[Review] The Defiant by Lesley Livingston

The Defiant by Lesley Livingston

Series: The Valiant #2

Rating: 4 stars

Published: January 23rd 2018

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Be brave, gladiatrix… And be wary. Once you win Caesar’s love, you’ll earn his enemies’ hate.
Fallon was warned.
Now she is about to pay the price for winning the love of the Roman people as Caesar’s victorious gladiatrix.
In this highly anticipated sequel to THE VALIANT, Fallon and her warrior sisters find themselves thrust into a vicious conflict with a rival gladiator academy, one that will threaten not only Fallon’s heart – and her love for Roman soldier Cai – but the very heart of the ancient Roman Empire.
When dark treachery and vicious power struggles threaten her hard-won freedom, the only thing that might help the girl known as Victrix save herself and her sisters is a tribe of long-forgotten mythic Amazon warriors.
The only trouble is, they might just kill her themselves first.

Last year I absolutely adored The Valiant. Female gladiators in Ancient Rome was right up my alley. The Defiant still retains a lot of its charm, but had a bit of that second-book in a series syndrome.

[Review] The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

Series: The Valiant

Version: ARC Paperback

Rating: 5 stars

Release Date: February 14th 2017

Goodreads Synopsis:

Princess. Captive. Gladiator.
Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king, the sister of the legendary warrior Sorcha, and the sworn enemy of Julius Caesar.
When Fallon was a child, Caesar’s armies invaded her homeland, and her beloved sister was killed in battle.
Now, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is eager to follow in her sister’s footsteps and earn her place in the fearsome Cantii war band. She never gets the chance.
Fallon is captured and sold to an elite training school for female gladiators—owned by none other than Julius Caesar. In a cruel twist of fate, the man who destroyed Fallon’s family might be her only hope of survival.
Now Fallon must overcome vicious rivalries and deadly fights—in and out of the arena. And perhaps the most dangerous threat of all: her forbidden yet irresistible feelings for Cai, a young Roman soldier.

Female gladiators! Sisterhood! Friendship! Intrigue! History! With a touch of romance.

What a wonderful book I just read on female gladiators in Rome. It's the first time I ever read a book, young adult or otherwise, on the topic. And The Valiant did not disappoint. 

Our heroine, Fallon, is daughter of the Cantii chief Virico, from the isle of Prydain (aka Britain). She longs to follow in her deceased sister's footsteps as a war leader, but that plan is thrown awry when she is instead betrothed to her lover's brother. Tensions rise and she runs away... straight into the hands of a slaver,  Charon. But her story isn't over yet, and she's thrust into the hands of the enemy, Rome, to fight her way to freedom as a female gladiator.