REVIEW: Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines

Review: 

Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines,  

336 pages

Synopsis:

It’s a fight to the death—on live TV—when a gladiator’s daughter steps into the arena.

Lyn is a neo-gladiator’s daughter, through and through.  Her mother has made a career out of marrying into the high-profile world of televised blood sport, and the rules of the Gladiator Sports Association are second nature to their family.  Always lend ineffable confidence to the gladiator.  Remind him constantly of his victories. And most importantly: Never leave the stadium when your father is dying. The rules help the family survive, but rules—and the GSA—can also turn against you. When a gifted young fighter kills Lyn’s seventh father, he also captures Lyn’s dowry bracelet, which means she must marry him... For fans of The Hunger Games and Fight Club, Lise Haines’ debut novel is a mesmerizing look at a world addicted to violence—a modern world that’s disturbingly easy to imagine.

My Take On...

• Worldbuilding: The entire book is basically worldbuilding, creating a strange universe that was quite difficult for me to fathom.  When I started the book, I was expecting a critique of both our sports-obsessed culture and our tolerance of graphic violence in entertainment.  Both of these elements exist and are used nicely in the beginning and ending of the book.  However, the author has almost no original ideas; the only elements in the story that are vaguely original include a highly illogical iteration of the Evil Totalitarian Corporation, nonsensical robot copies of people called "Living Machines" and a massive list of Bylaws which apparently govern the families of gladiators.  These bylaws come in two types: specifications regarding marriages and property that basically function as laws and are manhandled at the author's whim to serve as plot devices and moral guidelines that make no sense whatsoever.  The entire fictional culture has a palpable lack of finesse, but the initial worldbuilding until the heroine's father's death isn't half bad.

Because of the initial worldbuilding, this novel gets a half star for worldbuilding.

• Plot: Anything resembling a story is used to aid the worldbuilding, and the romantic subplots between our heroine Lyn, boy next door Mark and gladiator Uber involve a lot of gesturing and are very, very static.  A majority of the book is spent with characters (especially Lyn) giving us worldbuilding info-dumps, and around a quarter of the book consists of Lyn's angsty monologuing.  The first few chapters, however, are actually quite nice and have a mediocre pacing, which is a complement for this novel.  The pre-epilogue ending is way overdue-it should've happened 150 pages ago-but is decent and fairly tragic.  The epilogue was confusing and completely ruins the ending.

This book earned 0 stars for plot.

• Character: The characters are all static and one-dimensional, and the cast as a whole is better suited to a highly dysfunctional soap opera rather than a gritty futuristic action story.  Lyn, the main protagonist, doesn't really do anything; she only exists to explain her world through angsty monologuing and doesn't really have anything that gives her a sense of individuality or that makes her stand out from other angsty heroines.  The other characters are similarly ill-formed, with special mention going to the walking mental-disorder stereotype Thad.  Lyn's parents--particularly her mother--intrigued me but were static, and boy next door Mark is decently written. 

This book earned three quarters of a star for characters.

• Writing: The author doesn't use quotation marks to convey conversations, which I find awkward and which detract from the quality of writing.  The writing, despite the novel's other flaws, is actually quite decent, and becomes above-average in some areas, particularly the beginning and the ending.

This book earned half a star for writing

• Action Scenes: There are very few of these in the book, despite what the synopsis and cover would have you believe.  The action scenes that exist in the book are average-your heart won't be racing after any of them, but they aren't terrible. 

This book earned a quarter of a star for action scenes.

Overall Take:

The premise and cover are extremely misleading, and this novel is not recommended for anyone looking for a fast-paced plot, action or strong characters.  

2 out of 5 stars