Review: Another awesome book from one of fave authors!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2014
The world as we know it has gone, its been destroyed and rebuilt. Only this time Vampires and humans had co-existed; for a while at least. Now the humans have become more dominate and controlling. Humans have imprisoned the vampires and use them for entertainment purposes.One of the imprisoned vampires is Mira, Mira is a gladiator who has to fight in battles to the death; against others of her kind. She doesn't enjoy killing her own kind but its simple in the arena; kill or be killed! Mira desperately wants to escape, not just that she wants to free the rest of her kind, and she's always trying to think of new ways to escape.The questions are: Will she meet her demise before she can hatch her latest plan? Can she escape? Or will she die trying?Katie Salidas has succeeded in writing something different from her other books, this is a dark, gritty page turner; where the tables have turned and the hunter is know the prey and the humans are more bloodthirsty than the vampires.The world that Katie Salidas has created for me was totally believable. I could see everything clearly in my own mind and I was soon completely immersed with Mira, Olivia and Lucian to name just a few. The characters are fantastic.At the front of the story we meet Mira. Mira is an amazing vampire. She's not afraid to stand her ground knowing full well that every time she does, she will be punished; horribly! But still she stands her ground and faces her punishment head on! I suspect that Mira's desire for freedom; both for herself and her fellow vampires; is what drives her on; and gives her the strength to continually fight against the rules and her punishments.There seems to be a human owner for the vampires, Mira is no exception. Mira's owner is Olivia. I can only think of one way to describe Olivia; she is a complete and utter bitch! I don't like her one bit, she's evil! Olivia is only out for monetary gain and really doesn't care about Mira, she will readily dish out punishments for the tiniest of things. The only time Olivia is happy is when when she gains from Mira's behaviour, so when Mira wins a fight in the arena or when Mira manages to secure herself a Patron!In this new world there is a human governor; of sorts; called the Regent. The Regent; Lucian; watches the battles in the arena and decides whether the final fatal blow is to be delivered. Lucian has seen Mira fight in the arena, but he meets her properly on her latest escape attempt. He claims to be intrigued by Mira and wants to get to know her. Lucian convinces Mira to allow him to escort her back to her cell so that her punishment will be less severe. Lucian also decides to be Mira's patron much to both Mira and Olivia's surprise; not the Olivia will be complaining as this will give her more money! Mira doesn't trust Lucian. Lucian is is wondering if what he learnt growing up about vampires is actually true. I'm not sure if I trust Lucian, I have questions about him and his motives! I'll see how I feel after book 2!I was hooked on this book from the beginning. I love everything about the book; the characters, the plot and the setting. I especially love how Katie Salidas has turned the tables on the vampires; so that they are no longer the predators, they are now the prey.There is action and humour throughout, its dark and gritty, completely different to Katie Salidas' other books, and I have loved every last page! I couldn't have put this book down, not that I wanted too! Now comes the wait for book 2!