Review: Caged Warrior (Dragon Kings #1) by Lindsey Piper
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Author: Lindsey Piper
Date of publication: 25 June 2013
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Author's links:
Website / Facebook
My rating: 3 stars
I received an ARC of this book from Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via NetGalley.
Goodreads Blurb
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.
My Review
Paranormal romance is not a typical genre for me and the only urban fantasy series I have read (I still haven't finished it) is the Karen Marie Moning Fever series, so Caged Warrior was a rather impulsive choice but I have no regrets reading it.
I enjoyed the book a lot. There is more to the tory than just paranormal romance. It creates a curious post-apocalyptic world where supernatural creatures (Dragon kings) are forced by human crime cartels to fight like gladiators while at the same time they are trying to save their race from extinction.
The story followed the main characters, Leto and Nynn, on a journey of self-discovery that ultimately led them to coming together and fighting for their freedom. I very much liked that the focus in the book was on the characters' growth and their interactions with each other.
I felt that both Leto and Nyn were very well developed as characters, they were complex and flawed but capable of change and I liked them both equally (which I have to admit rarely happens for me, generally I like either the Hero or the Heroine more). I rather enjoyed the inner turmoil they both had to undergo and I find it very engagingly represented. This for me was the biggest strength of the book.
I felt that both Leto and Nyn were very well developed as characters, they were complex and flawed but capable of change and I liked them both equally (which I have to admit rarely happens for me, generally I like either the Hero or the Heroine more). I rather enjoyed the inner turmoil they both had to undergo and I find it very engagingly represented. This for me was the biggest strength of the book.
The plot was rather engaging and there were a number of twists in it, which kept me on the edge, quickly flipping the pages over. I couldn't believe a number of things that happened to Nynn, some were scary, others downright revolting, yet they were well justified within the development of the book and fitted the plot.
The main weakness for me was the writing style itself. There were times that I had to reread some sentences and whole paragraphs in order to understand them. At other times clipped, one-word sentences were used which didn't fit the story or the characters.
I think the book would have also benefited from some more detailed world building. The readers were given just glimpses of the world of inhabited by Dragon kings and humans and the sections on the dealings in the Dragon world were rather sketchy. I hope that with the development of the series the paranormal element will be further developed.
Overall I think this is a good start to a new NPR series and I am already eagerly waiting for the next book, Blood Warrior which is to be released on July 30.
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