Review: Caged Warrior by Lindsey Piper
CAGED WARRIOR BY LINDSEY PIPER
The first installment in this fierce and sensual new paranormal romance series features demonic gladiators, ruthless mafia villains, and a proud race on the brink of extinction.Ten years ago, Audrey MacLaren chose to marry her human lover, making her an exile from the Dragon Kings, an ancient race of demons once worshiped as earthly gods. Audrey and her husband managed to conceive, and their son is the first natural-born Dragon King in a generation—which makes him irresistible to the sadistic scientist whose mafia-funded technology allows demon procreation. In the year since her husband was murdered, Audrey and her little boy have endured hideous experiments.
Shackled with a collar and bound for life, Leto Garnis is a Cage warrior. Only through combat can Dragon Kings earn the privilege of conceiving children. Leto uses his superhuman speed and reflexes to secure the right for his two sisters to start families. After torture reveals Audrey’s astonishing pyrokenesis, she is sent to fight in the Cages. If she survives a year, she will be reunited with her son. Leto is charged with her training. Initially, he has no sympathy for her plight. But if natural conception is possible, what has he been fighting for? As enemies, sparring partners, lovers, and eventual allies, Leto and Audrey learn that in a violent underground world, love is the only prize worth winning.
This is a pretty strong debut for a new series. Caged Warrior is full of heart pounding action, epic heroes, sadistic villains, and unusual super powers.
Fans of The Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward, The Immortals After Dark Series by Kresley Cole, or The Fever series by Karen Marie Monning will find similarities in this novel - particularly with the first few books from the other series. Alpha men, strong smart women, an impossible quest, and truly diabolical evil that impacts the greater good.
There are are some pretty sick, perverted scenes in this book. I really hated Leto for quite a while. Some scenes were just distasteful. Ultimately though the novel redeems itself with an incredibly brave and resilient heroine, smart story twists, and a happy ending.
Does the end justify the means? No. But in fairness to the author, I have a personal bugaboos when it comes to sexual terror.
I’m still not certain if I understand the dragon powers story line. Were these people ever dragon shifters? I understand that they have super powers but I could substitute the word dragon with alien or tribe or spirit and still achieve the same result.
This novel hits the stands on June 25. Silent Warrior, the prequel to this novel, is currently available for $.99.
