Disappointing second installment in the Arena 13 trilogy.
This series seems to be a mish-mash between Frankenstein, Norse mythology, Matrix, The Terminator, Vampire and Werewolf lore with a dash of the post-apocalypse. This made for an interesting, varied world.
However, the characters are extremely annoying. Leif was so stupid and idiotic. This boy had no brain throughout the second book. If you told him to jump off a cliff, he'd do it. Anything for a smidge of acceptance.
In The Prey, Leif's still looking to carry out his revenge against the creepy Hob. He accepts a facial tattoo to gain acceptance in his dad famous Arena 13 warrior Math's Genthai tribe, even though even his dad refused to get the tattoos. At least he had some sense to not uglify himself. Afterwards, Leif is worried about what his "twu wuv" Kwin will think about his new look. Seriously, whenever he had romantic thoughts about her, I cringed. I fail to see what admirable qualities that brat has that marks her out from the rest of the underdeveloped characters in Midgard. Conveniently he's only worth her time of day when she finds out who his dad is. -.-
I liked Tyron and Deinon, but I seriously could not be bothered if the djinn over the Great Barrier finished the other characters off.
Delaney sucks with writing dialogue. I swear all his characters, good or bad, male or female, sound exactly the same: like an old Northern dude.
If the characters didn't make crappy decisions (I'm looking at you, Leif. What dumbass provokes their villain when they're helpless to him, behind a grill. Omg.)
Still, it was a fast read with simple writing and gory fighting scenes, but it felt like a typical filler book. Again, I would of liked more action centred on the actual arena but what can you do? This series had so much promise too, but maybe the last book in the trilogy will be better.