Arena grew on me once I accepted that the story I was reading is less complicated than the story promised by the back of the book. There’s no big dark conspiracy to unravel, but there is a satisfying story about empowerment and self-actualization in a world dominated by corporate greed. It’s a solid coming-of-age story with a multi-racial female protagonist who is both a physical and mental athlete in a male dominated sport.
Kali Ling is a player in Virtual Reality games (VR). The physical activity in the games is real, so players have to be fit and trained in martial arts and weapons use. However, it’s not just gladiator fighting – fighters have to be good gamers, with an understanding of tactics and strategy and how the virtual world is different from the real world. One of the differences is that in the virtual world any injury you experience hurts, but it doesn’t last when you leave, and you don’t stay dead if you are killed. So players have to be able to tolerate experiencing huge amounts of temporary pain and trauma, and dealing out the same.
In this book, which is set in the near future (2054) gamers are the elite, and Kali is one of the most elite of them all. When her friends-with-benefits teammate dies of a drug overdose, Kali is promoted to team captain. This makes her the first female captain in the RAGE tournaments (Reality-Alternate Gladiatorial Events). Kali is so desperate to game that she is willing to let the corporate sponsors of the team dictate everything about her: what she does after hours (the teammates are required to train all day and party all night for the benefit of the paparazzi), what she eats, who she dates, and how she dresses. The sponsors are especially interested in Kali’s mixed Chinese and Caucasian ethnicity and they build a persona around her to exploit that, including having her wear a ying and yang necklace.
Enter new team member, Rooke. While Rooke and Kali initially dislike each other, he becomes her staunchest ally. He immediately figures out that in the wake of Nathan’s death, Kali is experiencing problems related to drug and alcohol abuse as well as a growing addiction to VR. Rooke has history of his own, and he helps Kali figure out how to find balance in her life. As Kali gets a clearer head with the help of Rooke and a therapist (yay, a helpful therapist in fiction!) she figures out how to continue her career as a gamer on her own terms.
The romance in the book is enjoyable, but the book is less about romance for it’s own sake and more about how romance helps Kali get her shit together. It ends on a Happily-Ever-After-Maybe note that felt sweet and realistic – Kali is clearly planning to continue her relationship with Rooke, but they also both seem to realize that there are other goals that need to be met in their lives. This book is a gender-flipped version of the story we’ve seen so often, in which a gorgeous woman helps a nebbishy hero find himself. In this case, Kali isn’t nebbishy, but she’s certainly messed up, and the healing power of love comes from the hero. I liked the relationship between Kali and Rooke because I like it when romances show people helping each other become their best selves, which certainly applies here. But I’m not terribly invested in Rooke and Kali being together forever, nor do I have much insight into Rooke. He’s there to further Kali’s story and isn’t fleshed out much as a character.
This book doesn’t offer anything very new. Beautiful young people fight a violent game for the entertainment of the masses? Seen it. Gaming as an addition? Yup, that too. A hidden world of corruption? Sure. The exploitation of beautiful young people who are encouraged to self-destruct for a voracious media? Yeah, seen that every day, sadly. The back cover copy suggests that dark secrets will be revealed, but all of the dark secrets of the gaming world are revealed in chapter one. It’s not actually a story about conspiracy or dystopia; it’s more a story about autonomy and power. This isn’t the story we are promised, but though familiar, it’s still a pretty good one.
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