Gripping action

Book one was fantastic..book two has even more action,humor & sad in places..ithe way John Lee narrates is brilliant as he has the knack of changing his voice for the characters..I feel i was there with them..book three is going to be just as good of not better..roll on March 13 when it's released

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Best series I have listened too.

I'm now on my 3rd listen of this series, and it's honestly my favourite. The story is fantastic, but Mr Lee's narration makes it. Perfect.

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Another good one

Another good narrating by John Lee.
The book has the same consistency as the first book so if you like that one you'll like this one.

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Second Book

This definitely wasn't as good as the first not enough action and leads into another book which I don't think I wanna get now.

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Growing Pains!

There is a delicious depth to this series, yes it's primarily about bloody violence as an incredibly diverse set of warriors (aside from the fact they are all male so far) fight for honour and life itself on the sands of the arena. And yes we follow the newly-formed House of Ten as they scramble madly to live up to their newly-earned status as a house in the games.

However, Blackmore has gone to real pains to give his world and story significant depth as we are plunged into a world of personal enmities, shady agents and devious house owners making this a very rich and fulfilling experience. There are some hints here that the story is slowing down a little but even so there is plenty of action scattered throughout and a gorgeously bloody and ruthless final hour or two. Blackmore's ruthless attitude to even some of his most prominent characters and the time he gives to those who only survive briefly on the sands imbues a genuine feeling of uncertainty every time we enter that gore-spattered arena.

I'm not sure how many books Blackmore intends to keep this going for and this does have its quieter moments but with that beautiful detail and constant uncertainty coupled with John Lee's immersive, full-cast narration this series could very well entertain for some time to come!

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6 people found this helpful

Simply Excellent!

What a great series of books! I discovered these books after listening to the author's Mountain Man series - those book are great, but this gladiator series is just so much better! You can't help being drawn into the individual characters' story archs and their plans. The gory arena fight scenes and the build-ups to the fights are done so well. John Lee also does an admirable job with the narration - such good accents. Listened to all 5 books in less than two weeks. I really hope the author continues with this series!

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Gory tales of old

Ripping yarns but surprisingly entertaining, well written imaginatively thought out, styled on the old gladiator games of old.

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Ordered it in error!

Ordered in error but.... continued to listen. I remembered listening to the first chapter of book 1 before returning it. I should have done it with this book, but I persevered. While it has moments that are reasonable, the repetition is irritating. After thinking about it one of the main problems is none of the characters is remotely likeable, you want o give each and everyone a good hard slap. While Mountain Man Gus was a hero all of them in this tale are pretty much zeros and for me, that's one of the many problems with the tale, unlikable characters that you don't give a hoot about.
John Lee does a reasonable job but in the end its the story that lets it down as it just has nowhere to go but repeat itself.

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Books 1-5 :(

I wish I hadn't bothered, but I did. they were OK, very drawn out and lacks any satisfying conclusion. nowhere near the same quality as the Mountain man series.

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slow going

slow going and a lot of jumping around with characters. some arcs seem left unfinished but still good book

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