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Arena One (The Survival Trilogy #1)

by Morgan Rice (Goodreads Author)

3.34 of 5 stars 3.34 · rating details · 1,181 ratings · 217 reviews

Visit www.morganricebooks.com to download several free chapters from the #1 Bestselling ARENA ONE: SLAVERUNNERS!

After her sister is captured by slaverunners, Brooke teams up on a rescue mission with with another survivor, Ben, whose brother was also taken. What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller where they will have to make some of the hardest choices an...more

Paperback, 300 pages

Published February 2nd 2012 by Morgan Rice

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Feb 28, 2012 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 ther...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Jord¥n rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: dystopian-apocalyptic, young-adult, beyond-crap, will-never-read-again, wtf, id-rather-read-twilight, disappointed, fanfiction-fuck-ups

I hate goodreads. They need to have a 0 star because this book needs it -_-

Ok I cant read this shit no more. Yes this book is shit. I'm not one for saying that books are utter trash(except twilight) but this has gone too far. Cant read anymore. Made it to 55%..... one of the most painful books I've ever read. I actually had the urge to read twilight...sssshh . Hey atleast with twilight shit goes down..

This feels like complete fanfiction for the hunger games and other popular dystopian novels. Bi...more I hate goodreads. They need to have a 0 star because this book needs it -_-

Ok I cant read this shit no more. Yes this book is shit. I'm not one for saying that books are utter trash(except twilight) but this has gone too far. Cant read anymore. Made it to 55%..... one of the most painful books I've ever read. I actually had the urge to read twilight...sssshh . Hey atleast with twilight shit goes down..

This feels like complete fanfiction for the hunger games and other popular dystopian novels. Big surprise right? *cue in eye roll* bs. With the hunger games movie coming up who wouldn't expect this.

Besides the obvious copyright, this book is B-O-R-I-N-G. Honestly for about 30% of the book is the sister finding the cabin and walking in the woods. There's hardly any dialogue which is so annoying. And when "stuff" actually started to happen I felt so embarrassed to be reading it. Its so unrealistic. Is it possible to be doing 140 on a motor bike make a jump and land on ice without any damage or toppling over? I'm sorry but to me that's just not possible jack. There are more "epic" scenes like this that make the book seem like a tom cruise action movie. I'm glad I didn't read the fight arena scenes. Ill make a bet it will be like gladiator ...

I also felt that the characters were developed way too fast while other ones later in the book weren't. That just bothers me.

DOES EVERY DAMN BOOK/SERIES NEED A FUCKING LOVE TRIANGLE? ! Seriously? ? I feel it coming in this trilogy but it feels like there is no need for one.

Buut teh moste annoyong theng is teh constant mispellings! Come on! This author has SEVEN other books published, wouldn't you think she would get spelling right by now? Doesn't she have access to a dictionary or spellcheck???

What I think this book really is is just pure fanfiction...

In the end fellow bookworms I recommend NOT reading this. It says “If you liked THE HUNGER GAMES, you will Love ARENA ONE.” for a reason people. So please don't waste precious $ on this :(

Now I'm not sure I'll be reading her vampire journals ...(less)

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Sep 08, 2012 Hilary rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-teen, sf-f

I was enjoying it in the beginning, and then it unfortunately went downhill with errors and inconsistencies that became increasingly annoying.

(view spoiler)...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Tania Rock rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, my-ebooks

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 mor...more

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Mar 10, 2012 Hayden Casey marked it as if-theres-nothing-else-to-read

Wow. Capitalizing off of the success of dystopian fiction, much?

like 9 likes · see review

Mar 23, 2013 Karen rated it 2 of 5 stars

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 lau...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Carolyn rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, young-adult, romance, wvreads150

In an inferior rip-off of The Hunger Games, teenaged Brooke must rescue her kidnapped younger sister from slavers (view spoiler). Brooke’s reckless romp through post-apocalyptic New York City alongside her romantic interest Ben may set some hearts pounding, but overall the story is an entirely forgettable imitation of The Hunger Games that copies all of the book’s superficially thrilling elements but none of its though...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spunky-and-go-to-lead-gal, dystopia, couldn-t-put-down

I got Arena One for free as an e-book on my Kindle (via Amazon,but I was alerted to its existence by the teen lit newsletter alicemarvels). Normally I am skeptical about books that I get for free online because not all of them are well written. Imagine my surprise when I ended up completely engrossed in this post-apocalyptic story. The characters were believable, especially Brooke. She wasn't the jack-of-all trades like you see many heroes and heroines become after five minutes of being thrust i...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Genesis Blue rated it 2 of 5 stars

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. (view spoiler)...more 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. (view spoiler)

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.(less)

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Oct 27, 2012 Amber rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian, fiction, trilogy

If you picked Arena One up because you loved Hunger Games then you will be disappointed. With that said this book had its good points. For myself the beginning dragged on and it took a while for the book to jump start. One of my friends read it ahead of me and she said, "keep reading".

The book is about a girl who is a survivor, and taking care of her sister. (sound familiar) Arena One is criticized in several reviews because of the similarities in plot (sisters, one being taken, fighting to the...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Lexie rated it 2 of 5 stars

While I hate to disagree with a bestselling author, in this case I have to. Her quote of “If you liked the Hunger Games you’ll love Arena One” was not accurate for me, and unfortunately why I chose to buy Arena One. The Hunger Games gave much more depth of character, subplots of power regime, and well thought out traps, twists and turns, and terror that filled the “games” themselves. Arena One starts off interestingly enough, but I wanted to scream at Brooke not to leave her sister the day she w...more While I hate to disagree with a bestselling author, in this case I have to. Her quote of “If you liked the Hunger Games you’ll love Arena One” was not accurate for me, and unfortunately why I chose to buy Arena One. The Hunger Games gave much more depth of character, subplots of power regime, and well thought out traps, twists and turns, and terror that filled the “games” themselves. Arena One starts off interestingly enough, but I wanted to scream at Brooke not to leave her sister the day she went back to the cabin after both of them having the same nightmares. However, if she had there wouldn’t have been a book.

Brooke is in desperate pursuit of her sister Bree when she is taken by Slaverunners, and stops only to pick up Ben, whose brother was also taken. Brooke mentions that she has no “real skills” to help with survival, all of her skills were taught to her by her Marine father. So, readers at least know that she will be fighting in Arena One and will have the “necessary fighting skills” to survive. I have to admit though, the page that depicted her in the cell with Ben and their conversation where he tells her to “just survive” In my mind it was a blatant rip off, almost bordering on plagiarism of the conversation between Katniss and Pim from the Hunger Games. Considering how much I read and remember each book, that conversation really made me upset. As all authors read, many ideas are repurposed or inspired by other books. However, I’ve never encountered a conversation that was so similar to another book, where just a few words were substituted, that it threw me off that much. It left a sour taste in my mouth.
+
Yes, this is a dystopian world, and at the end I did feel that the characters had developed a little. I will admit to being curious where Rice is going with this series, and I might read the next book.

However, do not jump into this book thinking it’s going to have the same creativity, underlying plots, or fleshed out characters that The Hunger Games Did.

Rice would have been better served to not have that quote listed, and simply let readers decide if they wanted the book based off of her synopsis and reviews.
(less)

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Jul 13, 2012 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Following America's second Civil War, Brooke Moore finds herself surviving off the land in the remote Catskill Mountains with her little sister Bree. Few survived the war, and those that have are either in hiding like Brooke or are savage, ruthless, and thrive on death. They struggle to survive with no contact with the outside world and try to elude "slaverunners", people who capture survivors of the war and bring them to fight in Arena One for sport, where nobody survives or to be sent...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Amber Lashell rated it 4 of 5 stars

I will admit, before this book, I had never read anything post-apocalyptic before. I never thought they would be something I would enjoy. So when Morgan contacted me about reviewing her new book (I had reviewed her books before) I was excited to finally try something new, even though I didn't have high hopes.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised at how addicting this book one. Arena One was one of those books that you read late into the night until your eyes start to cross because you don't want...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Grace rated it 1 of 5 stars

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 b...more 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:(view spoiler)[The slaverunners seem to be combing the countryside for candidates to throw into the Arena, mainly to entertain themselves. But... They live in a wasteland full of murderously psychotic "crazies". Why the hell would you burn through precious fuel for a 6-hour round-trip trek to pick up some half-starved mountain kids when you have some perfectly good psychotics bouncing around in your backyard? It's not even like they make the kids fight each other; they're thrown into a ring with what seem to be professional wrestlers armed with snakes and armor. Considering the "crazies" know how to do stuff like orchestrate ambushes and fire RPGs (where the hell did they get that, by the way?), surely they would be more entertaining in a fight than an emaciated 17 year old.

Sigh. Once Bree is kidnapped, Brooke spends an insane amount of time in a car chase. She gets into accidents that should kill her, at the very least concuss her, but it seems this half-starved teenager can't be killed given she sustains multiple head injuries but is able to then emerge victorious from three brutal cage matches and still jump from a Hummer onto a moving bus. Brooke is also special in that she is a nasty, snapping turtle of a girl, but then she suddenly starts eyeing up her companions and assuming they are crushing on her/jealous of each other. It's very weird. Then there are entire chapters of the book when all dialogue is screamed - literally, "I scream" rather than "I say". And every chapter ends on a "we're going to die" cliffhanger, becoming so overused that I just started sniggering when 50 assailants raced towards our brutally-injured, pinned-down hero because SHE NEVER DIES. The author keeps trying to up the ante with more lopsided odds, but it's just farce after a certain point. Don't bother with the cliffhanger.

There's a crap history lesson early on that attempts to explain how we got into a second Civil War and ended up nuking each other, but that still doesn't explain what the hell is going on with the slaverunner thing. Frustratingly, Brooke doesn't show any interest in piecing together how society has evolved, so I'm totally in the dark as to which factions are in play other than "survivors" and "slaverunners". But the author takes GREAT pains to laboriously detail Brooke's journey through New York City. Why? I have no idea. Possibly because she lives here and is weirdly fixated on directions? Honestly, it's beyond my explanation.

At one point we are going street by street through Lower Manhattan, as though you're expected to follow along at home with a map. So that's just ridiculous, but even worse? The meticulous description of Manhattan is a faithful rendering of TODAY'S Manhattan. But the action is taking place in 2117. Brooke is sprinting through the streets and mournfully remembering things that are true now, in 2013, but which definitely shouldn't be true in 2117. Basically, it's the equivalent of me writing a book about 2015 and telling you all about my favorite telegraph office and how fondly I remember the sheep roaming the meadows of Central Park. In fact, let's take a quick jaunt through the locations Rice mentions in Arena One, but as they were in 1900:

Central Park

Times Square

Union Square

South Street Seaport

Can you imagine me trying to pass off 1900s NYC as a valid representation of 2013 NYC? Just looking at city trends, I would expect the 2117 city to be structured in a way that prevents much private vehicle use, and at one point she mentions cigarette smoke wafting into her window... Not sure that one's going to maintain either. Times Square is rapidly becoming pedestrianized, and just thinking about the cycle of Times Square: in 1900 you could park a buggy in it. In 1980, you could pick up a prostitute or rent a booth to watch a porno, and very possibly step on a needle. In 2013, you can visit the M&M store with your children and then frolic for the jumbotron cameras while sipping a pumpkin latte, and the most sinister threat is the guy in the Elmo costume who might get pissy if you don't tip him for a photo. Oh, and the names of boroughs and neighborhoods evolve over time too, just look at Brooklyn. CITIES CHANGE.

I'm not even going to go into the motorcycle/car chases that exceed 140 mph. I don't think the author has ever driven a car, based on what she thinks a car can do on winter roads that haven't been maintained in years. Or that people can survive crashes at those speeds (again and again! Invulnerable children!). Oh, and at one point she claims you can do 140mph in Manhattan in a Camero. Right. Bombed-out, riot-torn NYC and you think you can get clearance to build that sort of speed. This is just such utter bullshit that I'm surprised editors didn't laugh her out of the building. (hide 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.(less)

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Apr 05, 2012 W rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-read

This dystopian YA novel seemed very promising, with the main character out to save her sister from slave traders in the post-apocalyptic New York City. In the summary I read online, there were also hints of a Hunger Games-esque arena where these prisoners are forced to fight for entertainment. Having loved the Hunger Games, I figured I'd give it a try. I'd recommend to others... stick to the Hunger Games.

There wasn't anything overtly terrible about this book. The characters were okay, the plot w...more

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Mar 19, 2012 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: march-read-challenge

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I was really excited to read it, but it really just kind of flopped for me. I feel like it tried really hard to be as awesome has HG, but it didn't come close. The writing was just so-so, there was way too much of Brooke just thinking to herself and far too little actual dialogue between the characters. We learn everything about the state of the world, Brooke's past, her relationship with her father, etc. with these LOOOOONG drawn out thought streams...more I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. I was really excited to read it, but it really just kind of flopped for me. I feel like it tried really hard to be as awesome has HG, but it didn't come close. The writing was just so-so, there was way too much of Brooke just thinking to herself and far too little actual dialogue between the characters. We learn everything about the state of the world, Brooke's past, her relationship with her father, etc. with these LOOOOONG drawn out thought streams she has. I got bored pretty fast of her analyzing everything, and it was way too much 'setting the scene' without anything actually happening. It felt claustrophobic being stuck in her mind for so much of the book!!

The first 20% of the book was a chore to get through because nothing really happened, and with virtually no dialogue it got really monotonous. Once Brooke's sister is taken, I think things will finally pick up and we'll get some good story. Instead, what follows is a series of events so unbelievably preposterous and drawn-out that I actually laughed. I don't think it was supposed to be funny. The motorcycle/car chase scenes that took a good 20% of the story were just not good. I mean, she's driving around in a motorcycle with Ben in the bucket seat on the side, but she's going 140 mph+ through the forrest?!! And we get EVERY detail about the chase scenes...every time she accelerated to catch up it's written as 'I take it to 110...120...130...140...150', and I mean EVERY time. And every time Brooke was analyzing how much further she has to go, we got lines like 'I'm 2 miles behind...now I've caught up and I'm within 1 mile of them', or 'I'm almost there, just 300 yards...200....100'; it was so much unnecessary filler that I couldn't believe it was all left in the story. It was SO repetitive!! It didn't help that whole car chase was so ridiculously impossible; they are shot at, flipped over, slammed into trees, have the road blown up in front of them, and are ejected from the vehicle, but somehow they manage to keep up with the slaverunners??

What FINALLY perked my interest was when Brooke, having survived the arduous vehicle beating, made it to the city and was brought before the leader. HE was interesting, and I was hoping something would happen between him and Brooke that could really bring some excitement into the story. But it wasn't to be, and instead we get a series of scenes that were arguably even more impossible than the insane journey leading up to that point. Brooke is forced to fight in the arena, and we discover that apparently she's invincible (not really, but she'd have to be to make these scenes at all possible); it would even explain why the car chase scenes didn't affect her too much. But no, she actually just musters up some super-strength that only comes to her when she thinks of her marine dad's voice in her head saying things like 'Get up, Brooke! Fight, Brooke! Move, Brooke!'. The romance wasn't written in any better, which was a big disappointment. Both of the guys could have been great love interests, but they were not at all developed enough. Brooke apparently just assumes guys like her and starts liking them as soon as they meet, again with little dialogue or storyline to give it any real sense of believability. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters in this story because there was just nothing behind it to pull me in.

If you're looking for your new HG fix, this does not come close to the character development and creative plot/settings. I was not at all impressed with this book, but that's just me. On to the next one! =)(less)

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Mar 28, 2013 Nicole rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: waste-of-time

Well, that sucked.
I didn't like it right from the start, but still I kept on reading, hoping it would redeem itself. Infact, it just got worse.

First of all, the characters were unrelatable, boring, and they just HAPPENED to know how to do everything. And they all seemed immune to the injurys they recieved.(view spoiler)...more

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Feb 05, 2013 Abby Leach rated it 1 of 5 stars

Man, this was disappointing. I was pretty interested in reading this book, but ended up skimming the last 50 pages just trying to finish the darn thing!

Morgan Rice attempts to paint the picture of a regular girl that is forced by the post-apocalyptic society to do what she has to do to save her sister. Instead she shows Brooke as a regular girl that just so happens to have been trained by her dad to, well, pretty much be a Marine. Rrrright. I think that the author has also underestimated the pai...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Megan rated it 5 of 5 stars

As the Post-Apocalypse fan that i am, i thoroughly enjoyed this book.
-No Spoilers-
i'll try to keep this as brief as possible.
It starts out slow,with two sisters and a dog struggling to survive in a cabin high in the Catskill Mountains. They're hiding from the 'Slaverunners,' who drag young kids(under 18 or so) to fight to the death in a small, bare, arena with a live audience surrounding them. Something then happens, and the main character, and older sister, Brooke, goes on the journey of her l...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Wave Likora rated it 2 of 5 stars

Personally, I wasn't so sure about this book.

At first, it sounded interesting enough. I was like, "Yeah, emkay. I'll read it and see what happens." Now, it sounded awfully like the Hunger Games. I mean, Arena One. Later in the book it's like wrestling mixed with the HG.

The factor that got me into it a little was the whole apocolyptic thingy. It's basically another American Civil War. I thought that was awesome because it means the other countries are probably okay. Though, on this factor, ne...more

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May 10, 2012 Becky rated it 2 of 5 stars

Take the Hunger Games and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and mix together and you have this book. Seems like you would have an incredible book. I LOVED Mad Max and the Hunger Games. So why didn't I love this book?

I think it boils down to 2 main reasons. First, some of the details were just so drawn out. I read this as a ebook so I can't tell you exactly how many pages but it seemed like it must have been 20 or so pages devoted to a car chase. After a while, you know what I did, I just started flipp...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Chrissy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, read-in-2012

Okay, so this book advertises itself as being perfect for fans of THE HUNGER GAMES. So, why did I pick it up, given that I haven't even read THE HUNGER GAMES?

Maybe because it was one of the few e-books available in my sad little library's collection?

I really don't have much to say about this one. The action-adventure type genre just doesn't appeal that much to me -- even in YA literature.

I guess I got suckered in by that one word. Post-apocalyptic. Okay, that's two words.

Basic premise sounds pr...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Mindy rated it 2 of 5 stars

1.5 stars.
Y'all know Stefon - the city correspondent who pops up from time to time on SNL's Weekend Update? He gets on there usually around a holiday of some sort and offers up his take on where to go to really see NYC. Arena One was a bit like that skit; I can hear Stefon in my head saying, "And this book has it all: teenage girls, pre-teen sisters, motorcyles that start up after being left dormant for years, lots of improbable car chases, a heroine who suffers a ton of physical ailments but d...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Val rated it 1 of 5 stars

This has to be one of the most unrealistic books I have ever read! Yes, I read books about vamps and fairies and aliens, but you go into those knowing they are magic and fantasy. This book is set in the real world, with no magic etc to dig it out.

There is constant action...imagine the most ridiculous "guy"shoot em up movie and then put it on crack. The main chick should have died at least 3 times during the first half of the book. I can appreciate action, but there needs to be some believabilit...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Lady Knight rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: regional-library, e-book, americas, science-fiction, teen, dystopian-post-apocalyptic

This was... ... ...I don't even have a word to describe what this was. 'Atrocious' might come close, but then again I did give this two stars not one... okay so maybe 'Terrible' is a little closer to the mark.

My main reason for picking up this up was that it was available for free, promised to be an adventure, and I had nothing else readily available to read. Given those facts I'm perhaps being more lenient with it than I should be. That said though, I still have a few bones to pick with Arena...more This was... ... ...I don't even have a word to describe what this was. 'Atrocious' might come close, but then again I did give this two stars not one... okay so maybe 'Terrible' is a little closer to the mark.

My main reason for picking up this up was that it was available for free, promised to be an adventure, and I had nothing else readily available to read. Given those facts I'm perhaps being more lenient with it than I should be. That said though, I still have a few bones to pick with Arena One:

1) The characters are poorly developed overall. This is certainly not a book where you become attached to the characters, or even their principles. Ben is likeable enough, Brooke is utterly unbearable (even if her devotion to her sister's safety is admirable), Bree is forgetable, Logan is blank slate of a macho-man.

2) Shock value for the sake of shock value. There is plenty of violence and even sex in this novel, and 99% of it is purely for the sake of making the reader gasp (view spoiler). I get that post-apocalyptic worldbuilding lends itself to making the setting a rough-and-tumble place, but do we really need to go this level? Especially since neither the characters nor the worldbuilding is all that great or well done? No. No we do not.

3)Utterly predictable. Maybe I'm becoming something of a book snob, but I like my books to surprise me now and then, and not having my predictions about how this will all end (which I make in the first chapter or so) be bang on when I get to the last word of the last page. Be original! Or at least hone your writing craft to the point that I don't care how predictable it all is because I'm madly in love with your characters, your setting, or even the way you string a sentence together! Please do not publish bad fan fiction as genuine original ficiton and then not even bother to have it edited. *sigh*.

I could also point out that the novel plays fast and loose with the laws of physics and the natural world ... and not in any fantastical, worldbuilding way, but more in an I-did-no-research-and-am-hoping-no-one-notices way.

Overall, this book is NOTHING like The Hunger Games (please ignore the blurbs that say it is... that book had depth and a message! This has blank slate characters, bad science, and a running theme of 'I don't care how bad that injury looks/feels, as long as it wasn't a point-blank shot to the head you can tough it out!'. Not I read I'd recommend.(less)

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Jun 24, 2012 Meadow rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocolyptic, young-adult

Well, I think that the idea was there, however, it didn't have the follow through. The writing didn't have much feeling to it. It was almost technical in design and became a barrier to me being drawn into the story. I found the constant update on vehicle speed to be cumbersome and unnecessary, and too many times I read nearly, if not the exact same wording from fight to fight and even paragraph to paragraph. Every chapter was left with what was supposed to be an awesome cliff-hanger, but after t...more

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May 15, 2013 ♥Bella★✰ rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-book, ebook, dystopian, fiction, series, young-adult-fiction-series

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One of my book groups has a monthly challenge. The challenge was dystopian fiction for the month of May. When I put Dystopian in the search feature of the library this book came up. After starting I realized its not dystopian it is post-apocalyptic. Since I had started it I figured I should finish it.

The novel is set in upstate NY after the 2nd world war which included the firing of nuclear missiles. There are roving bands of Slaverunners, looking for people to entertain them in “Arena Fights”....more One of my book groups has a monthly challenge. The challenge was dystopian fiction for the month of May. When I put Dystopian in the search feature of the library this book came up. After starting I realized its not dystopian it is post-apocalyptic. Since I had started it I figured I should finish it.

The novel is set in upstate NY after the 2nd world war which included the firing of nuclear missiles. There are roving bands of Slaverunners, looking for people to entertain them in “Arena Fights”. Brooke lives in the Catskills with her sister hiding from these roving bands, one day her sister is captured and taken to NYC. The rest of the story is Brooke chasing after the gang to rescue her teamed up with Ben, whose brother was also taken.

This was the most ridiculous novel I have ever read. I like the action scenes, they flowed quickly but there was so much that was unbelievable that it interfered with my enjoyment of the book. For instance, the slave runners have Hummers, Brooke drives into one of them with a motorcycle and disables it. Then with a broken rib she runs, jumps and climbs. With her only driving experience a motorcycle she is then able to drive the Hummer at speeds in excess of 100 MPH. The Humvee rolls ending up on its roof, and Brooke has more injuries but is able to rock the Hummer over on its wheels and the only damage to the Hummer is a flat tire.

Also during the war missiles exploded around NYC the people who weren't killed are called Bio-victims and have melted faces and mental problems, if you're that close to a nuclear missile you don't get a melted face you get dead, you don't go crazy you die.

Brooke follows the slaverunners into NYC through the streets and Central Park, then she crashes into the glass cube where the Apple store is. After trying so hard to make it seem 'real', Brooke states she crashes through the Apple store, however the cube is above the Apple store, if Brooke had crashed into the cube she would have fallen into the store.

Earlier in the book Brooke striped a dead slaverunner of his clothes which included steel toed boots that 'climbed all the way up my shin', then when she is fighting in the Arena she gets bitten by a snake in her calf which is covered with these super boots.

In NYC there are 'crazies' more victims of the missiles who have somehow obtained grenade launchers and grenades. How they did this when the slaverunners own everything is never explained.

The last thing I remember is when they escape from NY they steal a boat and Brooke mentions she has 'driven boats all her life'. She never mentioned this before and how does a girl who grew up in Manhattan, with occasional trips to the Catskill 'drive boats all her life'?

Those are the things I remember and are the reason I don't recommend this book.(less)

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Jul 10, 2012 Jasmine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Young Adult

People have compared this to The Hunger Games. And I can see why, but it’s actually quite different. War has broken out through the US, and divided the country. Most of the population is dead.

17 year old Brooke looks after herself and her sister Bree - living high up in the mountains alone, out of sight of the Slaverunners who kidnap people to fight to the death in ‘Arena One.’ So far they have stayed out of sight, but one day whilst Brooke is out, they kidnap her little sister...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Victoria marked it as maybe-read

Hmm....Arena one: Slavehunters sounds suspiciously just like the Hunger Games. I hope this isn't a rip-off of The Hunger Games. -_-

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Aug 05, 2012 Jay Jason rated it 1 of 5 stars

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...more

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About Morgan Rice

Morgan is author of the #1 Bestselling THE SORCERER'S RING, a new epic fantasy series, currently comprising four books and counting, which has been translated into five languages.

Morgan Rice is also author of the #1 Bestselling THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, a young adult series comprising eight books, which has been translated into six languages.

Morgan is also author of the #1 Bestselling THE VAMPIRE LEGA...more

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Arena One (The Survival Trilogy #1)

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