Review: Gladiator

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I got on a bit of a space opera kick last month, so my friend thought I might like this sci-fi romance in audio to keep me occupied on my latest road trip. This one is not a space opera, but involves different aliens (animal and humanoid), kidnapping, intergalactic slavery, arena fights, and steamy chemistry!

The smart and capable Harper is our earthling heroine, who is kidnapped from her space station by a terrifying group of aliens and sold into slavery for fighting in the outer rim. I was a bit surprised by this heroine. I admired her grit and determination and, based on her introduction, was surprised by her ability to fight and defend herself. I don’t know why my first impression was off, but it was WAY off (in a good way). Harper feels alone in the world, and that’s where we see some of her vulnerability. This made her more relatable as we can’t all be the ass-kicking badass heroine of our own stories in every minute of the day… so that insecurity drew me into her character more.

Now, our hero, Raiden, is a very large and tattooed humanoid specimen from a destroyed planet, with royal blood no less. He happens to be the best arena gladiator of all time, with piercing eyes and an alpha persona… so of course he is right up my alley for book boyfriends. Raiden also has his own broken pieces as a result of his past and the destruction of his family and planet. Rather than making him vulnerable, Raiden’s rage seems to cloud his judgment at times and cause him to wall off his emotions.

Harper, the spunky heroine is just what Raiden needs to shake up his plan and see that his life is not over. She breathes life back into his solo existence, and for being differing species, they have a lot in common when it comes to their past planetary existence, hobbies, etc. The chemistry between these two was explosive, and Anna Hackett did a great job at drawing the reader into that chemistry as well.

While this book glossed over much of the technology details that I find interesting in a space-based novel, I did enjoy the different species and descriptions of aliens. I was also supportive of Raiden’s agenda for remaining on Kor Magna despite having won his freedom. I am interested to see if they will remain in the outer rim for the entire series, or if we might see some space travel in the coming books.


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