The Valiant by Lesley Livingston

Princess. Captive. Gladiator.

Fallon is the daughter of a proud Celtic king, the sister of the legendary warrior Sorcha, and the sworn enemy of Julius Caesar.

When Fallon was a child, Caesar’s armies invaded her homeland, and her beloved sister was killed in battle.

Now, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, Fallon is eager to follow in her sister’s footsteps and earn her place in the fearsome Cantii war band. She never gets the chance.

Fallon is captured and sold to an elite training school for female gladiators—owned by none other than Julius Caesar. In a cruel twist of fate, the man who destroyed Fallon’s family might be her only hope of survival.

Now Fallon must overcome vicious rivalries and deadly fights—in and out of the arena. And perhaps the most dangerous threat of all: her forbidden yet irresistible feelings for Cai, a young Roman soldier. @goodreads

MY REVIEW:

5 STARS 

"Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once."
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

I bloody freaking loved this book!

The first book in this series/trilogy/dualogy is amazing.

Fallon is in training to become one of her father's war chiefs. She's in love with an awesome guy named Mael and everything is looking perfect. But it isn't and it all falls apart.

Fallon is taken and sold into slavery which ends up getting her into a school to train to become a gladiatrix. She belongs to Caesar who is her sworn enemy.

Along the way she meets another slave named Elka and I just love her. She ends up being a great friend to Fallon and an awesome fighter as well. I love both of these characters. There are a few other characters that are awesome but I can't name them because it's a secret!

There is a Roman soldier named Caius (Cai) that has taken a fancy to Fallon and we will see where this leads later on.

I loved the battles although I hate that the girls were slaves and forced into this life. But, Fallon is happy, she wanted to be a fighter just not in this sense and for Caesar. But so many things are not what they seem in this book. I teared up at a few parts.

There is nothing left to say accept this is a bad arsed book to start the series. I know some people don't like the slow building up to stuff. There really isn't any slow building up to anything in this book. I think it's amaze balls!

GOODREADS REVIEW:

 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1923612613