Reviews

Characters = 1
Setting = 3
Writing = 1
Plot = 1
Intrigue = 2
Enjoyment = 2
(1.7/5.0)

I knew nothing about this book nor the author before starting it. While I usually enjoy books in this genre, this book fell flat because it didn't have any redeeming qualities.

Plot:
This book has gigantic in-your-face parallels with the Hunger Games. A main character who is barely scraping by, is good at archery, and has a dead father and younger innocent/sweet sister-like character? Check. A "game" that a) has teenagers pitted against each other; b) is watched by the general populace as source of entertainment; c) has weapons and healing items dropped off in the arena; and d) has kids from well-off families who train for it and are excited by it, but also kids from poorer families who are pretty much expected to die right away? Check. There are also parallels to other books, as other reviewers have noted, such as the hedge maze in Harry Potter. I understand taking inspiration from previous authors, but this just seemed way too unoriginal.

Outside of the parallelisms, the plot itself is a little confusing with noticeable gaps. For example, what is the purpose of the audience voting with the trials? That is brought up multiple times, but nothing ever comes from it. During the ending, which is arguably the most enjoyable part of the book, a major plot point is revealed that really just made me go "huh?" because it seemed just too convenient and not very believable.

Writing & Characters:
The writing made the book hard to get through. It feels like the author was trying too hard; the sentences are very clunky, repetitive, and suffer from an overuse of adjectives. Every movement the characters make is noted - on one page, a character will run their hand through their hair three times. Paedyn's "ocean" eyes are noted throughout the entire book. The dialogue comes off as highly unrealistic and there is too much of it with no substance. There is a lot of telling, and not a lot of showing. And, as others have mentioned, there is a completely unnecessary female character that was created just to be a "mean girl". She has no other purpose the entire book. In general, several of the characters are clearly meant to be morally grey, but they just come off as unlikeable.

Overall a difficult book to finish. There are much better ones out there in this genre/subgenre.