the story is action packed and although the action is unrealistic, it makes the novel easy to get through.
Bottom Line: If you're an action lover that just wants to read about fights and battles no matter how unrealistic, this book is for you. If you are bothered by poor writing and little depth, leave this one on the shelf.
Grade: D (2 stars)
Read
August 19, 2012This book should appear in a Wikipedia entry for "deus ex machina." It is a very rare example of a specific type of bad writing. It's sentences and dialogue and suspense scenes (even fight scenes) are decently written, without the kind of clunky phrasing that stalks so many amateur authors. However, the plotting is so bad that it cripples the writing. The problem with the plotting mostly is the excessive use of the deus ex machina, ie a magical object or solution showing up to every problem. Losing a fight? A weapon falls from the sky. Attacked by a horde of crazies? Oh, is that a machine gun at my feet? Do I need help? Oh, how about a handy male that is attractive just my age and just in the right place at the right time, and is also mysteriously interested in helping me despite the threats to his life that appear at two-minute intervals?
I laughed my way through 80% of this book, marveling at the huge strains on my credulity. Among others:
The rest of the time, I waited with bated breath to see what totally ridiculous magical solution would appear to every problem. My absolute favorite
I would read this book in creative writing classes as an example of what not to do, or in your spare time for a good laugh, but not for quality entertainment.
I laughed my way through 80% of this book, marveling at the huge strains on my credulity. Among others:
The rest of the time, I waited with bated breath to see what totally ridiculous magical solution would appear to every problem. My absolute favorite
I would read this book in creative writing classes as an example of what not to do, or in your spare time for a good laugh, but not for quality entertainment.
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