Arena One: Slaverunners

I found this almost too unbearably bad to continue. Brooke was completely, unbelievably reckless. Especially so, because we are supposed to believe that she kept herself and her sister Bree off the grid and safe for three years. Yet she acts dangerously time and again. Other things that really bothered me about this book… Brooke is seriously injured, including broken ribs, early in her harrowing journey. Yet, she gets up and still performs incredibly feats like climbing fences and jumping off buildings. I wanted to believe. But a person who is malnourished and has been in hiding and then in multiple car wrecks and a cage match, just cannot believably jump into the air, catch a rope off a speeding boat and pull herself up.

I gave two show more stars because the author really knows how to write an action sequence. And while it wasn’t at all believable from a character perspective, I wondered how she would wrap it all up. show less

I did want to enjoy this book. It was marketed as a Hunger Games-esque fight for survival, and I enjoy those sorts of books. However, it failed. Hard.

First off, Brooke has to be one of the dumbest survivors I've ever read about. Her and her sister are starving and there's a clearing just up a hill that they've never bothered to explore. They've been in that house for years and not even during the summer have they explored? Whatever. Not to mention that whole business about not making fires. Set up a simple alarm system to warn you if anyone is coming down the road and then make a small fire. It doesn't have to be the size of your house you know.

Honestly, the first third of the book just pissed me off. There were so many things she could show more have done to make surviving in the mountains so much easier for herself and her sister and yet she didn't. Even finding or making a shelter that wasn't directly in the wind patterns would have been nice.

The writing was also pretty bad. So many times, Brooke talked about how she knew x but did y instead. No. In first person writing, you don't have that fallback. Maybe once or twice. Maybe. Not every other paragraph like this.

A minor thing I hated was the meal she got before heading into the arena. Eating that much rich food that fast, especially if you were as malnourished as Brooke claimed to be,would cause major health problems. And then, the whole last scene on the boat would put all of their metabolisms out of sync (except maybe Logan).

Everything else was okay. Brooke seemed to get over her compunctions about murder pretty quickly, and neither of the two school buses of innocent girls she killed bothered her but whatever. I can tell this is shaping up to be a love triangle which I hate. Ben was essentially useless after he went to find his brother (who I don't think even got a name) so he might as well have died. Plus, no, Brooke did NOT owe him anything for helping her and Bree with food that first winter. It came off as very skeezy. No idea what Logan's motivations are, but he seems to be a typical action dude with a fridged girl in his past. Oh, that reminds me, hello Mrs. Everdeen! I'm not kidding. After her husband is dead/never coming back, she sits in a chair and does nothing, causing the older sister to resent her and take on a parenting role to the younger sister. I guess in that way this book is the Hunger Games, with the plot of Taken shoved into the last few chapters.

Basically, this is a poor imitation riding on the coattails of the Hunger Games. Just read the dang originals - you won't miss anything here. show less

This is a very interesting action-packed book that starts slowly and goes on a crescendo and suddenly there is not a single idle moment until you turn the last page. The book describes an America that was devastated by war and people fighting for survival. Two young ladies flee from New York City where they used to live with their parents. After the father left them to fight in the war, the mother lost herself and believed her husband would return. Knowing better, our heroine Brooke takes her sister and leaves NY just in time, when NY is falling in the hands of gangs. She starts her struggle to survive outside, in a hostile environment, where slaverunners seek people to fight to death in their arenas, just for entertainment of the show more remaining dominant population. When things looks like are turning for the best for our two ladies, while Brooke goes out to do some exploratory hiking, the slaverunners capture her young sister Bree and the story picks up its pace and from there on, it is a thriller on every turn of the page. Brooke meets Ben that also just lost his young brother to the slaverunners and both start an impossible rescue mission. When they need it most, help comes from a young man (Logan) and a love triangle is created.
The point of being a fiction book is that you believe in what you want. I enjoyed the book very much. The plot is interesting and even if winning all battles against all odds is not a realistic scenario, just cheer up for our heroine and let her success be contagious.
I recommend this book for all readers that have a strong heart and an imagination that can accommodate an invincible heroine. They will be entertained for hours! show less

A poorly disguised ripoff from the hunger games. Glad I didn't waste my money on the whole book. Well written, but unoriginal. Would give 1.5 stars if possible.

Entertaining but written like an action movie screenplay. Character development and plot sacrificed at every turn for gory action and ridiculous last minute saves. Would still make an incredibly dumb movie btw.

Leuk verhaal, waarin Amerika opnieuw te lijden heeft onder een burgeroorlog.

Jammer dat ook dit boek vol staat met storende taalfouten, net als andere Both die ik van deze schrijver gelezen heb. De vertalingen zijn dermate storend dat ik de volgende delen in het Engels ga proberen te krijgen

Het grootste deel van het boek gaat over een, onmogelijke, autorit op hoge snelheid, die bestaat uit het verongelukken, bewusteloos raken, opnieuw een autorit, tot bijna aan het einde, waar nog gauw eventjes een einde gemaakt moest worden. De hoofdpersoon, Brooke, zou al vele malen gestorven moeten zijn, maar nee, ze komt, bijna, onbeschadigd te voorschijn uit al deze ongelukken.

Dit e-boek was gratis, anders zou het echt een verspilling van geld show more zijn geweest. En van papier. show less

I have read the other reviews and I don't necessarily disagree however, I was entertained. I found the book to be very enjoyable and it did suck me in and I was able to finish it in just a couple of evenings. There was a lot of action which kept my attention and I look forward to reading the other books.