She is the Gladiator Queen. Fighting fair is not her style.With the crown safely on Leyli's head, her problems should've been over. Her country is safe. Her family is together. What more could a new Queen ask for? Unfortunately, spending her mornings purging her stomach isn't it.Evidently, not even the Queen is immune to morning sickness. Even worse, women in her country are expected to simply produce the next generation, not rule it. As soon as the men in court realize she's pregnant with the heir, they'll try to take away all the power she fought so hard to gain.If that was all she had to worry about, things would be great. But Rhia is closing in. The expansionist nation to the west has been trying to find a way around her father's peace treaty. Is this merely a misunderstanding between politicians, or is it the first hint of war? And why is one of the Senators saying the exact same thing her cousin cited as his reason for rebellion?When all the pieces come together, Leyli realizes it's worse than she feared. Only one thing can save her country now, but that means putting herself - and her unborn child - in harms way. Long Live the Gladiator Queen, they say.But a Wolf is nothing without her Lions.** A.H. Hadley is the fantasy persona of the international best selling author Auryn Hadley.
A solid conclusion to the series, it was an interesting book that followed up well with the stories of the previous novels. The court intrigue was interesting and seeing Leyli set new precedents with laws was a cool way to showcase her as a queen. Overall the book was definitely worth a read. Criticisms: It sort of felt like it was pushing really hard on the whole gay and lesbian relationships being okay that it sort of distracted from the story, I have no problem with them it just wasn't that relevant when trying to prevent a war. Also all of the side characters were set up a bit too perfectly with happily ever afters, not every character needs a significant other and to be set up to be happy forever. These things just made the story less believable and interesting towards the end.
I love this author and I love this book. I am sad that I JUST discovered Auryn Hadley. Where has this author been my entire life? The characters in this book are amazing. I started book one just yesterday and I am now finished the entire trilogy and have fallen into a depression because I have finished the trilogy! The world building is amazing. All the characters are complex people who learn and grow. If you haven't read the series, buy it now! I love a character with mental strength that gains physical strength and confidence. This book tells of growth, second chances, and discovery. Please buy this book and review so that the author will write more books for me...I mean the readers.
This book was the perfect ending to a great series. I fell hard and fast for these characters and seeing how Leyli brings peace to her kingdom as the ruler of Norihame is what we've been looking forward to. She's fierce, kind, accepting and loves her people. And her support system is amazing. Truly... Auryn Hadley has a way to make her secondary cast stand out, supporting the main characters in such a way you can't not love them. It took me a while to pick up this series because I thought it wouldn't be for me, but I am willing to admit that I was wrong. This is definitely a series I will revisit
DNF at 46% Honestly I debated even starting this book. The plot line just started to get repetitive and it went downhill very quickly. I really like the original when she was still a gladiator. She was so badass and could handle everything and now she is right back to her princess ways. And don’t forget she complains every two minutes about not being able to be with the love of her life. Personally I wouldn’t recommend reading anything past the first book.
Blurb: A GLADIATOR QUEEN IS JUST LIKE A GLADIATOR—SHE DOESN'T FIGHT FAIR! AND SHE'S BECOME THE THING SHE MOST FEARED BEING--A PREGNANT GLADIATOR. Long Live the Gladiator Queen!
With the crown safely on Leyli's head, her problems should've been over. Her country is safe. Her family is together. What more could a new Queen ask for?
Unfortunately, spending her mornings purging her stomach isn't it. Evidently, not even the Queen of Norihame is immune to morning sickness. Even worse, women in her country were expected to produce the next generation, not rule it. As soon as the men in court realize she's pregnant with the heir, they'll try to take away all the power she fought so hard to gain.
If that was all she had to worry about, things would be great.
But Rhia is closing in. The expansionist nation to the west has been seeking a trade alliance in violation of her father's peace treaty. Is this merely a misunderstanding between politicians, or is it the first hint of things to come. And why is one of the Senators saying the exact same thing her cousin cited as his reason for rebellion?
When all the pieces come together, Leyli realizes it's worse than she feared. Only one thing can save her country now, but that means putting herself - and her unborn child - in harm's way. Thankfully, she's got one thing going for her that Rhia will never expect.
She's a gladiator. That means she doesn't fight fair.
As much as I love this series, I absolutely hate the ending. Tristan got the shit end of the stick at the end of it all. Not only did he have to watch the love of this life get married to someone else, he also can’t even claim his own children at the end of the book. He can’t touch her in public, etc. What was the point in saying he was actually able to become a lord and eligible to marry her a week after she and Connall wed; if he can’t even get the girl?
And apparently Tristan is the only one without a Happily Ever After. Dario & Astrid are to wed, Claudius & Essa will rule Rhia together, Ceri & Storm. Hell even Leyli got her HEA because she loves calling someone else her husband(literally throughout this whole book) even though she could easily divorce this man, make him her most highly trusted advisor instead, and marry the man she loves & the man who deserves to shout his love for her from the rooftops but it ends with Connall STILL claiming the children as his and Tristan still shoved to the side and they claim it as a “fucked up family” This book completely undermined Tris multiple times and gave all the glory to Connall. I honestly hate it so much. This isn’t the only series I’ve hated the ending of. As much as I love ROTI I hateeeeeee the last book(epilogue book was decent)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
As usual, this was a masterpiece by Auryn Hadley. A very emotional and raw story about changes in life and the ability to adapt to them without loosing oneself. About friends, family, love and duty.
There was a couple of instances when I thought "isn't that convenient" and the very end was, I think, expected, but since I will definitely reread it and it is in my top 10 best series, I simply couldn't not give a 5 star rating.
Quite an enjoyable read, but I was never worried about the characters. Like, at all. It's a nice read if you want a break from more sad or depressing books, but everything falls into place a bit too nicely, without there being a real struggle. Also, something that bothered me: "Ok." Used way too often, even in formal situations. For commoners, sure, but the queen and other noble people or those that are mentioned to speak in a refined manner? Doesn't make sense to use it as often as it was. At least write it out. And I wished the author put a bit more of a personal spin on the Romans. Apart from some small things, the Rhian culture was a plain copy with only minor changes (apart from the religion possibly, though we didn't get to hear much about that).
Love this author because she makes you jump into her worlds, hate her for the same reason. My house is a mess and my to do list hasn't been done because I can't put down her books. This is the second series of hers I have read and she is one of the best writers I have read and at 53, an avid reader and an English teacher, I've read a lot of authors.
If I could give this book 10 stars I would! If you want badass females who are in charge and a family that is crazy but works, this is it! This whole trilogy was amazing! Love, War, unexpected twists. Love Love love it!
Had me in tears at the end. But this story as a whole was amazing. I loved the characters and the main was such a badass in her own way. I wish the story kept going but the way it ended had me pleased!
I great conclusion to an amazing series. I kind of don't want this to end. There are so many things I still want to see from these characters. But it was a great way to end the series. I can see myself reading this one over and over again. HIGHLY recommended.
Really good book but way too much of a happy story for my personal taste. Well written and I really enjoyed the element of mixed families and strong women!
This book, in particular, for this trilogy, had me heavily debating not finishing it at one point. Which may not coincide with a 4-star review all that well, but is still facts. For the beginning of this book, I started to become uninterested in developments, early on. And I literally put the book down for over a week because I wasn't interested in what was happening, or the apparent direction the book was taking. That, and the fact that book 2 was a noticeable step-down in quality for me, had me reconsidering my reading options for a while. I literally read an entire other book during this break, in fact. However, I convinced myself to pick it back up and give it a little more of a try before deciding to do anything as dramatic as DNF the final book of a trilogy I'd been reading. And it didn't take long to get to more interesting developments and add other interesting people. The whole book gets better after Ceri joins it. But I think that's more coincidental than anything.
I get tired of all the 'let's talk about our feelings' scenes in this one. And I get tired of what feels like so much rehashing of feelings from our two main characters. I wanted the action, and in some cases, I just wanted to focus on other characters. I was more invested in Death and the princess than I was the wolf and the lion at the end. Not gonna lie. And this book is just an underlining of the fact that this is "Found Family, the Trilogy". That doesn't stop for book 3. At all. But some of the found family stuff is pretty satisfying, honestly.
And I have to give this book a lot of benefit of the doubt to give it a 4-star rating because there is something that happens at the end that is utter nonsense. And I have to pretend like it wasn't, to rate it this high. Soft spoilers from here:
There is a situation, where the wolf's faction have to do something, or they will be brutally murdered by political rivals. Then they put together a ruse to undermine that task, while talking about how getting caught will get them brutally murdered. Then they make it very very clear that they had that ruse going DURING THE TASK, and nothing comes of it. It's like no one cares that they OBVIOUSLY cheated at the task they were given. They actually announced it pretty dramatically, if you think about it. But, I have opted to pretend it wasn't as nonsense as it actually was, since I still enjoyed it overall, even if I know, the more I think about it, the more that story climax portion falls apart.
The adventure that Auryn takes her readers on in her books is phenomenal.
The journey that these characters have gone through and the bonds they have forged is like nothing I have ever read before. I'm absolutely gobsmacked by the sheer brilliance that is Hadley's writing style, her ability to create such marvelous adventures and her way with characters that makes you fall in love with them over and over and more deeply as you watch their growth and the truly deep bonds they create with each other.
The Wolf is how I would like to picture myself. She is so relatable - strong, courageous, brave, completely open and knows that's it's okay to be sacred and learns that it's okay to be delicate, it doesn't mean you are weak. The Lion is the most perfect blend of alpha and tender man I have ever read. I seriously want him bad. He is described to be absolutely gorgeous but what made me really fall for this character was his humble and true words that he spoke whether it was giving advice to other gladiators or pillow talk with his Pup, he just put his soul into everything.
The Wolf's relationship with The Lion is one for the ages. I am serious when I say that beside The Rise of The Illiri (another of Auryn's book series) I have never read of characters with this deep a bond, nor have a more truer family then in this series. They get their happy ending (it's definitely well earned) as well which is just the icing on the already delicious cake.
Words cannot describe what I feel about this book and this series ♥️
I enjoyed this series, but regretfully this book least of the three. It require some fairly heavy suspension of disbelief, and foreshadowed much of the surprises as the story built.
As ever with this author, there's a recurring theme of accepting others and creating your own family, shown here:
"She was one of them, just like he finally felt like the girls gave him a place to belong. And it was a powerful feeling. After spending a lifetime on the outside, always being made to feel like he wasn't good enough, he'd finally stumbled upon a place where he was not only needed, but actually belonged."
Which is lovely and wonderful, but everyone finding that level of acceptance with an unconventional royal relationship? Dubious at best, unfortunately, hence part of the suspension of disbelief.
Many of the notes of Auryn's work are present here: characters with real and 'game' names, strong, confident women, muscular gorgeous men, multiple sexual preferences, and more.
Decent read,but if I go for a re-read by the author I'm more likely to pick up Gamer Girls again.
This one took me forever to get through. I just could not focus to get finished. It’s slow, and long. And I don’t always get all the nuances, but I still enjoyed the story. I would have liked a bit more into the future, and a bit more of the aftermath with regards to the gossip floating around and how that goes.
Tristan is a great guy, and Connall is too. But it just took forever to get over and while we saw some changes we didn’t see a complete change into the country which I was hoping for.
Still really good.
This book does however need to editing. There are words that are incorrect like what for was by accident and that sort of stuff. Which surprised me since I read Rise of the Iliri first, and iirc there weren’t too many typos.
I would still recommend the series even though this one was slow.
This book was everything I wanted. I absolutely love this cast of characters and Let and Tristan make my heart swell with all the feels. I like how all the country's problems didn't just magically disappear with the new Queen but you could see all the foundations being built for what they wanted their new country to aspire to. I appreciated how the author brought up a lot of issues but it didn't feel like they were forcing opinions at you, more it gave you legitimate thought processes and references as to why they all thought it was ok. I really liked how this book series was more focused on the story than overly detailed steamy scenes, I don't have a problem with steam AT ALL but I felt like this book did not need that and for me it did not take away anything from my enjoyment. It was really well written and I will be recommending this book to my people.
3.4 rounded down/ There is a lot to like about this series. The author weaves sexual orientation into most of the later characters/relationships which is fine. However, while the goal is to suspend criticisms of bedroom preferences and encourage privacy and open mindedness on such issues, all characters are defined by their sexuality first and foremost over any other traits - even in formal situations. The gay men are demasculated and often feel lesser because of it relative to the celebrated handsome uber-males. I found the labeling to be contradictory to the author’s greater goals of LGBTQ+ celebration and rights. It was unclear why such labeling was necessary when speaking to dignitaries and others outside several major characters’s circle of trust. Other than that, it was a fun ride.
An absolutely amazing ending to the Wolf Of Oberhame series. In this final book Leyli, Tristan, Connell and all the rest rise to the threat from Rhia. Though she’s pregnant, Leyli doesn’t let this stop her. She is cunning, determined and confident as she pulls her countrymen and gladiators together to defend their home. Leyli and her most trusted friends find ways to not only secure Norihame, but also broaden its views on what is considered proper and acceptable. An absolutely stunning ending to one of the best series I’ve ever read. Of course, I expect nothing less from the great Auryn Hadley, who has pulled me into so many different worlds and made me fall in love with so many different characters. I can’t wait to find my next read from her.
Absolutely the best series ive read this year so far. Delayed reading it for months because Of the length. The brilliance of this series is only surpassed by the Rise of the Illiri series by this author. In love with the characters she creates.
Tristan and Leyli were a perfect match, soul mates in every sense of the word. I LOVED the chosen family theme in this series. Adored the Wolf of Oberhame and her Lion of Lenlochlien together. Didn’t expect to like Connal too but yeah this author knows how to write darn good characters.
Loved the battle scenes with the Lion and his Wolf, cant say it enough but this author is talented at planting images in your head that play like a movie reel with just her words.
Lelyi has survived an attempted coup by her cousin, the same cousin that had her thrown onto the sands. Her having fought to live allowed her to defeat that same cousin in battle. Unfortunately, it become clear her cousin was not acting alone, and Rhia is trying to take her country again.
Lelyi doesn't have a standing military big enough to take on the might of Rhia. She again looks to the gladiators to stand with her and to protect their kingdom from becoming just another piece of the Rhian empire.
While her gladiators hold back the invasion force from Senator Vinco, Lelyi sneaks to the capital with the Caesar's heir. Together they want to create a treaty that will benefit both of their nations, and end the constant death.
I have read the whole series in about 2 days give or take cooking and normal daily responsibility. This series is the perfect mix of Gladiator and 300. I love both movies. I highly recommend this series, if you are not a fan of either movie i suggest trying a different story. This was an awakening to a new favorite Author who i will be following in the hope of a repeated success. I will be reading it again in the future when mass marketing depresses my hope of finding a good book to read, this will be a torch to light the fires that will keep me searching till i succeed in adding a new favorite story and Authors.
Five ⭐s for each book in this series. Wonderful! Marvelous! Stupendous! Magical! Thrilling! Powerful! From the arenas as gladiators to the new beginning of professional gladiators instead of the fight to the death. Such rich characters, Kings, Queens Princes, Princesses and all the titles in the regions of Norihame. Villains galore on both sides of the borders. Truly this series had many twists and turns, violence and love. Putting it all together as one story, under Three Titles was the job of the author, Auryn Hadley. Thank you very much. I'm sorry I can't start another one of your series yet. I have to clean my house sometime.
All three of the books in this series are completely amazing! I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to fall in love with the characters of the books they read. Auryn made the characters come to life in a way so few can. She even wrapped up the whole series so you aren't left guessing about anyone. I hope she comes out with a companion series for the main character's sister. I'm planning on looking into her other works for my next good read.
I read the whole series before doing a review. Each book on its own received 5 starts and I wish there was an option to give the overall series the same.
This series has it all. Strong characters that are realistic, great world building, and a story you can't put down or walk away from.
Every once in a great while I find a book or series of books that become an instant favorite. One that I will return to time and time again. This one very quickly made the list for me. I'm positive it will for you as well. Enjoy!
Auryn Hadley is one of the better writers out there. I found, in looking at my reading history, that I have read many of here series. Once I get started I have to read all of them! It's her writing style above anything that keeps me engaged. None of her characters are wishy washy or whiney. They are funny, and strong yet vulnerable. They are consistent in the way they are written throughout the entire series. She is NEVER predictable.
This book is the last of the series, and I enjoyed every page, reading about one per day. Each one of the books deserve a rating of 5