Vanquished – S.E. Green

I don’t do many blog tours, but when I saw the cover of this one I had to check it out. It has an amazing rating on goodreads and the synopsis grabbed me, so I decided to go for it. SO GLAD I DID!!!

Goodreads Summary

Where society’s elite go to explore their darkest desires. And where promises of freedom are just manipulative lies.

For a price, the world’s most powerful people can have their darkest desires. On a private island hidden in the ocean, they may hunt humans for game, attend gladiator-style fights, participate in elaborate orgies, and freely indulge in all the deadly sins within the cosplay of ancient times.

Abducted from their life in Miami, Valoria and her younger sister wake up in this secret society, wherein Valoria is condemned to the fights and her sister is taken away to become a sex slave.

Now “property” of a sadistic tyrant, Valoria joins other men and women captives who are forced to fight and maim for others’ enjoyment, to run in their hunts, and participate in deviant fantasies. And she’s under the cold, watchful eye of Alexior, a hired trainer with his own agenda for being involved in the twisted decadence.

After surviving several near-death ordeals, a defiant Valoria focuses on her training and against all odds soon becomes a favorite. But she fights for one thing and one thing only—to be reunited with her sister and to be freed.

But promises of freedom are sometimes just manipulative lies . . .

My Review of Vanquished

Well, that totally took me for surprise in a fabulous way! I absolutely LOVED this book! WOW!

Think Hunger Games meets Sparticus! Valoria wakes up in a strange place and is auctioned off to the highest bidder. There she must become a warrior, and fight for her freedom and the freedom of her sister, who has been sent off to be a sex slave. Valoria must meet multiple foes and fight to the death. She must also figure out a way to escape this horrible place with her sister.

I don’t want to give too much away, but AWESOME!!! Note though, this is NOT YOUNG ADULT! Don’t go letting your 14 year old read this! There are explicit raunchy scenes and a HUGE amount of gruesome violence! Also, if you are sensitive to the topics of violence, slavery and other atrocities, you may want to think twice about this book. However I actually think the author did a really good job writing those horrible scenes quite tactfully.

I want to mention that I was REALLY glad this book was not the first of a series. I was expecting it to continue on and end in a cliff-hanger like most of these types of books do, so I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that it ENDED. Sure, there is always the possibility of a sequel, but it had an extremely satisfying ending! And the fact it was a stand alone was so great! Sometimes you just want the story to end, you don’t want it dragging on for 3 books and 4 movies!

The characters were awesome! I really got engrossed in the relationships that Veloria had. I absolutely LOVED the romance! GOOSEBUMPS!!! I think the author pulled it off really well! There is something about forbidden/hopeless love… And the twist near the end? Genius! Didn’t see that one coming!

There were a few good themes in there that were explored too, slavery, ownership, the class system, violence as entertainment, humanity etc etc.

Would I recommend Vanquished?

Yes! For any fans of adventure/violence/thriller/gory novels that keep you up ALL night to finish them in one sitting! Loved it!

Many thanks to author S.E. Green via XPRESSO blog tours for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

(5 / 5)

PURCHASE:

AMAZON | AMAZON AU | Barnes and Noble |

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Click below to see the Vanquished blog tour schedule, thanks to XPRESSO tours!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

S. E. Green (aka Shannon Greenland) is the award winning author of several novels including the teen thriller, KILLER INSTINCT, and the spy series, THE SPECIALISTS. She lives off the coast of Florida with her very grouchy dog.