Monday, March 13, 2017

Review: The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston
The Valiant (The Valiant #1)
By Lesley Livingston
Publisher:
Razorbill
Format: Print ARC
Source: YALLFest

To Sum It Up: Fallon is a Celtic princess, a proud warrior hoping to join her father’s war band to fight for her tribe. Her father, however, has a different plan for her, and his decision sets into motion a chain of events that ultimately leads to Fallon’s capture by a slave trader. She’s taken to Rome, where she’s sold to the Lady Achillea, who runs a training academy for female gladiators that is owned by Julius Caesar. Trapped within the very heart of enemy land, Fallon must find a way to prove herself in the arena.

Review: When I read the synopsis for The Valiant, images of ancient Rome, Celtic folklore, and fierce female gladiators kicking ass all immediately sprang to mind. While all of these are present to some degree in the book, I found the resulting combination to be a rather mixed reading experience.

The Valiant is really more historical fiction than fantasy with its mostly Roman Empire setting and appearances by both Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. I did not, however, feel fully transported back to that time. The world-building needed more than references to chariots and the occasional Latin word. One of the greatest eras in history just didn’t seem alive.

At first I was very excited to discover that our heroine Fallon was the daughter of a Celtic king because—warrior princess! I’m also very intrigued by all things Celtic: history, music, knitting patterns. As with the thinly detailed Rome, though, the book didn’t really capture much about the Celts during this period, either. Where the novel spends most of its time is setting up Fallon’s entry into the world of professional gladiatrixing. And it is a looong while before she ever sets her sandal in the arena. I wasn’t expecting this because the book got off to a frenetic start, with the complete upheaval of Fallon’s life in a matter of a few chapters. The plot then loses its urgency as we wait for Fallon first to reach Rome and then for any action to happen. For a novel about female gladiators, there’s more talk about competing than there are actual competitions.

I also wasn’t too impressed with Fallon’s character arc. Despite her believing the opposite, everything just seems to fall into place for her. Except for some mean girls at the gladiatrix academy, everyone instantly sees how extraordinary Fallon is, including Caius Varro, a Roman soldier who insta-falls for her. They go from using his formal title to, “Just call me Cai” in a nanosecond. There’s no buildup to the romance, and since I like my romances to simmer for a while first, this one didn’t do much for me.

The Valiant turned out to be very different from what I’d anticipated going in. After the opening chapters, the pacing slowed down considerably and never really regained its momentum. I’d also thought this would be action-packed with epic gladiatrix matches, but that wasn’t quite what this book delivered, either. The insta-love also made this kind of tough for me to see through to the end, but I got so far in that finishing the book made more sense than DNF’ing it. This isn’t a series I’ll be continuing with, though.

All in All: For me, The Valiant fell short of the potential its premise held. I’d hoped this would be the book to pull me out of my reading slump, but alas, it was not.

8 comments:

  1. This is the second mixed review I've seen now in the last few days and it has dampened my enthusiasm for this one. The other review also said it took forever to get to the gladiator combats, and that it was slow. That's a bummer. also the thin worldbuilding- I would LOVE to see a look at celtic culture, even if it's somewhat fictional- but if it and the Roman worldbuilding is thin, this might not be for me.

    I was also thinking this might have some kickass arena combat lol. Sorry it was disappointing!

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    1. Even the cover made me think that this was going to have a good amount of action in it, but the book is mostly about what happens between the competitions. There aren't a whole lot of matches, either. The world-building was definitely a letdown; the details just didn't go deep enough to bring both Rome and Fallon's homeland to life. :/

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  2. Aw, the premise sounds amazing, but it's disappointing that there isn't as much action and that there is insta-love. The culture and the history would have been so interesting to read about too. Thank you for your review!

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    1. I'd been so looking forward to all of the historical details of the time, and it was a letdown when there weren't many. :/ This was definitely not the book I thought it was going to be.

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  3. When I read the concept, I was thinking it sounds pretty amazing. I'm so sorry it fell short though. There would be a lot of expectations with this setting so I can imagine that it wouldn't be easy to live up to those expectations. I keep having hit after hit in my personal life so my reading slump is crazy right now and very hard to get out of!

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    1. I hope real life calms down for you soon and that you're able to break out of your reading slump! I started a new book that also seemed promising, but so far it hasn't been too impressive. :/

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  4. I remember being hesitant about this one when it started getting mad buzz - it sounded a bit too much like Gladiator the film from the synopsis and that wasn't a good sign for me. From what you described here, this one fell flat all around, which is a shame, but it confirms what I initially thought. I'll be skipping this one for sure. Sorry it didn't work out better for you though Lee xxxx

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    1. I somehow have never seen Gladiator, lol, but I have seen quite a few reviews comparing it to this book. This one definitely left me with quite a few unfulfilled expectations. :/

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