Name: The Valiant
ISBN: 9780448493794

Lesley Livingston

This richly imagined historical fantasy recounts Fallon's gripping journey from fierce Celtic princess to legendary gladiator and darling of the Roman empire.

The Valiant

Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king and the younger sister of the legendary warrior Sorcha. When Fallon was just a child, Sorcha was killed while defending their home from the armies of Julius Caesar.  On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is excited to follow in her sister's footsteps and earn her place in her father's war band. She never gets the chance.

The valiant

Lacy W

I'm not really sure where to start with this book. It really had a lot of positives but I can't quite place why I didn't love it. I feel like this should have been a 5 star read for me especially since I have a such a love for Greek mythology and Roman history. Maybe it was the random romance thrown in that I didn't care for. Maybe it was the pacing. Maybe I'll figure it out as I write this review. 

I liked the MC, Fallon. She didn't always make smart decisions but I loved her dedication to her family and those she loved, like Elka. Even though her father did something really awful, she was still incredibly loyal to him. Same to her (view spoiler)[ sister  (hide spoiler)]. But I found that I didn't really love Fallon like I wanted too. 

The plot was interesting. I honestly didn't know that female gladiators existed but I suppose that was dumb thinking. Of course they would have existed. But I wasn't a huge fan of the girl hate and didn't see why it needed to be a thing. Fallon and the other gladiators are supposed to be a sisterhood but there is just so much hate.  shrugs shoulders 

The romance, I felt, wasn't necessary and it was really insta lovey to me. Why did Fallon need to fall in love with a Roman solider? Cai didn't add or subtract anything from the story. He was just there and really didn't have a personality. Fallon could have done better and honestly, I thought she would have fallen for one of the girls at the training school. 

I know that it sounds like this is a negative review and I rated it 4 stars, which means it should be positive. I really did like it though. I loved the goddess that Fallon worshipped, the Morrigan. It's definitely not a goddess you see worshipped in books. I liked learning about the female gladiators. I liked the plot twists. But the things I mentioned above really kept me from loving it. However, I'll still continue this series because I want to see how things progress.

Lila Harrison

Maria

3.5 звездочки. не хватило, на мой взгляд, драмы и эпичности, которых ждешь от истории про гладиаторов - ну или я безнадежно испорчена сериалом про спартака. школа гладиаторов напоминает high school - те же cliques и queen bees, не хватает только соперничества за внимание капитана футбольной команды. к ситуации рабства и необходимости драться на арене героиня относится по-бытовому, и вообще больше волнуется, как ей стать суперзвездой. возможно, впрочем, это и логично для семнадцатилетней девочки, которую дома ничего особо не держит, а тут такая возможность мир повидать.

Toni Turner

So this is my new favorite thing and I feel like I’m never not going to be obsessed with it. 

Fallon and Elka are one of the greatest pair of friends I’ve read about in a while SIMPLY because of how they met haha. This book really fucked me up though at a lot of parts and I don’t even know how I’m gonna emotionally get through the next two like wtf.

Anne Sofie Stavad

Jelke Lenaerts

This book was dissapointing to me. It fet like a very big build up to me but the pay off was very anti climactic. I also felt like the story was pretty predictable and nothing special. For me the story was just a bunch of little plots that followed each other up but it didn't have an overarching plot really. Towards the ending we got an idea for what this plot could be in the following books, so I hope we're going that way because otherwise it could be an even bigger dissapointment. For the rest, the romance was underdevolped but I still felt for it. I genuily feel like this romance could be one of my favourites if it just would be a bit more devolped. The biggest thing this book had going for it was the strong female characters and their friendships.

Alexis 

3.5/5 stars 
I have to say this book in my opinion was a little overhyped. It wasn't a Bad book per say and I really did enjoy it. It was a fast and easy read. However there were parts Of the story I couldn't get into however that being said I definitely liked the way this book was going, I think it's part of a series so I look forward to future books. Plus we have a strong female character who even in some dark moments sticks to what she believes in.

Elizabeth Raines

“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The Valiant never taste of death but once.” - William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar. ⚔️
I really liked the old world, Roman setting of this novel. The plot was really good, all about female gladiators. This book had great plot twists, I didn’t see them coming at all! ⚔️
I wish there had been a map in this book as most of the locations went by their ancient names rather than the ones we know today. That didn’t drop the rating of the book at all though. I thought the language was a bit off at times as we hear a Celtic woman use the word “awesome”, just thought that was kind of strange. I also felt like the romance had no real foundation it was just like “oh this solider is cute!” ⚔️
“This is Rome. Treachery and opportunism and backstabbing run in her veins like lifeblood, and if you’ve never had to live your life constantly looking over your shoulder, then you have no idea how dangerous it can be.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Elodia

*3.5
The Valiant started off really slow. I was bored in the beginning and it took me about 200 pages to really get into it. I didn’t stop reading it because I was actually very interested in the plot and the characters, I just wish we would have gotten to the action faster. I became very invested towards the end and am really looking forward to continuing the series.
One last thing, why did Fallon always have to raise her eyebrows? She did it so frequently that every time I noticed it, it would bring me out of the story.

The youngest daughter of a proud Celtic king, Fallon has always lived in the shadow of her older sister Sorcha's legendary reputation as a warrior. But when Fallon was a young child, the armies of Julius Caesar invaded the island of Britain and her beloved older sister was killed in battle. On the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is excited to follow in her sister's footsteps and earn her rightful place in her father's royal war band. But she never gets the chance. Instead, Fallon is captured by a band of ruthless brigands who sell her to an exclusive training school for female gladiators—and its most influential patron is none other than Julius Caesar himself. In a cruel twist of fate, Fallon's worst enemy, the man who destroyed her family, might be her only hope of survival. Now, Fallon must overcome vicious rivalries, chilling threats and the dangerous attention of Caesar himself to survive the deadly fights that take place both in and out of the arena—and claim her place in history among the Valiant.

Celia Adams

I was lucky enough to receive and ARC of this book to read and enjoy, and I LOVED IT!! Everything from the badass female characters to the setting to the writing blew me away. I've never read a book by Lesley Livingston before, but I fell in love with the way she, through her narrator Fallon, tells a story. Fallon's emotions and thoughts are both raw and relatable, and her character is honestly an inspiration for anyone in need of a new favorite, 'strong female character'. This book had everything- not just gladiators, but royalty, barbarians, PIRATES!, cute soldier boys, anything you might need. I would definitely recommend this book!

Full Review Contains SPOILERS

Even though this book took me a little while to get into, I thought right of the bat it was going to be great and it did not disappoint. My first impression was a little disappointed, but only because it seemed to have a pre-established love story, and I HATE when the couple starts out together to even knowing each other. While I had nothing against Mael, I thought his death was a great decision by Lesley- it drove the plot forward and affected Fallon in just the right way to set up the rest 0f the book. I also found the Mythology a bit confusing in the beginning, but I think that's more because I was expecting Roman mythology in a book about Roman gladiators, instead of Britain, or Prydain, mythos. Undoubtedly, my favorite part about this book was Elka, and the mega-lady power friendship between her and Fallon. From start to finish, their friendship(or lack thereof) was perfect, and I honestly just loved the dynamic between those two. If we don't get a sequel, I'd love a spinoff that continued Elka's story. It did kinda stink that we were close to 1/3 of a way through the book before we got to any actual gladiator business; that kinda slowed down the beginning. Moving chronologically though the book, I liked how the plot twist, while not completely unpredictable, wasn't obvious from a mile away. Livingston's writing really gave nothing away and I appreciate that. Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was Charon- who, while completely despicable, was so charming a character you couldn't help but enjoy him, and that's a nice mix to see in all media, not just books. One more thing I liked to much to not point out is the love story- I love the way Cai and Fallon's relationship was handled. The pacing made sense, and I love that it was relegated to be mostly subplot so the story could focus on what was actually important- Fallon's fight to find freedom. Where they more or less ended the journey, with Fallon and Cai agreeing to wait and be together when she was free, was great because it was sufficiently ahead of the rest of the plot we could focus on that as it climaxed. Speaking of the climax, my biggest problem with this book was how/where it ended, because honestly it didn't make much sense to me. I feel like Livingston rushed the Triumphs unnecessarily just to finish Fallon's story, when she could have just ended it with Fallon becoming Victory, and then written a whole sequel surrounding Fallon's preparing for the Triumphs, the Triumphs themselves, and then ending with that last chapter. Instead, the last chapter was sort of predictable, and sort of have you whip lash jumping so fast from one second to the next. But, other than that, I really have no complaints about the book. I thought it was excellent, and I'm so glad I got a chance to read an ARC and actually post a review before the book was released!

The Valiant

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