Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have never read anything by this author before so when I saw the 1st chapter on a blog that promoted this book I kind of liked the writing and decided to pick it up. By chapter 5 I wanted the heroine to die a bloody horrible death and for the oh so manly pit fighter to burn in a house fire. I understand that you need content to fill the pages, but when that content is the exact same gosh darn conversation again and again and again, it becomes a teeeeeeeeeeeeensy bit annoying as hell. The female lead, Gilene, has a sucky lot in life. Since her power is that of illusion and to be able to survive being burned alive (an odd combo but okay) she drew the short straw in life and gets to be a sacrificial tribute from her village every single year until she’s just too weak and crippled to do it anymore so that the next one in line gets to do it. She hates it. She hates everything about it and having to wait for it every day of the year. Azarion has it worse. He was sold into slavery so now he gets to be a gladiator and personal chew toy of the empress who in some ways, is worse than the pit. He somehow figured out (because he can “see”) that Gilene is special so he basically blackmails her into doing his bidding and helping his escape. But wait, there’s more. He wants her to help him reclaim his rightful place as chieftain of his people. Because after 10 years of being a gladiator slave you want to go back to your people and rule them like you were always supposed to. Gilene is NOT happy to comply but again, blackmail does the trick! And then the repetition starts. Every conversation, nearly every situation, bad or good “I must return to my people!” “You help me first” “But if I DIE who’ll get to live a miserable life in exchange for the less than grateful village chicks she’ll save through her conscripted sacrifice?” “I swear help me, I’ll get you to your people.” “Whaaa but what if we dieeeeee.” As I said, by chapter 5, you WANT them to die. ALL of them. The empire that they live in is painted in colors and flavors that would make both Nero and Caligula take a step back and say “whoa there, calm down please.” Then I got a sense of GOT and some Buffy thrown in for that extra kick. I read the book. I felt like I was smacked in the face with the story and the characters left so so so much to be desired. It’s like a paint by the numbers but write by the numbers. Hard pass for books 2 and 3.