#Arena by Karen Hancock

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Arena chapter 27

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Chapter 27

The four Morresians at the wall opened fire, forcing her to dive behind a fallen wrought iron balcony, their pursuing beams sizzling off the metal.

We’re literally five chapters before the end, and the author is introducing NEW players to the game? What the fuck?

Evvi and LaTeisha chose a higher spot, away from the others.

This is literally the first mention that Evvi wasn’t dead, and had fully healed from her injuries.

Two weeks ago Pierce had shot Ian in the act of betrayal, then left him for his Morresian cohorts to care for. LaTeisha was appalled by this lack of compassion, particularly in light of Pierce’s own past failures.

Without further context as to what Ian did… I’m kind of on Pierce’s side here. People wanting to stay behind, to go off the approved path as it were, almost got all of them killed last time.

“How’d you guys get down the mountain? Don’t tell me you followed us?” Brody cradled his SI in one arm. “We found Pierce’s Safehaven.” […] “I can’t believe you guys made it this far with no armor. What do you do? Dodge energy beams?” John said, “We have our belts, Row.” Rowena flicked a dismissive hand. “Those worthless things? We threw ours away weeks ago. You guys must not have seen much action.”

They didn’t pass through the second gate, and they didn’t get the upgraded armour. This is a trap.

Callie recognized him instantly.

Chapter 27 summary: We jump right into the middle of battle again… Oh, it doesn’t fucking matter. Introducing two new warring factions in a book that already had two warring factions is a really odd move. Even worse is that it’s five chapters before the end. The author also seems a little bored with her own work at this point, as she’s resorting towards glossing over important stuff, like what’s been going on for the past six weeks. (Spoiler: more of them crossing this fucking warzone.) Not like I blame her, because this book has gone on for long enough. Eventually, they cross into a new territory, where they pause to celebrate even the singular win. Even if it’s hardly a win, since there’s a huge bounty on their heads. But then they meet up with another group of humans, and meet back up with Meg and Rowena. If only to have some measure of closure for them, I guess. However, the things that they say to our heroes are raising more than a few red flags in my opinion. The second Meg is alone with Callie, she begs to go with Callie’s group, claiming that The General is crazy from having gone through the fire curtain too many times. When Callie tells the others in her group, they’re all kind of suspicious of the new group, and wonder what it is that they’re playing at. Pierce finally calls out Rowena, and asks why it is that their group is so insistent upon going through this underground tunnel that seems structurally unstable. She insists that The General told them that it’s safe, so that it must be safe. Then a really large group of people armed to the teeth show up, and Callie is surprised to see who’s leading them… Hire me to fix your book! Copyediting, proofreading, developmental editing, sarcastic editing, and more! Message me anywhere for pricing and further details!

[thisbibliomaniac]

There is a really good book, I think it’s out of print, but it is one of my all time favorites. If you can find it I highly suggest it. But I don’t know your taste in reading material.

Arena by Karen Hancock

Interesting 👀

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Arena chapter 26

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Chapter 26

They took a short walk into the garden, where Callie learned he’d been feeling as frustrated as she, and the physical chemistry she’d once declared nonexistent once again made itself known with knee-jellying intensity. […] Pierce described his exit from the capsule and, from the way he talked, seemed not to know she’d been to see him. She was content to leave it at that.

Why do I get the feeling that these two things are related?

…and a single golden circlet worn round the head would suffice for a helmet.

Once again, it would have been less obvious if the author had hit us with a chair!

He regarded her gravely, then bent and kissed her with such exquisite tenderness she cried.

Chapter 26 summary: Pierce rejoins everybody the next day. After dinner, he and Callie take a turn around the garden. Out there, he asks if they’ve not been on this journey together for a year now. When she agrees, he asks that she marry him when they get back to earth. She hesitates for a moment, but then agrees. The narration then dives into some of what it is that they’ll be facing next, which is some of the inner cities, which is where constant wars are being fought. There’s a lot of toxic pollution leftover from that, but their “evolutions” will allow them to be okay. They also get cool upgrades to their armour. Unlike the last time, there are no naysayers anymore. Even people like Brody have come to understand the error of their ways, and are now listening attentively to Pierce. Later, as they’re about ready to head out, Callie brings up an important point: when you die in the arena, they put you back into your life on earth. However, there’s a lot of memory loss around that, which is why they can’t simply put you BACK into the arena. Pierce is confident that at least one of them will make it through to the end. And if that’s the case, then they’ll come find one another, since they know all about where the other’s home was on earth. Hire me to fix your book! Copyediting, proofreading, developmental editing, sarcastic editing, and more! Message me anywhere for pricing and further details!

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Arena chapter 25

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Chapter 25

“You’re the one who did all this? Kidnapped me, ruined everything for your silly little game?” His fury blazed, bright and shocking. Elhanu regarded him with utter calm. “If not for this, you would be dead, Brody Jamarillo. Remember? Your chute didn’t open.” Brody’s flush drained to dead white. He stood trembling, then sagged into his chair. “I hit the ground,” he whispered, staring at the table. “I remember now.” Slowly his gaze climbed back to Elhanu’s bearded face. “When I go back—” “You will recover completely. They’ll call it a miracle.”

So this isn’t so much about finding Jesus, but rather, literally dying and being in heaven. Which explains things like Brody, and the one guy who said that he’d been mugged and left for dead in the gutters of LA. But what about people like Meg and Callie, who were lured in with the promise of $50?

And John murmured, “Aggillon or not, I’d follow that man anywhere.”

Chapter 25 summary: Back with the others, Callie tells them about the healing gel that’s already got Pierce more or less on the speedy road to recovery. She also sees signs that some of the others have been in the gel, as indicated by their newly cut hair and nails. However, there’s no word about Evvi, who had a serious head injury. But this random lady Anna died before she could be saved, and they assume that as promised, she was sent back to her old life on earth. Somehow or another. Nobody understands why they can’t simply bring them back to life here, but whatever. Callie also tells them that Mr. C is Elhanu. They go in and have dinner, lingering over dessert and coffee as they talk. Eventually, Mr. C comes in and greets all of them. He confirms that he is Elhanu, and that he saved half of them from an untimely death. (I said what I said.) He also confirms that all of the named characters who left with Team Morgan are still alive… but warns that they won’t be for long. However, he says with certainty that they’ll refuse all and any help offered, and that he won’t override their free will. He then brings in musicians to entertain them before he leaves. Everybody gushes about how they’d follow him anywhere.

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Arena chapter 24

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Chapter 24

Callie didn’t hear the answer, her attention riveted on the man in the capsule. He lay naked in the fluid… […] Dark amber coagulations floated at the puncture in his chest, hovered along his broken ribs, and completely obscured his pelvis.

How convenient that he’s naked, yet there’s mysterious stuff in the tank that’s obscuring his junk.

“It was a test, lass. You knew that going in.” “I . . .” She frowned. It was true. All of it. She’d had everything, known everything she needed. The fault was hers. Why was it so hard to admit that?

I don’t know, man. I’m still really hung up over the one alien asking her why it is that these aliens need the humans to prove themselves over and over and… Callie saying “It’s my fault that I couldn’t figure the riddle out, and Pierce almost died” is victim blaming at its finest!

She’d expected nightmares after what she’d been through. Instead, her dreams were filled with light—glorious, wonderful radiance so intense it had physical substance. Even now she could feel the pressure of it wrapping about her like a pair of strong, gentle hands. Never had she felt more content. Or more at peace.

Quick question: how do these aliens expect for the humans to pick up the pieces of their lives once they’re returned home? On top of the fact that some of them have been gone for literal years, they’re also going to have to deal with so much PTSD… And trying to explain any of what happened to them to a therapist is going to get them sent to the loony bin.

Jaalel’s blue eyes pierced to her heart. “He is our king, ma’am. Elhanu.”

Chapter 24 summary: The others walk through the hall, but don’t find the aliens or their heavily injured friends. Instead, they get on a train that takes them to yet another waiting area. An alien tells them that they can rest here for up to three weeks. Callie demands to be taken to Pierce, and the alien agrees. As she goes, she runs into Mr. C. He’d been with them, but had “disappeared” during the trog battle. However, now that he’s returned, Callie thinks that he’s obviously one of the aliens in disguise. He shows her to Pierce lying suspended in a healing chamber, and one of the nurse aliens calls him “My lord”. After watching Pierce for a moment, she turns to Mr. C and is a little upset that he almost died because she failed to solve Mr. C’s shitty riddle for the longest time. Mr. C then convinces her to go get some rest, since Pierce will be in the chamber for 10 more hours. When she wakes up, the first thing she does is to look out at the beautiful view. Then she goes to find Pierce, who was moved to a recovery room. He’s still weak, but obviously no longer on death’s door. In there, Pierce tells her that they’re the first team in 7 years to have gotten so far, so the aliens are really rooting for them. After leaving Pierce to his rest, Callie asks one of the alien nurses about Mr. C. The woman confirms that he’s actually Elhanu.

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Arena chapter 23

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Chapter 23

“Do you know what happened to Meg?” [Brody] hissed as John tied off the bandage, shaking his head. “I think she got away with Morg.” John handed him a pair of pain pills and a cup of water. “She was one of the first to go. I was keeping up the rear.”

I love how deep and lasting that their love was. She’s probably moved on to somebody else now. …If she isn’t dead, or being held prisoner in a different trog camp.

After Teish removed the back of the shaft, Whit pulled the quarrel through Pierce’s chest, blood puddling the ground beneath it. Muttering about the filth in which they worked, LaTeisha applied gauze pads and strips of torn undershirt to the wound. “Here, roll him onto his back—” “Where’s the Safehaven?” Whit asked. “Ian’s searching for a passage now,” LaTeisha said. “Oh, look at this— busted ribs. And maybe a ruptured spleen. He needs a hospital.”

I’m confused as to what it is that they hope to accomplish in the safehaven that they aren’t already doing. Does the safehaven spit out supplies on command? Because I was kind of under the impression that it was like… one thing per key per visit. We the readers don’t know because Callie herself is too stupid to have figured any of this out.

We can’t help what we look like. He won’t let us appear any other way. She froze. We’re as much victims as you are. He’s the one who runs things, after all. She should leave now. Makes you wonder why he’s gone to all this trouble, doesn’t it? I mean, bringing you here, demanding you jump through all his hoops? Get out now, she told herself. Ah. You’re telling yourself you shouldn’t be listening to me. I might make you think, and we can’t have that. When puppets start thinking, it’s no time until they’re trying to cut their strings. Her legs trembled. Her heart pounded. Why are you still here, Callie? You know I’m evil. The word was drenched with mockery, even in her mind. Why aren’t you running away like a good little witness? She clenched her fists and took a step down the slope. When had she turned around? Is it because for the first time you’re beginning to grasp the fact that “truth” depends on who you’re talking to? Confusion rattled her. It was as if everything she believed had come loose from its moorings and now swirled around in her head, nothing more certain than anything else. From the beginning she’d seen the Tohvani’s side of things only through Aggillon eyes. They had been dismissed as evil, and she had been warned not to speak to them. Was that for her own good, as she’d been led to believe, or because the Aggillon feared she’d learn the truth of the other side’s plight?

Full offence, but if I was kidnapped by some aliens, I would not be siding with the group who was IN FAVOUR OF AND HELPED FACILITATE THE KIDNAPPINGS.

He brought you here, Callie, not us. He’s letting your man die, not us. The creature paused to let her absorb the truth of that, then added, He could easily save him. But no. First you have to find the secret door. Does that sound like someone who really cares about you?

To be fair, if this so-called king actually care about these people, he wouldn’t have fucking kidnapped them in the first place. So…

To bring them all this way, lead them through that awful camp, promising safety and succor if they just reached this slit The taste of betrayal lay bitter on her tongue. [sic]

Editors? Ha! I haven’t heard that word in a long time.

Besides Pierce, four others had sustained life-threatening injuries. Karl was in shock, bleeding internally. He lay on the ground beside Jesse, whose chest wound would certainly kill him without treatment. Anna had wandered around for half an hour before collapsing.

I don’t even know who you people are.

“Obviously your great leader miscalculated,” Brody sneered. Whit shook his head. “I’m certain we’re where we’re supposed to be.” He looked at Callie. “John said you all were led over the mountain pretty deliberately.” “Yeah, by a bunch of goats,” Brody said. “Real deliberate.” He shifted against the wall, grimacing. “Man, you guys are stubborn. Isn’t it obvious this is a mistake? We should’ve followed Morgan.” “Following Morgan didn’t do you much good,” Callie said dryly. “If we’d listened to him in the first place, we’d still be on the road.” He snorted. “I would’ve been better off staying back in that pen.” “Yeah,” John said, “but then you wouldn’t be able to blow your brains out.” Brody scowled at him.

I’m sorry, but why are you here? Don’t you have somewhere better to be? I thought you had an important appointment last week that was more pressing than any of this.

Whit led the way, and there was nothing left for Callie but to follow.

Chapter 23 summary: Somebody helps Callie into this cave where everybody else is hiding from the trogs. One of them was a nurse, and she’s tending to people now, but Pierce was hit so badly that she doesn’t exactly have a lot of hope for him. Callie asks where the safehouse is, but the others insist that there’s nothing in the caves except for three chambers, and literally no doorway out of there. As Callie is looking around, she finds herself alone and comes face to face with one of the evil aliens. He’s quick to tell her that “the king forces us to look like this” and “the truth depends on who you talk to”, as well as the fact that the king could at literally any time help Pierce… but he won’t. He forces them to solve puzzles, even as Pierce lay dying. She goes back to Pierce, who will not stop rambling on about his shield-belt and seeing. It makes no sense, but will obviously be important later. She also gets into a huge argument with Brody about how he should have stayed with Morgan, even though… literally nobody is forcing him to be there. Eventually, they all realise that there is a magic door, and one of them uses his magic key to open it. The so-called good aliens show up and carry all of the badly injured away on stretchers, leaving the rest to walk through the doorway on their own.

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Arena chapter 22

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Chapter 22

“They’re doing it telepathically,” Pierce said. And then Callie remembered: The fire curtain produced more than physical mutations—there were mental ones as well. Some mutants could levitate objects, create fire—or cause stones to blow up.

What the fuck is this? Goddamned X-Men?

And then another explosion ripped out of the rock behind her, the concussion hurling her into the dirt again, battering her with a deluge of rocks and gravel.

Chapter 22 summary: They mount the rescue mission. At first, things seem to be going okay. As Pierce said, the trogs are all asleep, so they easily get to where the humans are being held prisoner. However, when they see them, it’s obvious some of them have been put through the fire curtain. Pierce shoots one of them in the chest, but he almost immediately heals. He tells them that they can come with him, or stay there. However, it’s as they’re leaving that shit starts to hit the fan. Some of the trogs wake up because I guess that the humans were making too much noise as they left. Fighting breaks out, and it’s all Callie can do to get away. Pierce eventually tells her to head down into the canyon, but an explosion trips her up as she’s leaving.

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Arena chapter 21

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Chapter 21

They built a lean-to, warming it with a tiny fire, over which Tuck made a meal of two grouse they’d shot earlier in the day.

I completely love how the author has abandoned every hope of filling her book with crazy alien species, like in the start of this. Now they’ve got mountain goats and grouse.

Her belt’s energy field, amplified and integrated by helmet and breastplate, not only protected her from being shot, it extended her range of visible light—at both ends of the spectrum. With it on she could tolerate light that would normally blind her, could see Aggillon and Tohvani manifestations that unenhanced eyes would miss, and enjoyed a significantly improved level of night vision.

SURE, WHY THE FUCK NOT. THIS MIGHT AS WELL BE A THING, TOO. Everything else has been so ground in reality and what humans usually do/already have. But this? Fuck your logic.

The night air carried a stench of burning flesh, the screams raking her nerves as the pestering doubts interwove with nightmare visions of her friends’ torture. She pushed the images away, but they returned again and again. This was what awaited them if they were caught tomorrow. Perhaps she could use her weapon on herself before it came to that. A head shot would kill her just as certainly as it killed a mutant, wouldn’t it? But Elhanu had forbidden suicide as a means of exit from the Arena.

I’m sorry, but why the hell are you worried about the opinion of a man who kidnaps humans in order to prove a point to his shitty son?

Her eyelids drooped, her muscles sagged, her breathing slowed, and despite her earlier protestations, despite the awful noise, which was oddly distant now, she slept.

Chapter 21 summary: Instead of trogs, it’s four members of their old group, including Evvi. They explain about how some of the others were captured. And then as they climbed up the mountains, they saw the evidence of what Pierce did. Later, Callie tells the readers Pierce had a private moment with Evvi to tell her that he was only interested in Callie. Then he comes to her, and they kiss for a moment. However, Callie gets upset when she realises that Pierce had walked through the fire curtain before he’d destroyed it. She’s upset to think that he would have given in to the temptation, even if it did heal all of his cuts and bruises. But he insists that going through a little one, once, and a natural-made one at that, won’t hurt his ability to go through the gate at the end. They press on, and find even more campfires in the distance indicating more and more trogs. A day or two later, they finally get to their end destination, but there’s a trog camp right at the mouth of the canyon. However, they’re convinced that their friends are being held by these particular trogs, so they decide that they have to mount a rescue mission around dawn. As they wait, the people being held prisoner won’t stop screaming, which is understandably upsetting to all. But eventually, Callie does manage to drift off to sleep.

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Arena chapter 20

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Chapter 20

She glanced at Pierce. “Can you . . . ?” she whispered. “Are they . . . ?” He nodded and turned off the stove. The red light faded to darkness. The coil ticked erratically. Outside, the wind keened, and down the mountain the thumping sounded again, definitely coming closer. […] “Mountain goats,” Pierce whispered.

Boo you whore.

Then the path petered out completely, and the slope went vertical. Pierce pounded a piton into the rock, hooked on a carabiner, and looped the rope through it. They were anchored now. Nothing to fear.

To be fair, I’m not sure that I could manage something like that. I’m not sure most people could. Only experienced rock climbers.

“You walked through the fire curtain?” “I blew it up, Callie. Didn’t you hear the boom?” She regarded him doubtfully, battling unpleasant suspicions. “Why didn’t you do that before, when we were both there?” “I didn’t think of it. But I wouldn’t have tried it with you around, anyway. I wasn’t sure what would happen. If it worked, I didn’t know how big the explosion might be. Come on. I think we’re almost to the end.”

He was willing to try and explode the thing? If it had failed, he would have stranded Callie up there by herself, where she’d be sure to die because of her fears. Real good plan there, Pierce. /sarcasm

“Maybe. Come on.” He rolled back onto his feet, gave her a hand up, and they were off as if nothing had changed.

Chapter 20 summary: The sound that they heard turned out to be mountain goats. As they continue on, Pierce eventually says that he’s been following the goats, certain that Elhanu put them onto their path for a reason. It’s also foggy in the morning, so they press on without bothering to go back and look for the others. Pierce also says that with the trogs in the area, it would be better if they hurried on. They eventually get to a point where they have to climb up a 10 foot vertical part of the mountain. Callie is obviously overcome with fear, but Pierce manages to talk her through the climb until she’s at the top. They continue on, but Pierce eventually leaves her alone to double back. Callie worries that he’s going to go through a firecurtain that they saw earlier, but then hears a loud explosion. When he comes back, he says he walked through the firecurtain with a shield-belt on, and it caused it to explode. He also took out two trogs, but Callie is worried because they usually travel in groups of three. They get to a valley, where they take another break. Once there, they express how they couldn’t have gotten through all of that without the other. Although Pierce is quick to say that it’s only Elhanu that they’re relying on. Ugh. Callie then confesses that she has made up her mind that she does like-like him, and they kiss. But they hear something approaching them, so they quickly pull apart and keep going on.

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Arena chapter 19

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Chapter 19

When Morgan continued to object, Pierce merely walked away, ending the argument.

That is the correct response towards bullies and assholes. They don’t want to hear anything you have to say, so don’t even waste your energy trying to defend your actions to them.

Nevertheless, he routinely chose strategically defensible campsites, always set up the perimeter alarms and electronic fencing…

I’m sorry, but where exactly are you plugging that in? You’re in the middle of a fucking canyon! Even if I did think that they were using something else to charge it with… Unless it’s 100% solar, then how are they planning to use this stuff long-term? Spoiler from the future: When the trogs attacked, Team Morgan people said that the trogs would simply wait for their power to run out. So it’s obviously some sort of external power source.

Meanwhile the others set up their three-man tents, rigged and readied the alarm system and perimeter shields for later, gathered firewood, and scraped out latrines.

Y’all digging goddamned LATRINES for an overnight camping spot? Little wonder morale is low if they gotta dig latrines every fucking day. AND THAT’S ON TOP OF WALKING 20 MILES EVERY SINGLE DAY!! There’s no way that this is about hiding your presence. There’s fucking 114 people! I promise that the trogs know that you’re passing through.

“Listen, uh, I, uh . . . well, some of us are going back.” “To Rimlight?” “To the road.”

Okay, bye. Once again, don’t bother arguing with people who’ve clearly made their choice.

Not only was Evvi all thumbs and heedless of everything in her periphery, she had launched an all-out pursuit for Pierce’s attentions.

WHICH YOU FUCKING TOLD HER TO DO BEFORE YOU LEFT. You don’t get to be angry when you gave her the green light to act like that.

Outside, the wind keened, and down the mountain the thumping sounded again, definitely coming closer.

Chapter 19 summary: They all set out from the dorm area, intent on going up to the mountains. However, when Pierce leads them off the main road, that’s when the final cracks start to appear. Morgan argues that Pierce is simply trying to “save face”. When they get to a spot to camp at one night, they see smoke off in the distance. Morgan takes a team to scout ahead. The others set up camp and settle in for the night. Meg approaches Callie and begs her to come with Team Morgan. However, as you can imagine, this only leads to yet another fight. A bit later, Callie is sketching the mountains, when some of the guys grumble about how Morgan’s scouting party is going to bring trogs back to their camp. And then, literally not even a page later… That happens. They fight for a really long time, with the Team Morgan members who left the safety of the camp’s magic fencing getting shot. In the end, Pierce and Callie manage to get away from all of it. When they realise that they’ve left the map behind, Callie insists on going back. Also because she wants to see if they can’t find any other survivors. Pierce says no, that it’ll be impossible to track everybody down over the boulder-y terrain. He does agree to a compromise that he’ll get up high in the morning and look around with the binoculars for any signs of survivors. Then they hear a strange noise, and it’s clearly coming towards their makeshift camp.

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Arena chapter 18

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Chapter 18

Sickened by the enthusiasm with which Pierce was being ridiculed, Callie lost her appetite halfway through the breakfast line. No one showed his being tortured, or any of his moments of heroism, just his failures. Worst of all was seeing Meg at Brody’s side, spouting abuse with the rest of them.

As I said several chapters ago: “holier than thou” attitude problem. She acts morally superior while somehow being the worst goddamned person you’ve ever interacted with.

Callie knew that with her ill-considered words she had destroyed all hope of changing Meg’s mind.

I don’t know why you care so much! MEG IS A SHITTY PERSON, AND YOU’RE SERIOUSLY BETTER OFF AWAY FROM HER!! Need I remind her that Meg is the reason why you’re here in the first place?

“Better start packing,” he said.

Chapter 18 summary: In the morning, somebody plays clips of some of Pierce’s failings while on the outer rim. However, Callie fumes over how they don’t show how he was tortured by the trogs for three weeks. Showing these videos causes her to have a huge blow-out fight with Meg, which she later regrets. (I want to know why she cares so much.) Later, Callie apologises to Pierce about the weird almost-kiss that she pulled away from. He says that it’s okay. And then kind of brushes off how mean everybody has been to him simply because they’re impatient. As Callie is leaving, she runs into this other girl, Evvi, who is over the moon for Pierce. She assures the other girl that she isn’t in a relationship with Pierce, and encourages Evvi to shoot her shot at him. Then Callie goes up to the mountains to do some sketches. While she’s up there, she runs into this guy who pointedly looks her in the eye and asks “If you don’t love Pierce, why is your sketchbook full of images of him?” As she’s going back, she runs into one of the evil aliens. As she walks away from him, her mind is full of thoughts of doubt about Pierce and self-loathing. She goes into Pierce’s office to report the alien, but instead sees a bunch of notes. However nonsensical that they are, she randomly decides that it’s proof that Pierce still craves to do the “trog firewalk”. As she’s leaving, she runs into Evvi and Pierce, who are bursting with excitement. They say that the shooting range and armoury have closed, as a sign that it’s time to move on. However, this is a double-edged sword, since it also lines up with the bullys’ demands to go.

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Arena chapter 17

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Chapter 17

“I always wanted to play the piano, but we couldn’t afford it. And Mom said I lacked the discipline to practice.” “Your mother said that? About you?”

In case you couldn’t tell from her relationship with Meg, but Callie hasn’t exactly surrounded herself with nice people. Granted, you can hardly pick your parents or siblings. But you can pick your friends. And a lot of the time, the people you gravitate towards are usually determined by the way that your own family treats you. (ie, if your family is constantly telling you that you’re fucking shit, you’re going to find friends who have the same kind of attitude. You put up with it, because it’s the only thing that you know. Especially when you’re a child, who doesn’t know any better.)

“I understand we’re about to start for the final portal,” Brody said without preamble. Pierce’s expression became guarded. “Could be.” “Good, ’cause I’ve got a lot of things cooking back home, and I wanna finish this as soon as possible.”

Oh, I’m sorry. Is this inconvenient for you? Let me pencil you in for a return home next Tuesday!

“See you tomorrow.” “Yeah.” The door slid shut between them.

Chapter 17 summary: They go to the party… Well, the travelling festival thing put on by the Aggillon. They constantly going around to entertain all of the inner-ring camps like theirs, putting on circuses, theatre performances, and festivals. While the aliens are forbidden to talk to them except in the most necessary business way (that’ll be 5 gold, please), Callie finds that they say a lot in the stories they use for entertainment. She briefly talks to some of the others about how she’s working to overcome her fear of heights. Then she and Pierce go off to dance. When they take a break from dancing, Meg and her new boyfriend, Brodie, come over. The two of them are obviously perfect for one another, since Brodie acts like he has business appointments and can’t linger here forever. Pierce reminds him that this isn’t about simply overcoming physical obstacles, but rather, emotional hurdles in ones life. He recommends that Brodie wait around for the next guide, since he doesn’t think that Brodie is ready to go. As Pierce and Callie go back to dancing, Rowena comes in with one of the guys who’d been at the camp when they’d arrived. However, Rowena and the dude are quick to confront Pierce about how he’d constantly frozen up around the trogs. Conveniently missing from Rowena’s gossip is how Pierce had been held captive by the trogs for three weeks. Morgan thinks that it’s Pierce’s fear that’s holding everybody back. But Pierce looks him dead in the eye and says “Then you’re welcome to go. You’ve seen the same info I did about groups who tried to go before they were ready.” (It wasn’t pretty.) After that, Pierce and Callie go back to the dorms, where Pierce walks Callie to her door. For a moment, she thinks that he’s about to kiss her, and she kind of has a little panic attack. However, she mainly chalks it up to the abuse she suffered with Garth.

[percontaion-points]

Arena chapter 16

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Today's review might be difficult for some; reader discretion is advised

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Chapter 16

The Christmas dress, bought with Meg’s weekly discretionary spending credits, had triggered a huge fight. Meg had given it to her so Callie would “have something for the New Year’s party.” Callie had interpreted the gesture as another matchmaking attempt. It took them weeks to forgive each other.

I am once again begging Callie to explain it to me why exactly she’s still friends with this miserable excuse for a person. Explain it to me like I’m five, because I seriously cannot wrap my mind around it. This isn’t a healthy relationship in any way.

Brody Jaramillo had arrived last month, and Meg had fallen hard for him. Callie had disliked him from day one and was unhappily aware they were already sleeping together. She wasn’t certain what bothered her most. Perhaps it was Meg’s abandonment of common sense in the face of unbridled emotion, or that Callie had believed her when she promised to save her virginity for marriage. Perhaps it was because their relationship reminded her of how close she’d come to doing the same thing with Garth.

Why are we back onto this again? BEING RAPED IS NOT THE SAME THING AS GIVING YOURSELF TO SOMEBODY THAT YOU ACTIVELY CHOSE. I am legitimately concerned about the author’s well-being.

It didn’t help that what [Pierce] was teaching sounded like science fiction.

YOU ARE LITERALLY BEING HELD CAPTIVE ON AN ALIEN PLANET, BEING STUDIED LIKE RATS IN A FUCKING MAZE. And you have the goddamned audacity to say that the plot of “phase two” sounds like fucking scifi?!

Based on a universal reverence for truth, Aggillon culture knew no war, no crime, no poverty, no suffering of any kind. Without need of working to live, they lived to work, their work centering around trade and discourse, science and math, art and sport—all of it translating into great reverence and appreciation for their emperor, Elhanu, who had brought it all to pass. It was a time of stimulation, challenge, and wonder. Nevertheless, dissatisfaction sprouted. Prince Cephelus was the brilliant, talented, and respected head of the noblest of Aggillon families. Though he had everything, including the ear and heart of Elhanu himself, it was not enough. Nourished by self-absorption and watered by jealousy, the seedling of his arrogance grew. Why should he have to submit to [the Emperor] Elhanu? [one civil war later…] And so a new phase of the trial began. The Arena was constructed as a representative universe, with Homo sapiens—lesser beings in all regards— brought in to serve as witnesses. Allowed the freedom to obey or disobey the instructions they were given, the humans would, by their own decisions and actions, provide opportunity for Elhanu to demonstrate to his watching Aggillon the fact that, while he was loving, he was also good and just, and not one of those characteristics could ever be exercised at the expense of the other two.

Okay but like… Why are you punishing all of these people because of what basically boils down to teenage rebellion? Putting in the “why” of the alien’s motives is seriously making the story that much worse. Mainly because as I said, this is basically a father/son fight. And the arena is the father trying to be like “YOU SEE?! I’M A FUCKING NICE PERSON!” while torturing random innocent humans. OF A SPECIES HE DOESN’T FUCKING RULE OVER.

Of course, no one wanted to hear that, and for two agonizing weeks, Pierce and his message were ridiculed unmercifully. People were interested in routes and defensive fortifications and how much opposition they might expect. They did not want to hear about learning to control their emotions and their thoughts, and they most especially did not want to hear about how weak and helpless they were without their alien sponsor.

Okay. Stay stuck here forever. Fuckity bye.

[Pierce] grew more committed to Elhanu every day…

He literally traded one cult leader for another.

“But Pierce—” Morgan stood up several rows behind Callie. “Aren’t you supposed to decide that? As our ‘leader’?” Pierce regarded him evenly. “I’m to decide when Elhanu tells us to go, and so far I’ve received no such clear directive.”

Oh no, this is so much worse. It seems as though Pierce himself has become the cult leader instead of simply joining another cult.

She’d better encourage Evvi’s pursuit of Pierce as soon as possible or she’d never hear the end of it.

Chapter 16 summary: Some time passes, and they all train. But enough of that! Let’s talk about how Meg is trying to hook Callie up with literally any man. If only because Meg herself has fallen in love, and threw her “waiting until marriage” promise out the window. Over with some of the others, they discuss how dissatified that they are with Pierce’s leadership. This tumbles Callie to explain about how, in the beginning, Pierce explained what was written in the manual. A long time ago, the Aggillon were a peaceful race, who didn’t know the meaning of the word “struggle”. But Prince Cephelus didn’t like that, and basically stirred up enough support that he started a civil war against his father, Emperor Elhanu. After the war was over and the pro-war people in jail, Elhanu randomly decided that the best test of how “good” he was… Was to put random humans into this arena experiment. However, people who had failed the experiment often broke the gates, that would kill anybody who tried to go through after it had been broken. So Elhanu had to create these multiple steps. The first step (the gate that they passed through to get to this point) literally changed their molecules, so that they could pass through even broken gates. In keeping up with what I’d already deduced, the trogs are supposed to be demons. Or rather, people who tempt those away from all that is good and right, who commit sins, etc etc. They can be changed back, but the further into the trog-ness that they go, the harder it is to convince them to come back. Again, it would have been less obvious to whack us upside the head with a chair! The Tohvani are also working against the humans by destroying the white road and putting horrific animals into the arena. Pierce, for his part, has come into his role as the cult leader. However, despite how some are upset and even disgusted by what he has to say, he does have a bunch of people who believe in him. They blindly believe in everything he has to say, and would probably follow him to the ends of the… well, the arena. After giving another update, Pierce randomly asks Callie to the party that they’re having that night. However, she’s disgusted by the entire thing, and vows to try and push one of his true believers onto him.

[percontaion-points]

Arena chapter 15

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Chapter 15

“He’s not much of a socializer,” Callie explained. “He’s a head case is what he is,” said Rowena. Callie frowned at her. “I wouldn’t call him a head case.” “What would you call him?” Awkward silence ensued.

Somebody who has been tortured and abused and put through hell, and expected to go through more. The fact that they’re so quick to continue to throw Pierce under the bus tells me everything that I need to know about them.

“He’s a friend, Meg. A plain, regular guy.” With a lot of problems. Change the subject.

Yeah… And? You blame everything on your fear of heights. Pot, kettle, black.

“I didn’t think of it as kidnapping. We did walk in and sign up.”

You agreed to an obstacle course, which you would complete for $50. Not to be kidnapped for weeks, and held in an area without actual instructions. The fact that you got through it in record time is inherently meaningless. I fucking hate this bitch so goddamned much.

Meg drew her legs up, encircling them with her arms. “I didn’t think of it as kidnapping. We did walk in and sign up.” “I signed up for a few hours of negotiating an obstacle course and solving some problems.” She gestured around. “This is . . . something else entirely.” “True.” Meg rested her chin on one knee. The lock of hair had fallen free of her ear again, dangling now against her cheek as she gazed into the darkness beyond the window. “But I suppose I was looking for something more from the beginning. Romance. Adventure. Fulfillment.” She sighed. “I thought I wanted Alex, but I think I really wanted a new self.” She tilted her head to glance at Callie. “A new life.”

DON’T ROMANTICISE BEING KIDNAPPED SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU WERE DISSATISFIED WITH YOUR FUCKING LIFE. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.

“How can you talk like this?” Callie burst out, exasperated. “I mean, what was the main lesson of the Outer Realm? Follow the manual’s instructions! We haven’t even been here a day and already you wanna go traipsing off without the Guide. Has it occurred to you the Exit may be right here?”

The fact that Meg was there for like… a fucking day tells me that everybody else has simply got negative IQ points. I’d also like to add an amendment to something that Meg said: she’d followed Alex’s (the alien) instructions, went directly to the gate, and went through. Others said that they were simply grabbed off the streets. Somebody said that they were literally bleeding out in the gutter when they were abducted. Not everybody had a fucking hot guy tell them what to do.

Then Rowena spat an expletive and sat down hard on her sectional.

Chapter 15 summary: Meg tells Callie that she had sent the message earlier, but that it had been hijacked by the people who want to trip them up and stop them from leaving. Those people are called the Tohvani, and the group that wants them to succeed are the Aggillon; don’t worry about this, though, because it was a throw-away line. Anyway, almost exactly as I had anticipated, Meg has an air of “I’m better than you in every way imaginable.” She openly brags about how easy that she had it… simply because she fucking listened to Alex’s explanation. She stayed on the path, got a car that took her directly to Mander’s temple. From there, she simply… walked through the gate. Again, exactly as intended. However, rather than making Meg seem like some sort of super genius, it’s only making people like Rowena seem like they’re too stupid to have not figured it out in 5+ years. However, I said what I said about some of the others; they were literally abducted, rather than to walk in and sign up. That’s not fair to them. After Callie tells Meg what happened to her, they go over to where Rowena is trying to drum up interest in leaving the area. However, Callie gets angry at her, because Rowena refused to pay attention to the manual, and she got stuck in level one for five years. And now she wants to go off-book again, simply because she doesn’t want to sit around and WAIT? Pierce then shows back up, for the first time since he got there. He tells them that they’re going to have to practice their shooting and fighting, because the next step is dealing with the trogs. Which he learnt because he can randomly read the part of the manual that’s not in English. Everybody calls him The Guide, the reason why they were all sitting around and waiting.

[percontaion-points]

Arena chapter 14

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Chapter 14

Somehow she’d gotten all wet. Her hair streamed loose over her shoulders and down her back, and inexplicably, she wore a white, short-sleeved, soaking-wet jumpsuit.

I am once again screaming into the void that this would have been less obvious if the author came into our house and whacked us upside the head with a chair!

“Callie! Wait up!” and she saw John bounding down the starlit switchbacks toward her, beard braids flapping around his shoulders. She climbed back toward him, giddy with relief. “What happened?” she cried as they met. “Did the doorway close? Did you need another key?” “I just followed you.” He looked around. “Can you believe this? After all this time? And it was so easy!”

Are you for fucking real right now? ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME?! People saying that they’d been stuck there for fucking twenty goddamned years, and the literal solution was to put a crystal inside of hole?! ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME?! WHO FUCKING APPROVED THIS?! And more importantly… Who fucking sat down to write this shit, and then went “You know what? Everybody in this world is so goddamned STUPID that nobody could fucking figure it out!! FOR TWENTY FUCKING YEARS!!”

“After everything we’ve tried . . . For it to be so simple.”

This has seriously broken me. Here’s the thing about people: when they get desperate, they’re willing to try literally anything. “IS THE WAY TO GET OUT OF THIS LEVEL TO JUMP INTO THE FUCKING LAVA?!” I refuse to believe that nobody had fucking shoved the crystal into the crystal-shaped hole up until right now.

“We’ve been here five years because we didn’t do what we were told, Row. We didn’t have to struggle. We only had to ask.”

ASK WHO?! The people who fucking figured it out already left a long time ago! Those who stayed behind were the kind of people who struggle to solve shape puzzles!

“There’s a whole army of aliens who don’t want anyone to get through these gates. And we don’t have a corner on this equipment.” “But Mander brought people up here.” “Just ’cause you’ve gotten up the cliff doesn’t mean you’ve gone through one of the gates.” Tucker led them up a short bank of stairs. “In fact, you can’t even find one apart from going up that miraculous stairway in the cliff. And even then, once you’ve gone through, the Gate vanishes.” “Yes!” Callie said. “I saw that! But I thought it was just to keep me from standing there staring at it for the rest of my life.” Tuck smiled at her. “You might be right—who knows? Anyway, we just had a couple like that come through a few hours ago, Unchanged and still looking.” He stopped in a small courtyard at the top of the stair and turned back as the others drew around him. “I told them they’d have to go back down and come up through the cliff like the manual says, but they didn’t believe me.” “So it was all a fraud,” Wendell murmured, his round face pale, his gaze turned inward.

HA! They fucked around and found out. I wonder how many years of their life that they wasted?

Meg pushed around Morgan and fell upon Callie with a shriek.

Chapter 14 summary: Callie finds herself on the other side of the weird doorway, randomly wet, but also now in a white jumpsuit. She sees a compound in a crater below, and a path down the cliff to get to it. After a moment, the others follow through, with Pierce being so late that the others worried that he’d chickened out and wasn’t coming through. Down in the crater, they’re greeted by more people who congratulate them on completing step one. They’re dismayed to find out that there’s more, but even more upset to learn that this phase is more about sitting around and waiting for the aliens to “rearrange their molecules” for phase two. They ask about the manual, but while there are plenty of copies lying around, they explain that they’re all about life up in the upper realm. This is the inner realm, the part of the arena where Garth was trying to go. Then comes the most important, FAFO part: finding out that people like Mander were nothing but scammer cult leaders. That they often see people appear on the cliffs where the gates are, but that they can’t get down unless they do things the correct way. As they show the others around, they explain that they can send holograms to others on the other side. So Callie looks around for Meg. And then Meg shows up. UGH, I hope that she’s not going to be one of those “holier than thou” shit-ass friends; I’m terrified about that.