From Morgan Rice, number-one best-selling author of The Vampire Journals, comes the first book in a new trilogy of dystopian fiction.
New York, 2120: America has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this postapocalyptic world, survivors are few and far between. And most of those who do survive are members of 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 is 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, using 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, while 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?
©2012 Morgan Rice (P)2012 Morgan Rice
"If you liked The Hunger Games, you will love Arena One." (Allegra Skye, best-selling author of Saved)
"Arena One: Slaverunners bk 1, pt 1 and pt 2"
What a ride!
Pt. 1: Brooke, because her father was a marine and taught her at a young age how to fight and take care of herself. So she is does whatever she can to protect and rescue her younger sister Bree from the slaverunners after they took her from their mountain home. Then she meets Ben, another survivor, whose brother has also been taken. This is when they team up to get her sister and his brother back. If, they don't get killed or put into the arena to fight and die first. Pt. 2: When trying to save Bree and Ben's brother, Brooke and Ben are caught by the slaverunners and are made to fight in the arena. It is amazing that they even survive. That is when they meet Logan, a former slaverunner, and he helps them to escape. All the while Brooke is finding that she has feelings for Ben and Logan, which confuses her. This is a fast and crazy ride and Morgan Rice has done a fantastic job. It's like one of the best roller coaster rides that I have ever been on, and I can't wait to read the second book. This a must read for any Morgan Rice fan. I give it 2 tumbs up. GO Morgan!
I like her voice she is very clear and easy to listen to.
No, being a novel I knew it would take more than one sitting to listen to.
I liked the flow of the book. It kept me interested to the very end. And, it kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen further down the line. It is also something you can actually see happening in the world today in the very near future.
"Huge disappointment."
This story had great potential, but it seemed more like a rough draft than something ready to be published. The reader did an okay job with what she had to work with, but if I was her, I'd be irate that something was published with so many mistakes. Was it laziness or what? She trips on some words and has to repeat a phrase, more than once. Now anybody reading a book would do this, but to not go back and re-record that paragraph is just ridiculous! The same descriptive words are used over and over. The protagonist keeps getting hurt, near fatally, and then the "next day" those injuries are forgotten as she is injured again.
I don't usually write reviews because I'm not very good at describing what I've read. I'm also not a big critic. I enjoy "brain candy" type novels as well as serious ones. This was just so poorly executed that I feel like I need to warn others.
So, in a nutshell; the story had potential to be great but its execution was terrible. Blatant mistakes, unbelievable injury, in great need of a thesaurus and an editor!
Edit, edit, edit. This would be okay if it were a first draft. With a lot of polishing up it could have been great.
I don't think it was her fault...
Disappointment. There were so many mistakes I couldn't do the whole "suspension of disbelief" thing.