Wednesday, November 11, 2015

ARC Review: Caged Warrior by Lindsey Piper (Re-Post)

Caged Warrior: Leto Garnis and Audrey MacLaren

The Dragon Kings Series Book 1:
 
Caged Warrior (Dragon Kings, #1)
 
(How hot is this cover!?!)

Expected publication: June 25th 2013
Purchase on Amazon: Lindsey Piper - Caged Warrior: Dragon Kings Book One (The Dragon Kings)
 
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
The first installment in this fierce and sensual new paranormal romance series features demonic gladiators, ruthless mafia villains, and a proud race on the brink of extinction.
 
Ten years ago, Audrey MacLaren chose to marry her human lover, making her an exile from the Dragon Kings, an ancient race of demons once worshiped as earthly gods. Audrey and her husband managed to conceive, and their son is the first natural-born Dragon King in a generation—which makes him irresistible to the sadistic scientist whose mafia-funded technology allows demon procreation. In the year since her husband was murdered, Audrey and her little boy have endured hideous experiments.
 
Shackled with a collar and bound for life, Leto Garnis is a Cage warrior. Only through combat can Dragon Kings earn the privilege of conceiving children. Leto uses his superhuman speed and reflexes to secure the right for his two sisters to start families. After torture reveals Audrey’s astonishing pyrokenesis, she is sent to fight in the Cages. If she survives a year, she will be reunited with her son. Leto is charged with her training. Initially, he has no sympathy for her plight. But if natural conception is possible, what has he been fighting for? As enemies, sparring partners, lovers, and eventual allies, Leto and Audrey learn that in a violent underground world, love is the only prize worth winning.
 
Review:
*****WARNING I feel compelled to tell you all that this book does NOT actually contain dragon shifters. I know the name of the series is misleading. There are no actual dragons. THE dragon is their deity and what legends say created the dragon kings. I know this will disappoint some, but they still have cool powers. *****
 
This is a great new start to a new series. It is not for the faint of heart and is in no way fluffy, it is pretty dark but I like that. As far as the darkness goes, I think it would be comparable to Larissa Ione’s Demonica Series. There is a LOT of violence and mentions of other not so bueno things. Women are treated as men when it comes to violence and when there is violence are not excluded from some pretty brutal fights. They are warriors and just as tuff as the men. No quarter is given; this may not be for everyone but I think that those who don’t mind the dark will really enjoy this series.
 
The world building is decent, it is not the best that I have read but you get a pretty decent sense of this new world and there are some unanswered questions or maybe to be explained later questions?? Basically there is a race of beings that have extra powers, each clan has its own. The race is dying out and there have been no natural births since Audrey. Audrey and her son are kidnapped and held for testing by a brutal human mafia like syndicate. Audrey is forced to fight in the cages in order to free her son. Her “trainer” is Leto. Leto is in the cages by choice, he fights for his family.
 
Audrey is heartbreaking, she has had to endure so much. First with her clan rejecting her, then her husband brutally murdered with her subsequent capture with her son. Now she is thrown into the cages to fight, she has to learn to survive in fights in record time. Audrey is definitely no wilting flower, she does what she has to do to survive and she keeps on going. Her main thought to fight, to survive, and to rescue her son. Leto is the key to her survival, the king of the cages she needs him to teach her. What she never expected is to be so brutally attracted to someone she should loathe as their training intensifies so does their attraction.
 
Leto is brutal; it is the only way he knows how to be. There is no softness in him, until Audrey. Her inner strength calls to him and he finds himself wanting to protect her which is a foreign feeling. In the beginning I really thought I would HATE Leto, but somehow he won me over. Maybe it was his protective instincts or that he was willing to take Audrey’s hate to not only protect her body but her mind as well. He does his best to make sure Audrey survives so that she can get back to her son. Little by little he wins you over. Well at least he won me over.
 
Overall, I was intrigued and thoroughly engaged in this book from beginning to end. It is action packed and quite interesting. It’s is wonderfully different and sticks out from a crowd. I read this book maybe two months ago and I still remember it which for me and my lacking short term memory, says a lot. I read the first novella in this series and I do recommend that you read it as well before starting this one. It’s not required but the couple in the first series does have a pivotal roll in this book. I would recommend this new series to paranormal readers especially those who like a darker book.

3 comments:

  1. Great Review! I am about to read this in a few days, even though I am not a huge fan for dark romances, I did enjoy the novella a bit, so I am hoping I will like this one. Thanks for sharing your insights.

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  2. *thud* that cover. I'd buy it for that alone! lol But it sounds fantastic even sans real dragon shifters (thanks for that heads up!) I like my reads a bit dark so definitely one I'm checking out. Thanks for the heads up on it. I hadn't seen it before so pretty excited :)

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  3. Oy! I have this one for review too, but for whatever reason could not get into it. Loved the review Amanda...its definitely making me take a second look at this story :)

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