The Valiant, by Lesley Livingston

Many interesting things happened to me while I was reading The Valiant. I was on a B.E.A.R. trip (http://www.bearmt.org/) with eight others and two mentors. My friend and I were the only high schoolers, with the remainder of them in middle school. Needless to say, they were all incredibly rude and every boy was determined to spend the entire weekend in just their underwear, even though there was two feet of (hard and icy) snow outside.

Anyway, back to the book. There was absolutely nothing to do in the cabin, and so I brought The Valiant. It was pretty much the lifejacket that was keeping me from drowning in boredom from the trip. It was my crutch for dealing with persnickety preteens.

The Valiant was a very interesting novel about female gladiators. The main character is called multiple names throughout the book: Fallon, Victrix, Fury Killer, etc. She's also the daughter of the king of the Cantii tribe, in Britain. Like her sister before her, Fallon is eventually captured by Romans, and sold to Julius Caesar, the man who conquered her homelands, as a gladiatrix. During her ruthless training and bloody fights, Fallon falls in love with a Roman soldier, named Cai, and finds herself fighting for the very man she has sworn to hate.

However, my synopsis can't ever cover the true beauty of the book. It's about struggling with pride and honor versus survival, and falling in love even though it is forbidden to do so. I hope that you will find the courage to do so, as it will truly entertain you.