Girl in the Arena

Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is going to be one of my harsher reviews. I don't like it, but it has to be like this :(

In Girl in the Arena, the Roman gladiators from the past that now seem slightly like fantasy have become the reality of the future. When Lyn's 7th father is killed fighting an American title match, his opponent is allowed to take anything that belonged to the loser. Of all things, he picks up Lyn's dowry bracelet. Which means she has to marry him.

I found myself having a hard time getting into this book right from the start. The strange dialogue using dashes instead of quotes, the flat characters, and the slow pace turned me away.

Ex. -Are you all right? she asks, her voice raspy and urgent and I know she's been crying and chain smoking all night. -- There's even another dash in that same paragraph that doesn't lead to dialogue and I just can't follow it.

As for the flat characters, I didn't even care that her father was killed. He just seemed like a thing. Not a person. A disposable thing. I didn't know anything about him that made him who he was, and when he was gone, I didn't feel a thing. Normally I cry when my new-found friends are killed off...Nothing. *spoiler* Even the suicide of her mother who was Lyn's support didn't faze me. It wasn't even clear that she was dead at first. So I was just confused. *end spoiler*

The slow pace never improved. The attempts at "twists" in the plot were just unnecessary and also left me wondering why I was still reading the book. (The answer is that I hate leaving something without knowing what happens. No matter how terrible it is.) The unique premise made me think that there would be a lot of fast-paced action, but it all led up to one scene that just died out in the end.

So my suggestion--don't spend your time reading this book. If you feel compelled to know what happens, just read about it online.

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