Book Review: The Valiant

Title: The Valiant
Author: Lesley Livingston
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars
Series: The Valiant (Book 1)

This book was kind of like a roller coaster. It starts kinda slow and you are thinking about maybe getting off but then all of a sudden the action starts and you are super into it only for it to slow back down and then you wonder why you were excited... long story short I don't know how to feel about this book.

After the first 12 pages or so I was ready to bang my head against a wall and/or chuck the book at said wall simultaneously. A couple pages in and there was already some slightly random romance going on and I didn't know who any of the characters were or what they were doing but they were in love. And then some other stuff happened and then Fallon gets captured like the blurb promised and then it was ehh again (you can tell how interesting this part was for me, I remember so much). I think it only started to get interesting around page 120-150 or so?

But when it got interesting, it got interesting! Fallon's time at gladiator school was a really good spot for character development, and there were a couple of nice plot twists thrown in there. I felt like the writing got so much better around this point, I was drawn into the story and I actually cared! And when I start off not liking a book it's really hard to get me to care I just kinda wind up wandering off and then I realize that I just read 50 pages and don't remember who so-and-so is and what they are doing there.

And then... the end happened and it was like the middle never existed. It was a let-down, to be honest.  I found myself not caring again and just skimming the last couple of chapters to see if it would get interesting again or not (it didn't). Even the end, which was supposed to be super action-packed and engaging and all that jazz fell flat for me. It was like being promised an big ice-cream sandwich and getting one that you could eat in one bite. Not that I'm bitter or anything. There is a sequel coming out in 2018(?) but with the end of this book it could have easily been a standalone. There was no cliffhanger, everything was tied in this really pretty bow. So there wasn't anything to hook me in for the next one.

LIKES:
+ Gladiators. Because who doesn't like reading about fight-scenes all the time?!
+ The Roman Empire because it was one of my favorite things to learn about in class and I also liked reading about it in this book because sword and chariots and now I'm on a tangent.
+ The middle of this book was amazing. I couldn't put it down and may have put off writing an essay or two but it's cool procrastination is wonderful and, for the middle of this book, worth it. It took a while to get there but once all the action got started I felt like I was in the arena with Fallon but also glad I wasn't because coordination is not my strong suit and I would not have made it
+ Fallon's character development, because she turned from someone I really didn't like to someone that I thought was actually pretty cool! She was kinda irritating at the beginning but then turned into this strong, determined warrior who had a plan. Plans are good.

DISLIKES:
- Ack the romance. I didn't even get 10 pages before I was bombarded with the random romance and then Cai and I didn't like either of them. I felt like it was either an instalove type deal or that I didn't have all the answers because I was confused as heck.
- The beginning and end of the book. Because frankly they were kinda boring and I was disappointed because the premise was so good but I was not a fan of the execution.
- I don't feel obligated in any way to pick up the sequel because it was all wrapped up nice and pretty for readers at the end. No cliffhanger, no nothing. Like I said, it really could have been a standalone and I wouldn't have known the difference.
- The plot twist in the middle did not make sense. I mean it kind of did, but at the same time not? The pieces just didn't line up for me.

I wouldn't really recommend this to anyone, it wasn't my kind of book. It had the potential to be, but didn't live up to my expectations.

See this review on Goodreads.