Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publishers for access to this ARC 📚.

🔥Quick Fire Review🔥

Genre/Themes: ⚔️📿👹🏛️💰🦹🏼‍♂️
Tropes: Antihero, Emotional Scars, Countdown to Destruction, Hidden Truth, Blackmail, Conspiracy, Corrupt Officials, Mole Within, Vigilante Justice, Hidden Enclave, Mythical Creatures, Creature Hunter, The Outsider
Positives ✅ : engaging plot, interesting main characters, intriguing universe
Room for Improvement 🔎 : some underdeveloped world building, missing plot opportunities, lacklustre ending, underdeveloped supporting characters, some unnatural dialogue
Rating: 🌕🌕🌗

✍🏻Full Review - RISK OF SPOILERS 🛑 and this is a long one, I have a LOT to say.

A really interesting debut, but perhaps a little too ambitious which left me with more questions than answers by the end. This was marketed as The Witcher meets Squid Game but take this with a pinch of salt as I didn’t make a connection with them at all while reading, but it did make some sense retrospectively. The main characters are killing mythical/mutated beasts for coin, like The Witcher, in a dangerous twisted game to clear crippling debts, like Squid Game. But these are very thin parallels. To me this was Ancient Rome with a twist, with the ‘conquessors’ basically being gladiators. But my main issue with the book is I was left feeling pretty miserable by the end. There felt like little to no resolution for our characters.

Characterisation:
The main word that comes to mind about our main character Lythlet is pride. Despite her lowly life and upbringing she is still fiercely ambitious and goes above and beyond to hide her failures and struggles from those she loves. She avoids her parents for years after feeling like a burden to them growing up because she doesn’t want them to see the poverty she has ended up in, and doesn’t tell Desil that her bosses are physically abusing her. Another word would be loyal, especially to Desil, but this is often to her own detriment. I could be way off base here, but when reading I felt the author was perhaps trying to represent Lythlet as a character on the autistic spectrum? There is a lot of mention of her being able to hyperfocus on special interests, retaining vast amounts of information and recite it with enthusiasm, recognising patterns, ‘speaking funny’ as she learnt how to communicate through books she read as a child and mirrors it, and struggling socially. She is surprised to learn the supporting characters consider her a friend, even after all the indicators and cues throughout the story. She also has a strong sense of justice, even if a little morally grey, which causes her a lot of internalised conflict and leads to her putting herself in danger to try and do something good for vulnerable people. There is a lot of mention from higher class characters of her being ‘ugly’, almost as if she is being discriminated against for being visibly disabled as well? Whether any of this was intentional or not I thought it was great and written in a really natural, organic way. It was sad yet relatable to see her battling against her loyalty to Desil, her desire for validation from others, her own ambition yet her need for justice when acting as a conqeussor. She ends up loving showing her strength and wit to a crowd of adoring fans and getting praise and favouritism from them and Master Dothilos, but she recognises that the spectators do not care for her as a person one iota and just see her as a source of entertainment and a money-making machine. Master Dothilos helps her realise that Desil often holds her back from her dreams and this building of resentment competes with her platonic love for him. While all of this was fantastic, I did struggle to find her likeable because she seemed to lack a sense of humour. While her often flowery or stilted dialogue was contextualised it did make for tough reading sometimes. I also thought it was a shame we didn’t get to see her experience any form of romantic love, even though it was great that there was such a strong focus on filial or platonic love and there doesn’t need to be romance to make a story great I just think it would have been the last cherry on top to see Lythlet start to experience everything she could have in life.
Desil was the biggest hypocrite and gaslighter I think I’ve ever come across, packaged up in an apparently pious and compassionate exterior. He grew up far more comfortable than Lythlet did, even taking her in for a while as children which led to their fierce loyalty to each other. And yet, he ends up leaning on her completely. Lythlet, the girl who grew up with parents who couldn’t care for her, who couldn’t speak for the majority of her childhood and who was relentlessly bullied when she could afford to go to school. He gets the pair into unmanageable debt with a violent loan shark when he takes Lythlet to a physic, because he was too much of a moron to get it from a reputable source, and then at one point describes Lythlet as a ‘cheapskate who loves her drink’. A CHEAPSKATE? Coming from Mr. Scrounger himself? Even though it is his debt he doesn’t bother getting a higher paid job than the tea shop, leaving brawling to become super religious and pious instead, and leaving Lythlet to get beaten up by employers or resorting to stealing from people she deems it’s justified from. All because she feels guilty that the debt was for her medical bills. At no point does he try and make her feel better about that. THEN it turns out he only left brawling because he was so good at it, it gave him a fearsome bloodlust and he ended up beating someone to death! He keeps this from Lythlet but then makes her feel bad for brutally killing the Bugbear cub in the arena because she was having flashbacks of being bullied as a child, triggered by feeling so guilty and trapped at having to kill something so innocent and young. While he just loves beating things up. HYPOCRITE. Yes, he loves her. Yes he has stuck by her side and protected her growing up. But the guy is a BUM with weaponised incompetence. He also only showed a sense of humour once. So honestly not enough redeemable qualities for me.
Master Dothilos was a great villain in my opinion, in that he is in direct parallel with Lythlet. He is ruthlessly goal-orientated, had an extremely traumatic upbringing and has his own form of vigilante justice. But he diverges from Lythlet in his callous, apathetic approach to those around him. To him, other people are simply obstacles that must be removed when necessary. He projects the fact that he is trapped under the violent, corrupt Eza onto Lythlet by blackmailing her in the same way. I can tell how warped my brain is by the dark romantasy genre because I lowkey hoped there would be a romance subplot with him, as he would have been a perfect morally grey love interest and his fascination with Lythlet could have easily been interpreted as chemistry. Alas, he was significantly older than her and ended up manipulating her as more of a mentor-like figure instead. I thought he was excellently written because I felt the same inner conflict about him as Lythlet did.
Governor Matheranos was a less interesting villain, and I was actually quite disappointed when it was revealed he was the elusive, mysterious Eza himself. While the author tried to give some backstory and motive, I didn’t really understand it. Something to do with some petty rebellion against his descendants? Not sure, but his influence and manipulation of the Courts through his watchmen and the hiding of all of his unethical and corrupt underworld dealings was scary nonetheless, I just wish he’d been more imposing as a character.
Supporting characters Shunvi, Ilden and Sarvem Arthil were criminally underwritten. Ilden was an attempt at comic relief, especially with his courting of Naya, but other than that he just seemed to exist to be part of the slapstick duo. Shunvi would have been a perfect love interest for Lythlet. He was equally nerdy and smart, very kind and the perfect sunny to Lythlet’s grumpy. Alas, it was not to be because the author clearly wanted the book to be platonic love only. Saevem Arthil was by the far the least utilised character. He is significant enough that Lythlet becomes a mole for him, putting herself in serious danger amongst Dothilos and the Eza. But we only speak to him a few times and he gives her the Beastiary. How did he obtain all this knowledge? How did he end up in the Party to oppose Matheranos? In all his mystery and shroud he just ends up feeling like a forgotten character.

World-Building:
I found it hard to visualise Setgad. For some reason I often found myself imagining it as a modern city, with the rich areas full of skyscrapers and the ‘slums’ being the depraved, cramped areas. Especially with the underground city of Inejio which was made to sound like ancient ruins with an arena almost like a colosseum. But there’s no indication that the story is set in a modern time at all, so I don’t know why I got this image. The author states it is influenced by Malaysia and China, but sometimes the characters seemed to speak with an English cockney slang? That was weird. Lighting is created by luminescent bees that live in hives. The hives have to be regularly serviced lest they develop a rot. So there’s an implication that electricity doesn’t exist, but it’s never stated for certain. This hive industry, which Lythlet works in briefly, is slowly being ousted for the use of ‘baltascar’, a stone or crystal that produces its own light. This is where things start to get confusing. At one point Lythlet and Desil are given earrings, either made with baltascar or with some other crystal, I forget, that is able to act as a microphone and receiver? The 12 Gods of Setgad’s world are also mentioned to have granted previous civilisations ‘bloodrights’, which I assume are magical powers, but they’re no longer present as far as we know. Then we have all of the ‘sun-cursed’ beasts in the arena, and the ‘cosmoscape’ that Lythlet is able to climb up to while conquessing to basically control gravity and access the universe’s powers for 8 seconds? All of these magical aspects were SO glossed over it was jarring. What is ‘sun-cursing’? Are these beasts just out and about, threatening humans? Or are they just created to live in the arena? What were these bloodrights and why are they all gone now? What is this random cosmoscape business? Who knows. What was clear was the class divide and the political corruption. The author didn’t shy away from those aspects, including ‘underground’ criminal activity which takes advantage of the ‘unregistered’, essentially people who have had to give up citizenship and life above ground because they can no longer afford it. Lythlet and Desil live in what is essentially a treehouse, and take on low-paying jobs such as bookkeepers or waiters to get by. Loan sharks are apparently a common thing, as is pickpocketing in the streets or illegal blood sports. The religious aspects were quite cool as well, with there being 12 Gods or patrons, almost like the zodiac, and all are assigned to one. Desil is quite invested in the Gods so we get to see the shrines and hear about the ‘Poetics’, which reminded me a lot of the Viking Sagas or Homer’s Odyssey. Overall, the world was under-explained and needed to be fleshed out better.

Prose\Plot:
The writing style was a little uneven, mostly because of the stunted and often unnatural dialogue. However, I thought the link between the bees, the rot, the unregistered and the highborn was genius. The tightly woven network of corrupt individuals was strongly written as well, from the owner of a child sex trafficking brothel blacklisting Lythlet for discovering her secret, to Master Dothilos running his underground realm for the benefit of Governor Matheranos while he runs around committing atrocities under the name of ‘Eza’. Add in Saevem’s undercover work with an opposing party, trying to get the courts to see Matheranos’ abuse of power, and we have an engaging story of rebellion and revolution. However, other aspects let the plot down. For a start, the beasts that were marketed as the big part of the story actually seemed to be quite the afterthought. The battles against them were pretty brief, even if they were interesting with Lythlet having to figure out their fatal flaw. I was genuinely heartbroken during the Bugbear scene. However the beastiary and all the cool sounding creatures in there were glossed over, too. As mentioned it’s unclear how much of a menace these creatures actually are to the world as a whole. It’s unclear where they came from, how anybody found them or transported them, or how any of these magical characteristics came to be. The final battle being against Shunvi and Ilden I have to admit I didn’t see coming. I was waiting for the beast of all beasts but it ended up being even more heart-racing having to fight their friends. That was a nice touch. I will say that Lythlet’s ‘suicide’ scene was… a bit much. Admittedly my dislike of Desil adds to this, as in my head why would she kill herself for that dweeb? However while I could understand the desperation she felt being trapped under Dothilos, it felt uncharacteristic for her to just give up being the fiercely determined person she is. Just because Desil had left? It’s not like he’d died, he’d have probably turned back up eventually because he relies on her so much. Then to make matters worse, this suicide is TOTALLY dismissed. Nobody bats an eyelid at it and she just goes on as if she wasn’t ready to literally end her life in the jaws of a monster. Surely that’s quite traumatic, no? It was also very predictable that it was Desil in the cloak running into the arena to save her, I don’t know why the author bothered trying to make it a mystery. It would have been more interesting had it been Shunvi or her father or something, and they’d encouraged her to carry on.
The Governor being revealed as the Eza was boring. Also a little non-sensical, as he didn’t seem like the type to do his dirty work himself and a lot of the crimes were apparently performed by him. I think it would have been cooler for them to have been a secret family member or something, or someone associated with the lady who owned the brothel Lythlet worked at. That would have linked well. Although I want to stress that I don’t think a book has to have a romance subplot to be good, I do think it would have worked really well in this novel. There is brief mention of Ilden and Naya but this doesn’t really go anywhere. And that leads me to my final qualm. Nothing is resolved for Lythlet and Desil. After helping to save thousands of unregistered from dying a painful death from hive rot poisoning, and helping to expose a murderous government official, they are still left penniless. Still left living in a tree. And it’s unclear if Setgad improves after Matheranos’ removal. It was so unsatisfying and I was left with so many questions with few answers. Yes, it was nice that Lythlet was beginning to repair her relationship with her parents, but it seemed to be that the ending relied on ‘well at least they have each other’. Who, Desil the scrounger? The one who is actually a violent ticking bomb ready to explode at any moment? So Lythlet has to throw away all of her ambition and dreams of success and just accept where she is, because at least she has her family? How depressing. Overall I think this could have been a great story if, as other reviewers have mentioned, it had been written as a duology. I respect the author’s ambition (just like Lythlet!) and I would look out for more of their work but I think there were too many aspects that needed expanding on.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book, there were some unique and interesting characters/ character developments, and the friendships were interesting to see come to life.

The fantasy world and creatures were probably my favourite part of this book, however it took me over a month to finish so I wouldn’t call it “unputdownable” unfortunately

Hmmmmm there was so much potential in this book and I think if it had been expanded beyond a standalone it could have fully lived up to its potential. As it is there’s really not enough world building to do that within the standalone. I’d love to learn more about the world outside the city, the monsters, pretty much everything. What saved this from a 2 star rating is the relationship between Desil and Lythlet.

Absolutely spellbinding book! I LOVED the whole concept especially the gladiator-style fight scenes. I found Desil and Lythlet a wonderfully platonic pairing who value companionship and trust above all else. Furthermore, I enjoyed the way Lythlet seemed to develop out of the relationship after being convinced of her superiority. Lythlet's character development was brilliant, she goes on a journey of self discovery and her confidence grows. Equally, Desil seems to regress. I found this to be a realistic rendition of adult relationships, how they grow and develop. I really enjoyed the world and how the author built the setting, infrastructure and society, but i think there could've been so much done with it.

Thank you to Book Rambler PR, NetGalley and Solaris Books for the copy, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: violence, animal cruelty and death, blood, abuse

Lythlet and Desil are best friends, shackled to a life of debt and poverty in slums on the outskirts of a great city. Desil, a former brawler who would rather be worshipping his gods and maintaining a vow of peace, and Lythlet, a brilliant but badly treated bookkeeper, are terrified they’re never going to escape their loan sharks- until the chance to join a monster fighting arena rears its head, promising money and fame enough to save them both. Forced to fight sun cursed beasts in the very depths of an abandoned underground city, Lythlet is initially pushed aside for the former fame of Desil, but when she saves both of them and gains massive amounts of victory, she rapidly becomes the favourite. However, she isn’t the only one out for money and fame and the more ambitious she grows, things get more deadly. Drawn into the world of politics and deception, and away from the values that brought her and Desil together in the first place, Lythet has to consider if she’s willing to sacrifice the only friend she has in order to be legendary.

‘The Serpent Called Mercy’ is rapid, fast paced and brutal from the first page, and I connected very quickly to Lythlet and Desil as they struggle to break free of their chronic debt. The world of the slums and then the gladiatorial style arena are incredibly vibrant, you feel as if you’re there with them as they have to solve the riddles of each beasts’ weaknesses in order to win. I did struggle a little with worldbuilding, nothing is made that clear and there’s little information offered about the magic system and the gods. The highlight of this book for me is definitely the friendship between Lythlet and Desil, they’ll genuinely do anything for each other, and I liked how Lythlet’s relationship with him changed as she got closer to the match master and more drawn to the idea of fame. This was a good debut, it just didn’t grab my attention as much as I wished it would.

“The Serpent Called Mercy” was a mesmerising read, particularly because it introduced me to a culture I wasn’t familiar with before. But equally, it failed to entertain and intrigue me, leaving me a bit disappointed and stuck in the in-between. There were a lot of aspects I really enjoyed, but it saddens me that I know I will not remember the contents of this book in years to come.

Lythlet is a very interesting character. Strong and brave, but unable to prosper and move forward due to a huge debt she owes. When an opportunity arises for her and her best friend, Desil, who’s a brawler, to fight for money, they go for it.

I envisioned the arena fights as something from “The Gladiator” and “Hunger Games”, even “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, unlike the comparison the publisher did with “The Witcher” and “Squid Games”. “The Witcher” comparison, I can kind of understand, because they are fighting mythical monsters . But it has nothing to do with “Squid Games”, apart the fact that if you lose in the arena, you die. But as we are talking about fighting in arenas with mythical montsters from Malaysian-Chinese mythology, that should be considered as common sense. Each battle is a new challenge that Lythlet and Desil have to tackle and I quite enjoyed the first few battles. After a while, they start to become a bit repetitive.

Aside from the arena action, there was a lot going on outside of the arena as well. Lythlet’s parents are struggling with their own debts, her father has a new promising job, and the complicated relationship Lythlet starts to develop with Master Dothilos – the arena matchmaker. The action was there, but something about the story just didn’t grip me. It felt almost seen before, and the ending was quite predictable, and for me, without any big reveals or wow moments. The only wow moment that I can recall was Desil’s secret. And after this reveal, Lythlet’s reaction was even more disappointing. Maybe it was needed for her character development, but it was very rushed and didn’t make sense to me.

“The Serpent Called Mercy” is a wonderful story about facing adversity and refusing to become what society expects of you. There are amazing messages of bravery, strength, standing up for yourself and others and being kind and merciful. It was simply not a story that clicked with me, and although I found it forgettable, I would still recommend it to the fantasy fans out there.

Favourite Quotes:

“Hope in times of happiness isn’t hope – it’s expectation. It’s only when things are at their bleakest that you find hope unadulterated.”

“The best stories are those rooted in truth, embellished only for entertainment’s sake.”

“What a blessing it is that there remain children more scared of ghosts than of the world around them.”

“Master Dothilos. You know me better than to think I’ll believe that. Men frequently make threats they wildly intend, only claiming they never meant a word of it when it rebounds on them.”

“I refuse to live and die on your terms as your cur. I will not choose apathy over justice, wealth over duty, wrath over mercy.”

“If I want to run fast, I ought to run alone.”

Fast paced read, quite interesting but the ending is a bit too slow. I’ll surely recommend it to my The Witcher lover friends!

This gritty, character-driven fantasy blends monster-fighting action with sharp political intrigue and a refreshingly platonic central relationship. Though the pacing lulls at times, the emotional core and vivid world-building make it a memorable and original read.

I have mixed views about this book. I enjoyed the main storyline - characters trying to get out of debt by fighting monsters. I also was quite intrigued by the politics which played a larger part than I would have expected. Interestingly, I did not particularly like the main characters and this is reflected in my not liking the ending.

In a desperate bid to win some money in order to pay their crippling debts, Lythlet and her best friend Desil sign up as conquessors – combatants who fight sun-cursed beasts in an underworld arena. But as her ambition grows, Lythlet soon finds herself immersed in a dangerous game of politics and deception. How much of herself is she willing to sacrifice in order to achieve wealth and fame?

The focus of this story was much more political than I was expecting. There’s very little detail of the world outside of the city and minimal explanation of the local culture and religion (despite Desil’s dedication to his religious oath), with much more detail provided of the political situation, social hierarchy, and the arena fights. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the book more of a political/rebellion fantasy than a fantasy adventure novel.

My favourite parts were definitely in the arena (although I didn’t enjoy the concept of the needless killing of the beasts – gladiators are definitely not my thing), and I appreciated that the story was kept moving at a decent pace. The fights take place on a monthly basis, and there was no unnecessary filling of the time between fights unless there were other events taking place that were significant to the plot. I also thoroughly enjoyed that this was a book about a m/f friendship, which never even hinted at a possible shift into romance.

Overall, my views on this book are very mixed. On the one hand, it was exciting, engaging and fairly original. On the other hand, I’m not wild about political novels and I didn’t particularly care for the main characters. I found Lythlet to be quite shallow and generally quite unlikeable, while Desil’s stubborn refusal to fight against any human felt wildly hypocritical at times. His stance against raising fists against another person is explained sufficiently towards the end of the book, but it frustrated me that he was totally on board with murdering the animals bought into the arena. They are described as deadly beasts, but obviously an animal poached from it’s natural habitat, starved and then plonked in a noisy and unfamiliar arena is going to attack, no? If you’re happy with that whole set up, surely you could manage a fake fight against a couple of your friends… But apparently not.

A refreshing break from the romance driven fantasy that’s about at the moment. A gripping story line with interesting characters. However could have benefit from some more complex worldbuilding. An overall enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc opinions my own

I found this far too wordy - i tried and gave up around 30% of the way in.

It was very dialogue heavy, and it felt really jarring almost like I was reading a screenplay, or someone's school project they ran through a thesaurus.

I LOVE their premise but the style wasn't for me.

Thank you for the opportunity

This book already had me at the bees.

As I am sitting here, writing this review, I am still in awe that this is a debut story. Ever since I finished it, 2 days ago, I caught myself going back to The Serpent Called Mercy and its clever quotes, amazing action scenes, and thought-provoking characters. Because those are the best books, the ones that stick with you, that permanently carve a place for themselves in your brain and refuse to ever leave your memory again.

"The serpent you call mercy is nothing more than a fairytale notion that sinks its venomous fangs into the young, weakening them to the brutality of the world."

I was 10% into the story when I decided “Yes, this is it, this is gonna be the book”, and I was right. Was it a perfect book? No books ever are, and that’s what makes them all the more lovable. But instead of wasting time on criticisms, I am going to tell you all the reasons why you should read this:

I’m gonna start with an easy one, worldbuilding. When it comes to fantasy, I adore books with intricate worldbuilding, and Serpent Called Mercy didn’t disappoint in that regard. The real magic of the story comes, however, from the masterful layering of said worldbuilding: we have the sun-cursed beasts our heroes fight in the arena, a magical system strongly tied to religion, the social tensions of the political parties in the city-state of Setgad; and then, more, a mysterious Phantom that stalks the city at night and steals from the rich, an underground city below the city proper, the origins of the Aderi people, fuzzy bees that serve as the city’s illumination system, teahouse dogs. I could go on and on. All these carefully crafted details, both big and small, combine to create a vast world that extends beyond our protagonist’s limited point of view.

Lythlet is a compelling main character,and her battling the creatures in the arena as well as her own inner demons is the backbone on which the story is built. I also felt that the lack of romance (besides setting the book apart from most fantasy these days) left room for more developed relationships between characters. The friendship between Desil and Lythlet is, of course, central to the story, but all the other characters' stories interweave to create a complex narrative. Forget morally gray, all the characters felt real, raw, and their needs and ambitions made them all the more intriguing. I also need to mention the found family, a trope I dearly love, that is marvellously done in this book.

Lastly, I have only words of praise for the beautiful writing. It’s rare I find a book so quotable, a book where I underlined and marked entire paragraphs to reread and love again. The social commentary is perfectly interwoven in the plot and doesn’t feel forced, and the entire book has an almost philosophical feel to it, with a strangely poetic quality. It is safe to say that this is one book I will be rereading for years to come.

"It struck her hard then, that emblems of her hardships could be easily reduced into tokens of amusement for the highborn."



5 stars. 10 stars. All the stars




PS. If you can, do try the audiobook. The narrator is simply amazing.

This book sucked me in from the very beginning, but I wish it had been a duology so some of the sub plots could have been fleshed out much more. Despite having an excellent protagonist, some of the plot felt more passive than driven by her choices. Overall, a VERY FUN read that I enjoyed immensely!

My thanks to Rebellion and Net Galley for a free DRC of "The Serpent Called Mercy" by Roanne Lau.
What a great debut in Adult High Fantasy!
I loved this tale of ride or die friendship, monster fighting with social and political undertones.
It was so refreshing to get away from the current trends of perfect looking main characters and Romantasy.
The fact that the main female character has a facial deformity and a stutter were a breath of fresh air after the dozens of Fantasy tomes where everyone is ridiculously and inhumanly handsome.
I have been craving for a true friendship where a female and a male protagonists can be as sworn brother and sister, genuine friends without the need for romance.
Also please go into this debut without the expectations of "The Witcher" or "Squid Games". It is its own narrative and while it has monster fighting in an arena, it is more about the journeys of the characters.
So if you enjoy great character development, underdog stories, some captivating actions, flawed characters that feel real, please give this debut a try.
I truly hope the author will revisit this world as I wanted just a touch more worldbuilding.

A superb fantasy action adventure that will have you on the edge of the seat right from page one. A must read that is highly recommended.

An exciting and enjoyable read. I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This is an action-packed fantasy centred around a gladiatorial style arena where paired fighters do battle with horrific beasts and monsters. Expect epic fight scenes, curious and unusual monsters with terrifying powers and fighting styles. The author built something really interesting here and one of the best parts of the book is the creativity and deduction the main character Lythlet has to use to overcome these challenges. Brute strength will not be enough to defeat them but cunning and adaptability are essential.

While the book centres around this tournament, it’s also about social division. The characters are risking their lives in this horrific battle because they have no other politics. They live in a society rife with corruption where they are exploited through unscrupulous lenders, excessive health centre fees, cruel and unfair employers and a rich elite that barely considers them as human. The book explores the society that has created the situation that forces young people to risk their lives for the entertainment of the rich.

I found this book thrilling and fascinating. I was drawn into the world, the author’s creativity with the beasts imagined for the arena, the desire of the main character for a better life while balancing her desire to help her loved ones. This was a fantastic read.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

This book took me a little while to warm up to. It is a fast paced story about two friends in the slums trying to find a way to survive with crippling debt in a world that is designed to keep them at the bottom of society. They end up becoming contestants in a gladiator style arena in an attempt to better their lives.
What follows is some great monster battles, a real look at character motivations and the ties of friendship.
I thought this book was great in portraying a great, solid, platonic relationship in the explosion of romantasy that is occuring at the moment. It was refreshing to find a duo that don't fall in love but still have such a strong bond.
The characters were great, it read a little on the YA side to me but not in determinate to the book, I would have liked to see a little more complexity to the story but I really enjoyed what I read and would be keen to read more from the author.

t's definitely fast paced, but there's some lulls and unnecessarily long bits of dialogue that stopped this from having a higher rating. There's also some info dumping I definitely didn't like, which felt bulky compared to the rich world-building that gave such a great insight into the world of the characters and what they were struggling with, and desperate to get out of.

I'm loving the surge of non-western based fantasy books lately.  This book is steeped in Malaysian culture and the depictions are vibrant and refreshing.  The characters are also flawed and fractured and make for interesting reading - they are not your average cookie cutter MC's.

Our story is chock full of love between best friends (there is zero spice), rebellion, rising up against oppression and navigating a world where corruption is rife. Our MC's are the complete opposite of the usual MC's - they are poor, poverty stricken and on the edge of desperation.  No secret powers, hidden ties to royalty or Fae for them.  They need to scrap their way out of everything.

Lythlet is a great FMC.  She is strong, tough, determined and has overcome abuse by her former "masters".  She would do anything for her bestie Desil, even sell their souls to a fight-master.  I really empathised with Lythlet - she's plain, ordinary and unremarkable in many ways but she is a whizz at organisation, which has been exploited by others in the past.  She does get lost along the way, making her all the more believable as a character.  She gets side-tracked and consumed by petty things before she finally gets back on to her true path.

Desil and his medical debt are at the core of every decision that Lythlet makes and there are some really emotional scenes between them as the storyline develops. There are some very strong real-world parallels depicted in the story and it blended into the fantasy world seamlessly.

I'm a bit peeved at the lack of world building outside the MC's direct environment.  I wanted to know more about the sub-blest, the workings of the fights/arenas/match masters. There were a few scenes of info-dumping and some of the longer monologues could have been edited down a bit but otherwise I really enjoyed both the storyline and the development of the characters.

This is a friendship/platonic love coded fantasy and I'm here for more!