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    Arena
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    Arena
    Audiobook11 hours

    Arena

    Written by Holly Jennings

    Narrated by Erin Spencer

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    A fast-paced and gripping near-future science fiction debut about the gritty world of competitive gaming...

    Every week, Kali Ling fights to the death on national TV.
    She's died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier...

    The RAGE tournaments--the Virtual Gaming League's elite competition where the best gamers in the world compete in a no-holds-barred fight to the digital death. Every bloody kill is broadcast to millions. Every player is a modern gladiator--leading a life of ultimate fame, responsible only for entertaining the masses.

    And though their weapons and armor are digital, the pain is real.

    Chosen to be the first female captain in RAGE tournament history, Kali Ling is at the top of the world--until one of her teammates overdoses. Now, she must confront the truth about the tournament. Because it is much more than a game--and even in the real world, not everything is as it seems.

    The VGL hides dark secrets. And the only way to change the rules is to fight from the inside...

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateApr 5, 2016
    ISBN9780804195065
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for Arena

    3.5/5

    58 ratings16 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Kali is a gamer. One who fights, and dies, on national television for the entertainment of the masses. Ruled by sponsors, Kali and her team struggle with fame, notoriety, and drugs. Her team is one of the favorites to win the RAGE tournament, but during the pre-rounds, they are defeated by an unknown team and put into the losers bracket. Kali’s lover, and teammate, overdoses, throwing the entire team into limbo. Their team manager names Kali as the captain, making her the first female captain in RAGE tournament history. Success or failure depends on her decisions, and her ability to pull her team back together.I wasn’t sure if I would like this book, but the author grabbed me immediately. I couldn’t put this book down, and found myself reading all night long to find out what happens. My only criticism is that the book desperately needs an epilogue, or at least the promise of a second book. I look forward to reading more from this author, highly recommended.
    • 2/5
      This book is set in 2054, a time in which virtual gaming is a hugely popular sport. Kali Ling, age 20, known as “The Warrior,” is on Team Defiance, and as the story begins, the team has been crushed in bloody combat by Team InvictUS in the “Rage Tournaments.” When not gaming, virtual gamers tend to party with drugs and alcohol, not only to increase their media exposure, but because it is another way to escape reality and feel invincible.When Kali’s teammate Nathan dies from a drug overdose, the death is quickly covered up by those running and promoting the sport, and Team Defiance gets a new teammate, James Rooke. He is great looking and has a lot of talent, but seems cold and distant. Kali senses he is hiding something, and she feels immediately hostile toward him. Of course you know this means they will eventually get together, especially when the team’s owner and manager, Clarence, insists that, to raise their media ratings, Kali and Rooke pretend to have a romance. Meanwhile, Kali finds herself going down the same spiral of self-destruction as Nathan. But Rooke keeps asking Kali about Taoism since she wears a yin and yang necklace, and he surreptitiously passes her books on Asian philosophy.As the story progresses, several things happen: the team prepares for the ultimate (re)match against InvictUS for the Rage championships; Kali starts reading the philosophy books (e.g., Tao Te Ching, Art of War) and practicing their tenets to heal herself and help the team; she learns to appreciate the real world (although it’s hard to see what is there to appreciate); of course, the relationship between Kali and Rooke develops into something different; and Kali figures out how to change the world.Discussion: This book did not strike me as very well-written; some of the characters are total caricatures (for example, the team’s owner and manager, The Evil Villain Clarence), and a lot of it is too blatantly derivative, such as the forced romance between Kali and Rooke to help build an audience for the games - straight out of The Hunger Games. Much of what Kali and Rooke say to each other sounds like a bromidic gaming self-help book. Some examples:"People are stupid. But not being yourself because of their ignorance is worse." "Training your mind to be calm while the body is suffering makes you a stronger fighter.""Fighting people leads to war. Fighting ideas leads to progress."In fact, Kali, who narrates, hardly ever sounds like a real person. The dialogue is just too clunky and unnatural.Then there was the very offensive-to-me line by the gay teammate Hannah (in an allegedly committed relationship with the other gay woman on the team, Lily) when she first saw Rooke: “I was gay before I entered the office. And then, that happened.” (She points to Rooke). Gosh, if only gay women had access to handsome men, maybe they would turn!Evaluation: The subject matter has promise, but the execution, not so much.
    • 3/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Virtual gaming as a professional sport set the intensity and action of this novel but I really struggled with the main character at first.Opening Sentence: This wouldn’t be the first time I died.The Review:Arena is set in the year 2054. Virtual gaming is now a competitive, professional sport as popular as the Super Bowl. I really enjoyed the opening to this novel, it reminded me a bit of Sword Art Online until the consequences of this world is fully unveiled. Then I had a really hard time with Kali, the main protagonist, as she tries to survive the enticing grips of the virtual world. Eventually, Kali becomes a better person but the journey to get there takes a while.Virtual gaming has a dark side. It isn’t all fun and gaming. In order to be a part of the professional world, gamers must be in peak physical condition. They have to mentally and physically be able to perform the fight moves in the real world in order for it to transition to the virtual. If you can’t fly in real life then you definitely can’t fly in the virtual. Also, sensations are heightened, colors are more vibrant, smells are more pungent and pain is very real. When you die in the virtual you will feel every repercussion until you wake back up in the real world once again whole. Gamers are just about as fake as the games they are playing. Each team member plays a part for the media and for sponsors who will pull their money as soon as someone does something that they don’t like.I drove my fingers through his hair, and his tongue assaulted mine. I tasted everything he’d done that night, a bittersweet mix of soda, vodka, and traces of HP.HP. Nathan wasn’t the only one wishing he was still in the virtual.I closed my eyes and envisioned the tower, surrounded by stone and grass. The metal against my back turned to earth. Warmth spread through my body as the sunlight caressed my skin. The sweetest scent, like a thousand wildflowers, wafted against my nose, carried by the thick, mountain air. It filled my lungs and breezed across my face. Reality was the game. Plastic. Metal. People. All fake. The game was real—tangible, sweet and warm—and the only place I was alive and free.Kali and Team Defiance are the number one team in the world until they are overwhelmingly defeated in the semifinal rounds. Then to make matters worse one of the team members dies from a drug overdose. As Team Defiance has now been moved to the losers’ bracket, they cannot lose any more matches if they have any hopes of making it to the Finals. Team Defiance undergo some major changes when Kali is named team captain (the first ever in the sport) and a new member joins the team.He drove his sword through my chest and ripped it out again.I dropped to my knees. My fingers went numb and ice-cold. Death was an animated thing, slithering up my arms and chest until it wrapped around my throat and crushed my last, gasping breath.I woke with a jolt, slamming back to this world. Slick with sweat, trembling uncontrollably, I breathed through my hand and forced my stomach calm, thankful that the pod’s solid doors kept my reaction concealed from everyone else. I coughed and sputtered until tears stung my eyes and dribbled down my face. As my body slowly recovered, I started to laugh, and kept laughing until there were new tears in my eyes. Nothing like seeing your own insides to make you feel mortal.Nothing like coming back to life to make you feel like a god.Kali is not a redeemable character at the beginning of Arena. In fact, she’s kind of hard to read because you know she is throwing her life away and doesn’t care one bit. She’d rather be lost in the virtual than in the clinical, whitewashed real world. Just when I was about to give up on finding anything redeeming about Kali, she finally begins to understand how detrimental she’s been living her life. Kali with the help of Rooke, the new team member, begins to change her life around while also trying to be a better teammate, captain and person. Kali wants to put an end to the dark side of virtual gaming.I left the doc’s office feeling stronger than I had in a long time. Each step that pounded into the hallway’s metal floor sent another shock wave of perseverance through my body. This wasn’t just about me or my career. The team was counting on me to lead them to the championship. That’s what mattered.But the problem with living in a reality so plastic and fake and a virtual world so full of life, the lines between what matters and what doesn’t get blurry.Fast.Overall, Arena has quite a bit of action and some intense moments. I still felt it was slow going for me, it may not be that way for others but I did struggle with Kali’s struggle. I just wanted it to get over with so I could see how the Final fight would go. I was not disappointed in the ending at all, Arena has a wonderful, intense ending. The thing that I did like about Arena was how it was a different read for me. I haven’t really read anything set with virtual gaming like this. If you want to read something a bit different, try Arena. If not, then I would suggest you pass on it.Notable Scene:“And when you do a hit of HP at the clubs, is that for the team, too?”I ground my teeth together. Whatever I chose to do at the clubs was none of his fucking business.“You can’t keep going like this,” he stressed. The muscles in his neck went tight. “You could die, Kali. Don’t you see that?”Pffft. I waved him off. “We don’t die, you idiot. We never die. We just wake up. You know why the rest of us do this? Why we drink and party and get so high we can’t remember our own names? It’s just to pass the time until we can go back to what’s real.”He took a step back, and the color drained from his face. “What did you just say?”“Nothing. I don’t know.”He took my head in his hands and forced my eyes up. “Look at me. What do you see?”“An asshole.” I slapped his hands, but his grip only tightened on my jaw.“How many times have you died?”“What?”“How many times?”“Thirty, maybe. Forty. I don’t know.”“Dying here isn’t like the games,” he said. “This is reality.”FTC Advisory: Ace/Penguin provided me with a copy of Arena. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 2/5
      Arena by Holly Jennings is set in the near future where e-sports are now dominated by fully immersive virtual reality games. The story is told from Kali’s point of view – a twenty year old half American half Chinese woman who is making history as the story unfolds as the first female team captain in the tournament bracket. Then her world starts to fall apart – her teammate dies of an overdose, she’s fighting an addiction herself, and corporate sponsors along with their team owner wants to sweep Nathan’s death under the rug. The story itself was decently plotted and well-paced with interesting fight scenes sprinkled throughout. So what did I have issue with? The fully immersive VR gaming. Especially as a gamer. Fully immersive VR isn’t a new idea, but it’s just as intriguing now as ever, especially as VR systems are being systematically released for major consoles. However, the execution left me wondering if the author has ever actually played video games with any regularity. I didn’t really understand why they had their own programmers. Programmers aren’t magicians, but I felt that the story treated them that way. They don’t just magic opponents and simulations out of thin air, and coding from scratch takes much longer than a couple of punches of a keyboard. Having some sort of advanced AI would have been more logical. Even more confusing was the complete and total lack of an in-game menu system which would have nearly erased the need for any programmers or AI at all. As a gamer, not having the option to choose your own maps, difficulty settings for opponents, and especially log out is both completely foreign and a complete turn off. It isn’t exactly like you can just alt-F4 out fully immersive VR. Also, that is not tower defense. The game they are playing in the tournament is definitely capture the flag style. There is nothing tower defense about that. The characters were, by and large, very memorable. Kali has a strong voice, and becomes a rather strong character. Rooke was more interesting than I first assumed he would be as well. All of the more minor characters had personality and goals, two hosts for the tournament being among my favorites. That said, while memorable, many of the characters weren’t necessarily well fleshed out. Clarence falls into an evil villain archetype with no real motivation besides the book needing a villain. The romance between Kali and Rooke felt forced; I would have much rather Kali learned to trust him as a human being before a rushed, whirwind romance which, despite what Kali says in the book, is really no deeper or different than her relationship with Nathan. While the VR tech I found a bit of a stretch, and some of the characters ill-flushed out, the book did have some good messages. Largely, though, it had wonderful ideas that were executed inexpertly. If you are new to books in this vein, then many you would want to give Arena a shot.*I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.*
    • 4/5
      I would like to thank Ace & NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC to review. Though I received this ebook for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review. Goodreads Teaser: "A fast-paced and gripping near-future science fiction debut about the gritty world of competitive gaming...Every week, Kali Ling fights to the death on national TV.She's died hundreds of times. And it never gets easier...The RAGE tournaments - the Virtual Gaming League's elite competition where the best gamers in the world compete in a no-holds-barred fight to the digital death. Every bloody kill is broadcast to millions. Every player is a modern gladiator - leading a life of ultimate fame, responsible only for entertaining the masses. And though their weapons and armor are digital, the pain is real. Chosen to be the first female captain in RAGE tournament history, Kali Ling is at the top of the world - until one of her teammates overdoses. Now, she must confront the truth about the tournament. Because it is much more than a game - and even in the real world, not everything is as it seems. The VGL hides dark secrets. And the only way to change the rules is to fight them from the inside..."A captivating story about personal issues played out in the media, the stresses of living a life dictated by team owners and sponsors, and the massive cover ups that allow the image to remain king. Kali Ling is an incredible character who takes us on a journey of deep introspection and self discovery, all framed in a futuristic, but realistic, world of professional gaming. Virtual gaming is the new hot kid on the scene, and 20 year old Kali is right in the thick of it, living her dream and not really paying to much attention to all that's wrong in the industry. The way all players drug tests are falsified, and how all the drugs they could ever want are supplied by the team owners, players brainwashed into parroting, if not believing, that "image is everything."This story is a fascinating mix of personal and public, showing the fault lines that run through pro sports and the damage it does to each successive generation of players. Everyone toes the line in fear of losing sponsors, or getting dropped from teams; Kali follows this path until her teammate Nathan overdoses. That event begins the unraveling of Kali's belief in the industry; though it had begun some time prior, it took Nathan's death to bring it to the fore for her. This story is both exhilarating and saddening, as though it is fiction it is so easy to see how close to reality it likely is for most industries that rely on public fans and private sponsors. But Kali's journey, and that of her friends and teammates is refreshing, and feels oh so authentic. The characters are well crafted, with Kali and Rooke the two central players, surrounded by two empathetic and enjoyably strong young women as well as a young man with more depth than one would expect. Between their budding friendship and growing dependence upon each other to struggle through the challenges they face they move the story ever forward. Their lives and challenges both propel the plot and are the plot. This is a refreshing journey of a very realistic character, one who faces tough challenges, especially at the very young age of 20, and yet learns to rediscover herself. In doing so she also learns how to lead, far better than she'd ever imagined possible. Not only is this a great book for anyone who would be in the entertainment industry, be it as professional athletes, models, actors, etc. but also for those who support those various industries by following them. It's also simply a wonderful story of reaffirmation, self discovery, and personal growth. And on top of all that it's just a flat out good story, one that will challenge you to put the book down to sleep when all you want to know is what happens next. In Arena Ms. Jennings has done a wonderful job of tackling serious issues, sharing solid life lessons, and still keeping the reader more than engaged.
    • 3/5
      I was excited to read this book. After reading Ready Player One by Earnest Cline I was on the hunter to read more books that dealt with the virtual reality world. It is like experiencing a world within a world. I have read several other books like Ready Player One but none that have been that next "it" book. Some have come close. This book was close but not quite. I say this because the RAGE tournament was cool but there was not enough time spent in this world. Which I felt the present world was not as strong. Plus I was not digging the romance between Kali and Rookie. Speaking of Kali, she may be the first female leader but she did not impress me as a strong one. Not in the beginning. Additionally, I felt that the author was pushing too hard for Kali and her team to keep losing in the beginning so that they would be the underdogs that come on top in the end. Although I did have some issues with this book I still did like the premise of the story and would give this author another try.
    • 2/5
      In this dystopian scifi thriller, video games have become a national pastime sport, with tournaments broadcast on television networks and the players in these virtual worlds are just as famous as athletes are in our world, larger-than-life superstars with high end sponsors and all the fame and notoriety that goes along with those roles. Kali Ling, a member of Team Defiance, the number one team in the virtual gaming world until an unexpected and overwhelming defeat in the semifinal rounds of the RAGE tournaments, becomes the first female captain of a RAGE team in its history. She is also of Asian descent, so she also has to deal with that aspect of her life in the gaming world as well.This is all set up fairly early on, after the Team Defiance upset by an unknown team. The team is sent out to the clubs by their sponsors to make sure that everything still seems normal. After a night of partying, Kali's teammate and friend-with-benefits, Nathan, ODs on the drug HP and dies. She's clearly torn up about this until Nathan's replacement is introduced the next day. (Nathan who?) Burdened with everything the virtual world throws at her, she too turns to drugs and sex and wild living, until she realizes that she's slowly throwing her life away. (Hello, after school special).Overall, there was a lot of potential here, but I felt it got bogged down in trying to redeem Kali. The gaming world seemed really intense, given that anything that happened in VR, the players felt IRL. However, the games themselves didn't seem all that exciting; I guess I was just expecting more from the VR gaming world here, other than what felt like glorified capture the flag, but with swords and virtual death. I also felt that Jennings was having a hard time deciding what type of book this was supposed to be: was she going for edgy YA? Moral lessons wrapped in adult ambiguity when it comes to sex, drugs, and clubbing? Spiritual coming of age? I also felt that Jennings was trying far too hard to make everybody happy, and checking off all the necessary ticks on a list: Female lead? Check. Character of Asian descent? Check. Lesbian couple? Check. Black character? Check. Making sure female lead is a total kick ass character? Check. To be honest, by the end of the book, I found myself skimming huge swaths of text, as I really just wanted to get to the end of the story, and I didn't really care all that much about what happened to anybody. Clearly, this book just wasn't for me.
    • 2/5
      Oh, boy, this felt so tortured. I couldn't even finish it :(
    • 3/5
      This book was a mixed bag for me. Good message and entertaining quest, but a LOT of cliches and character tropes. The writing is also fairly bland. The book is a fast and easy read, but not my favorite.
    • 4/5
      *I received a copy from Blogging for Books for review. This in no way effects my review*

      A thrilling ride! While it reads like it's for older teens, I still enjoyed it, and am excited to read more of Jennings' work! The plot is well written and exciting, characters fun and realistic, setting is well described and the action is easy to follow. Perfect for fans of the Hunger Games! I'm excited to learn this is the start of a series, and can't wait to get my hands on the next book!
    • 5/5
      Virtual reality has advanced into full immersion gaming. Kali Ling battles to the death in the Arena for the enjoyment of her fans and to fill the pockets of her sponsors. The thrill of the battle sings in her veins as she defeats her foes. And in the professional gaming leagues, death isn't painless. Each time she dies, Kali experiences a virtual death as real as one in real life. But when you can wake up from death, over and over again, what does it matter if you die? Until the lines begin to blur between the virtual world and the real one.Like most gamers in Arena, Kali indulges in alcohol and drugs, chasing the high she feels when in the game. Her life is a whirlwind of training, publicity, and fame, but she can leave all of it behind when she is immersed in the virtual world. The game itself becomes an addiction for her. When she loses a teammate to an overdose, her need to escape reality increases. She begins to spiral out of control. Watching Kali struggle to balance her life and reclaim her place in the real world made the pages fly by. Amidst the clamor of battle and gaming, Holly Jennings makes it clear that being a celebrity comes with a price.The character development was spot on in this novel. I didn't notice Kali's slow decline into addiction at first. I realize now that this is how it starts. Small things that no one really notices until something major happens, then all the pieces begin to line up. The description of this book might talk about how Kali is the first woman to lead a team in the RAGE tournaments, but the true story is how she learns how to deal with the pressure and responsibility of that role.Watching Kali struggle in both the real and virtual worlds kept my attention the entire time. There is never a dull moment and I couldn't wait to have a free moment to dive back into this book. I can't wait to start the next one!
    • 4/5
      ARENA is a near-future science fiction story in which video gaming has gone virtual and players have the status of elite athletes or rock stars today. Kali Ling is twenty and deep into the gaming world. She is also deep in the lifestyle partying every night and using all sorts of drugs. But there are consequences.Kali is beginning to feel that the virtual world is more real than real life. She makes any excuse to spend time in that virtual world. She and her team are taking part in a tournament. They are soundly defeated in the first round and now have to make their way to the championship through the loser's bracket. Things become even more difficult for Kali when one of her teammates with whom she had a sexual relationship overdoses and dies in her bed. More chilling is that the owner and sponsors cover up his death by saying it was a heart problem and try to do their best to erase him from the public's memory. Kali thinks this is wrong and her guilt at not saving her friend also sends her deeper into her self-destructive spin.A new guy - James Rooke - is brought in to fill the empty place on the team. He and Kali don't click at first. He seems to be standoffish despite being an excellent game player. It isn't until Kali bottoms out and decides to fight her addiction to gaming that she begins to see Rooke's strengths. He has fought the fight she is fighting. This seems like a very realistic possible future. You could slot in any professional sport today with the public adulation, potential exploitation by owners and sponsors, and the careless lifestyle of the newly rich and famous as a model for Kali's life.While I thought her transformation was too abrupt, I enjoyed watching Kali grow up and choose her life's path and goals.
    • 5/5
      Arena by Holly Jennings is a terrific futurist sci-fi novel in which people play team virtual death match games in an arena broadcasted worldwide. This story is about a team and the interactions, trials, bonds, action, and matches that they go through. Most of the story is about Kali, the girl of the story. There is a lot of sci-fi virtual gaming, fighting (gladiator style), believable interactions between teens, addiction, action, and good clean fun also. The plot is well thought out and the characters are well developed. There is a lot of emotions including anger, hurt, guilt, love, fear, pride, and more. The writer is very good at making you feel all of these deeply. Well done. Book moves quickly and steadily with a wonderful conclusion. Loved it. Will watch for more of her books. I received this book for a honest review from NetGalley but it in no way effected my rating or review content.
    • 5/5
      Que buen libro, una realidad que no está lejos, a los deportistas que les gusta los videojuegos es una buena opción
    • 2/5
      I received this book in return for an honest review.(sigh) I really wanted to like this book. I really did. It honestly took me FOREVER to finish. As much as I hate to say it, it just wasn't my thing.I really thought Arena would be like the Hunger Games or even Divergent, that's what made me jump at the chance to get to read this - it was not. So that was a major let down for me.As soon as you start reading, it's like you are instantly overwhelmed with to many characters and information dump. Oh. and excessive drug use. Yay. (sarcasm)I felt like Arena was forced and trying to hard to be something it wasn't. Or maybe it was just because I wasn't into it. Either way, I had to force my way through it.I'm sorry I just wasn't a fan of this one.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I was really intrigued when I read the synopsis for this book. A fresh take on the dystopian story, where the focus is on those providing the entertainment, not the state of the masses watching them. Jennings did not disappoint. You are drawn in without realizing it, and quickly form a bond with Kali Ling. The most chilling part of the book? It's a believable future. A great read for dystopian lovers and gamers alike.Received for review