Girl in the Arena

Lise Haines

Publisher: Bloomsbury Teens

Publish Date: Already Out

Format: Hardcover

Series: None

They became too powerful to live among us.

Too self-concerened, too visionary, too blind.

– Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides

Lyn is the product of her mother, Allison and her father, who was a gladiator in the Gladiator Sports Association (GSA).  She has had a total of seven gladiator fathers.  The gladiator bylaws say you can have no more than seven gladiator husbands and Allison has reached that number.  There are even rules that say who you can associate with after your seventh husband.  

No woman is allowed marital congress with more than seven gladiators, Bylaw 116.  And Gladiator Sport Association Widows, GSAWs, are not permitted to fraternize with common men, Bylaw 118.

Lyn’s current father, Tommy, is in a competition against another gladiator, Uber.  Before the match, Lyn gives Tommy her dowry bracelet for good luck.  When Tommy is killed in the competition, Uber picks up Lyn’s dowry bracelet.  

No man is allowed to hold your dowry bracelet, except your father.  If a man holds your dowry bracelet he’s required, according to GSA law, to marry you, Bylaw 87.

The Gladiator Competitions are all about publicity and making the news.  Nothing makes better headlines than that of Lyn having to marry Uber, her father’s killer.  This is troubling to Lyn because she had never wanted to marry into Glad culture.  She never wanted to be like her mother.  The GSA puts so many restrictions on what they can and cannot because they are the family of a Gladiator.  Lyn will try anything to get out of marrying Uber, but what will this cost her?

I liked that in this book, a whole new world was developed and put in a time frame that we could better understand.  

If I were Allison, I’d be halfway down the stairs by now, trying to breathe life back into him, into his guts, his heart.  But Allison sits there like the ambulance on the other side of the gates with its motor running, lights on.  Waiting for the officials.  Waiting for nothing.  What do you wait for after death? Sixty thousand expressions of waiting all around us.

It’s a fight to the death—on live TV—when a gladiator’s daughter steps into the arena

Lyn is a neo-gladiator’s daughter, through and through.  Her mother has made a career out of marrying into the high-profile world of televised blood sport, and the rules of the Gladiator Sports Association are second nature to their family.  Always lend ineffable confidence to the gladiator.  Remind him constantly of his victories. And most importantly: Never leave the stadium when your father is dying. The rules help the family survive, but rules—and the GSA—can also turn against you. When a gifted young fighter kills Lyn’s seventh father, he also captures Lyn’s dowry bracelet, which means she must marry him... For fans of The Hunger Games and Fight Club, Lise Haines’ debut novel is a mesmerizing look at a world addicted to violence—a modern world that’s disturbingly easy to imagine.

Like an ancient Roman column, the gladiator’s daughter is an essential support, holding up the structure of the Glad family, Bylaw 82.

I once asked Allison, when she recited this to me, if she I was more Doric, Ionic, or Corinthian.  She didn’t think I was all that funny.

*That Lyn is independent and takes care of her family.

*The predictions that Lyn’s brother, Thad, makes.

*How you really get sucked into the story and the emotions the characters feel.

*Uber

*All the bylaws and the power that the GSA has.

So it looks like we’re in the Kali Yuga, right now, he said.  – The dark age.  That’s what they call it, not me.

–The dark age.  Nothing would shock.

He leaned near my shoulder, eager for me to read the entry aloud so we could talk about it.

I pushed the finely chopped carrots aside and read to him.

Rulers will become unreasonable: they will levy taxes unfairly.  Rulers will no longer see it their duty to promote spirituality or to protect their subjects: they will become a danger to the world.  Avarice and wrath will be common, men will openly display animosity toward each other.  People will have thoughts of murder for no justification, and they will see nothing wrong with that mind-set.  Family murders will also occur.  People will see those are helpless as easy target and remove everything from them.  Men with false reputation of learning will teach the Truth and the old will betray the senselessness of the young, and the young will betray the dotage of the old.  People will not trust a single person iun the world, not even their immediate family.  Even husband and wife will find contempt in each other.  It is believed that sin will increase exponentially, whilst virtue will fade and cease to flourish.  Alongside death and famine being everywhere, men will have lustful thought and so will women.  People will without reason destroy trees and gardens.  There will be no respect for animals, and also meat eating will start.  People will become addicted to intoxicating drinks.  Men will find their jobs stressful and will go to retreats to escape their work.  Teachers will no longer be respected and their students will attempt to injure them.