Arena 1 (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy)
Written by Morgan Rice
Narrated by Emily Gittelman
4/5
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About this audiobook
--Midwest Book Review
D. Donovan, eBook Reviewer
The #1 Bestseller!
New York. 2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the 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 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, uses 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, 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?
“Grabbed my attention from the beginning and did not let go….This story is an amazing adventure that is fast paced and action packed from the very beginning. There is not a dull moment to be found.”
--Paranormal Romance Guild {regarding Turned}
"I will admit, before ARENA ONE, I had never read anything post-apocalyptic before. I never thought it would be something I would enjoy….Well, I was very pleasantly surprised at how addicting this book was. 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 to put it down….It is no secret that I love strong heroines in the books I read….Brooke was tough, strong, un-relentless, and while there is romance in the book, Brooke wasn't ruled by that....I would highly recommend ARENA ONE.”
--Dallas Examiner
ARENA ONE is Book #1 in the Survival Trilogy, and is 85,000 words. Book #2 in the series, ARENA TWO, is now also available.
Morgan Rice
Morgan Rice is the #1 bestselling and USA Today bestselling author of the epic fantasy series THE SORCERER'S RING, comprising 17 books; of the #1 bestselling series THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, comprising 11 books (and counting); of the #1 bestselling series THE SURVIVAL TRILOGY, a post-apocalyptic thriller comprising two books (and counting); and of the new epic fantasy series KINGS AND SORCERERS, comprising 3 books (and counting). Morgan's books are available in audio and print editions, and translations are available in over 25 languages.Book #3 in Morgan's new epic fantasy series, THE WEIGHT OF HONOR (KINGS AND SORCERERS--BOOK 3) is now published!TURNED (Book #1 in the Vampire Journals), ARENA ONE (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy), and A QUEST OF HEROES (Book #1 in the Sorcerer's Ring) are each available as a free download on Amazon.Morgan loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.morganricebooks.com to join the email list, receive a free book, receive free giveaways, download the free app, get the latest exclusive news, connect on Facebook and Twitter, and stay in touch! As always, if any of you are suffering from any hardship, email me at [email protected] and I will be happy to send you a free book!
Related to Arena 1 (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy)
Titles in the series (7)
Wilderness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Exodus: The Survival Trilogy Book 2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arena 1 (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arena 2 (Book #2 of the Survival Trilogy) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arena 3 (Book #3 of the Survival Trilogy) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Survivors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Survival Trilogy (Books 1 and 2) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Arena 1 (Book #1 of the Survival Trilogy)
129 ratings16 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a mixed bag. Some reviewers found the story interesting and engaging, with a great plot that kept them hooked. However, many reviewers criticized the writing style, noting that it felt amateurish and repetitive. The narrator of the audiobook also received negative feedback, with some finding her delivery monotonous. Overall, while the book has potential, it falls short in execution and could benefit from stronger writing and narration. Despite its flaws, the story is enveloping and ends on a cliffhanger, making it a decent choice for fans of love triangles.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rediculously horrible book. 90% of the book was a very long car-ride consisting of crashes, passing out, driving, crashing again, driving again multiple times all the way until almost the end where the plot is squished into the last 10% of pages. It was utterly boring. The author couldn't even make the bulk of the book (which was the car ride/car collision path) even slightly interesting! It was all 'right-turn, left-turn, sharp bend, car flips, u-turn, onto this street, then that street' Boring! I recommend this to no living soul. The romance was pathetic also, falling for men she knows nothing about, it seemed like a cheap attempt at getting the romantic competition found in the hunger games series. Waste of time in my opinion.
3 people found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Reads exactly like a 7th graders attempt at writing a book.
This book started out ok, but very quickly dissolved into a literal play-by-play ((**** "Suddenly, I see my left shoe is now missing. Then I take a breath and realize it's snowing again. In the distance, I see the car and know I need to get to it so I put one foot in front of the other, my steps slow in the snow." - ****not a real quote from the book, but it reads a LOT like this)) of the main character chasing (and chasing and chasing and chasing and...) after her sister while performing unrealistic stunts with an unrealistic timeline, lots (and lots and lots and lots and...) of driving in the snow resulting in many crashes and spin-outs. Like, At Least ten chapters of the book worth are just driving and crashing and driving and driving and crashing.
The whole 33 chapters cover exactly FIVE DAYS of the main characters life. Also, prepare to hear "Suddenly" A LOT (like every fourth sentence - you could turn it into a drinking game), and "In the Distance", a term which is used by the main character to describe seeing objects that are anywhere from a mere 5 ft. away to just across an empty building.
The attempt at romance is pathetic, the features being mentioned and the "thoughts" being made are far-fetched and quite out of the blue in relation to what the main character is doing at the time, and there is not a lot of character development about the boys involved so it's quite vague and unconnected to the story almost entirely. As in, the main character would be square in the middle of fighting or doing something big and dramatic, then suddenly think "(Character X ) has sacrificed so much for me, and I want to know what his family is like, and where he's from, and if he likes me - has feelings for me".... Except (Character X) isn't even involved in the current scene, and won't be until a chapter later.
The author wants to Really make sure that you are reminded of the inconveniences of the main character, or details that have already been discussed previously and so it's constantly brought up about a particular injury, or a feature in the town - over and over and over and.... The scene is set for the readers and we get it and we know about the harrows, but the author sort of forgot that we know this and so every fourth sentence, she sets the scene again, and again, and again, and....
Overall, this was one of the lesser desirable books I've ever read and I don't think I will listen to the other two in this series as I have no desire to learn if the others are as poorly written as the first.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good story, but the love triangle part is a bit silly and could have been moved to later in the book. I can't imagine a girl who is that determined to get to her sister and fighting for both their lives would be thinking about whether or not these 2 boys she just met like her. Also, the narrator has an odd way of pausing in the middle or her sentences and mispronounces a lot of words. Not one of those where you just cant stand to listen because she is so irritating like with some narrators, but just something to note.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The story set up was interesting at first, but the constant mispronunciation of many words from the voice actor made me have to quit listening halfway through.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Terrible piece of writing. A dog that prefers chocolate to fish? Chocolate is poisonous to dogs.
A description of Preparing the fish without gutting it.
Constant repetition makes it feel like it was written by a 10yr old. 1 hour of my life I won’t get back.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I think the goal of this writer was to see how many times they could use the word 'SUDDENLY'. The overuse was like fingernails on a chalkboard! I had to stop listening.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5(No Spoilers)
Trigger Warning- There’s a sex trafficking operation that comes up around the time she’s in the arena and it becomes a big part of the story.
Short Review:
Overall, I don’t recommend this book unless you’re bored.
I came into this expecting the book to have “The Hunger Games/ The 100” vibes after reading some reviews… it didn’t, at least not to me. I’m rating this 2 stars because it wasn’t great. It had a lot of potential but it fell flat for me. A lot of unrealistic stuff happens and some random stuff is unnecessarily added in that really made me dislike it.
Also the Narrator sounds bored the whole time.
Long Review:
If you are expecting a really cool story that is similar to ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘The 100’ then this book isn’t for you. I was expecting an amazing book series that I could obsess over but, this isn’t it.
It seems to me that the author is not very experienced. She randomly adds in some stuff that doesn’t add to the story/ plot. So much of what happens in this book is unrealistic… really it’s ridiculous. I rolled my eyes a lot. There are several times where the main character should’ve either been unalived or been so badly injured that they couldn’t continue. Also, she somehow conveniently finds or is given everything she needs.
Main Character:
The MC rambles on a lot in her thoughts, mainly about her backstory. She’s not really interesting and I found it hard to care about her. In my opinion she thinks about the wrong things in tense/ dire situations or maybe her priorities aren’t in the right order, I’m unsure. There isn’t much character development. She is also conveniently taught/ trained by her father and is able to do just about anything. Also she gets out of “sticky situations” too easily for my liking.
Characters:
The only interesting character in the book is probably Logan, he’s a slave runner. Everyone else almost has no personality. The “bad guys” are all delusional power hungry men who have the same personality and/ or they are fat and gross.
Plot:
I liked the plot, it was good and had a lot of potential. Basically a 17 year old goes out to do something and while she’s gone her sister gets taken by slave runners who basically drive around kidnapping everyone they find to throw into an arena to fight to the death for their entertainment. The sister then of course feels obligated to chase them down and get her back. There is a chase scene that seems to take up most of the first half of the book and is very repetitive. I was looking forward to the arena but that fell flat for me, it was nothing like I expected it to be, but then again, I might have just had too high of expectations.
The Romance:
The romance in this book feels forced, and even then it’s hardly there. It seems like the romance was an afterthought of the author. There are two potential love interests. Maybe as the books go on the romance will “burn brighter” since there isn’t much flirting between the love interests and the MC. Not much of an indication is made that the love interests like her back.
If the author was a bit more experienced in writing, or even just had a better understanding about how physics works then the story could have been great. I personally could have done with more arena and less car chase.
The only reason I gave 2 stars instead of 1 is because it was genuinely interesting even though it was a bit ridiculous. I’d recommend it if you are bored but not if you want a book like The 100 or The Hunger Games.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was an excellent book. Just a bit annoyed with the reading of ‘corpse’ instead of corps for the Marine Corps. But other than that, the book is action packed from close to the beginning to finish. I find the main character relatable to and mostly likeable.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great plot and is hard to put down (I got through it in two days because I was hooked) however, the writing isn’t very strong (a lot of repeating herself I noticed) and the narrator really takes away from what the audiobook could be. She sounded bored the entire time. A stronger, more enthusiastic narrator would have made the experience a lot better.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The story is enveloping. The author did a good job. Definitely a decent book for anyone heavily into love triangles. However, I was not a fan of the voice actress; she felt choppy the whole way through. You get used to her though- I finished the book; the story is a good ride. It ends on a cliffhanger based on ‘what comes next,’ rather than stopping in the middle of exhausting tension and suspense. I appreciated that!
The author does use A LOT of: “suddenly,” “[something] was deafening,” and “for the first time in forever” so brace yourself for that. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Made it to the end of chapter 1, not sure I’ll continue. Factually flawed, even though this is a fictional tale.
Give a dog chocolate with no ill effects??
The suspense up to the pivotal first moment was lacking. Very little background and motivation to keep reading, my feeling.
Also cleaning a fish apparently only had a head, fins and a tail with scales to cut off in a matter of moments. No mention of fish guts, which exist, and could have fed the dog. Then she kills a massive deer….how is she supposed to clean and slaughter that?? She can’t even gut a fish.
I’ve read plenty of Morgan Rice, this one wasn’t cutting the muster. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It’s not that it was badly written it was just missing substance. Not from the actions the characters took that was ok; but the characters were barely skin deep. Needed more character development I guess. I don’t know. It had good potential. Maybe I’m wrong. Needed something with more depth.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It is not the marine corpse pronounced marine core annoying
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Author didn’t do research, dogs can’t eat chocolate, car chase lasted FOREVER and super repetitive. Mispronunciation of words, started out well and just got worse and worse. Dont know if I’ll make it through. Wanted to like it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The story was ok but it was not very well written.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Very unrealistic and a little poorly written. I think the writer tried to add in alot of death and love scenes to pull readers back in, it kinda had the opposite effect sadly