Venture Delving is a bonded servant, a member of the lowest class in the world. Already fatherless, when he loses his mother, he veers from energetic to out of control. But when Venture's rage saves the life of Jade, his best friend and his master's daughter, Venture finds himself in the last place he ever expected—a center renowned for training young boys to be professional fighters.
When Venture realizes he's fallen in love with Jade, he knows that the only way he'll ever have her, the only way he'll ever be free to live the life he's meant to live, is to defy convention, common sense, the trust of those he cares about most—and sometimes the law—and become the best fighter in the world, the Champion of All Richland. Venture must battle not only rival fighters, but the ghosts of his past and the members of a privileged warrior class who stand between him and his dream.
R. H. Russell is a fresh author of promise, with a first book who breaks the foolish rule of being just an introduction to the series.
Venture Untamed, in defiance of a relative old plot, is a beautiful story, told in an alert manner, with attractive and well built characters, suitable for both: boys (they’ll love the fight scenes) and girls.
In a world based on social discrimination and on written and unwritten laws that support it, some individuals dream to have more and sometimes they just need a good enough reason to engage in the fight to get what they want.
In a world based on social discrimination and on written and unwritten laws that support it, some individuals dream to have more and sometimes they just need a good enough reason to engage in the fight to get what they want.
The best chance for Venture to exceed the limits imposed by others is to do that thing he excels in and likes so much – fightings. Sport, regardless of its form and especially if it is a national sport, is a flagship for its champions in every society. More difficult is when you can’t do what you want and what you are apt to do not only because of stupid rules of the conquerors but also because of your family history. But Venture has an important advantage because when he is about to give up or when he feels that there's no other chance, the help comes from where neither he or you – the reader - expect. Anyway it won't be easy for him.
The romance is well kept under control. When you think the author forgot about the relationship between Venture and Jade, you get a fresh breath of oxygen, but just to enhanced you and make you want more. Do you want more? Then it's time to cool down a little bit, because probably based on "abstinence sports law", the author stops and leaves you longing more than you did before you inhaled that craving relief.
Their relationship - if we can call it like this - even if it's friendship, brotherly love or romantic love, can bring only trouble to both of them. Even graver is that Venture, like any boy or man in this world, is not always capable of understanding which one of them he's dealing with.
Sometimes you have the impression that Venture is worn by the destiny. If he doesn’t do what others impose to him (because he’s obliged to do it), then he does do what Jade cunningly makes him to do. Jade is strong and she opposes to the system in every way she can. I like to believe that she has a long term strategy and all she needs is Venture to do what he must: become a champion. Her importance is felt in every step, even if she is not present.
I said that for Venture won't be easy. Why? Because, despite the help he gets, despite the self-control that he imposes to himself, it appears that he can’t have absolutely all he wants, maybe he can't have anything at all, and all this because those written and unwritten laws are in force, because most of the people are willing to comply with those rules, because… because almost nothing is in his favor.
What are his options? How his options are influenced by his own choices and by the choices of those who have the right to decide for him? You’ll see. Anyway, nothing is solved and nothing is final at the end of the first book (and I was relieved when I saw it's just volume one). There is still hope and I want to believe Venture will catch it with both his hands.Even the carping readers will be eager to learn further.
Happy reading!„[...] but Venture knew her better. Well enough to detect a trace of loneliness, a whisper of the girl who’d poured her heart out of him [...] who was increasingly left behind by Grant to find her place among the women of Society. [...] A friend who had, more often than not, delighted in being a partner in his boyhood schemes. A friend who didn’t know how not to be a part of his plans now. She wanted more for him than his place in Twin Rivers Town could offer him. Had he ever cared as much for her unhappiness with her position, for her dreams of something more, as she had for his?”
R. H. Russell este un autor „proaspăt”, care promite, cu un prim volum care nu respectă proasta „regulă” de a fi doar o introducere în serie.
Venture Untamed este o poveste frumos spusă in ciuda abordării unui subiect relativ vechi, prezentată într-un ritm alert, cu personaje atractive şi bine conturate, potrivită atât pentru băieți (scenele de luptă îi vor cuceri cu siguranță) cât şi pentru fete.
Într-o lume bazată pe discriminare socială şi pe legile scrise şi nescrise ce o susțin, unii indivizi visează la a avea mai mult şi uneori au nevoie doar de un motiv suficient de bun pentru a se angaja în lupta pentru a obține ceea ce vor.
Cea mai bună şansă pentru Venture de a îşi depăşi limitele impuse de alții este să facă acel lucru la care excelează şi care îi şi place atât de mult – luptele. Sportul, indiferent de forma sa şi mai ales dacă e unul național, constituie un deschizător de drumuri pentru campionii sai, în orice societate. Mai greu este atunci când nu poți face ceea ce-ți doreşti şi ceea ce eşti apt să faci nu doar din cauza unor reguli stupide ale cuceritorilor dar şi din cauza trecutului familiei tale. Dar Venture are un atu important, pentru că atunci când e pe cale să renunțe sau când crede ca nu mai are nicio şansă, ajutorul vine de unde nici nu se aşteaptă el sau tu - cititorul. Oricum nu-i va fi uşor.
Legătura romantică este bine ținută în frâu. Când îți zici că autorul a uitat de relația dintre Venture şi Jade, atunci primeşti o gură de oxigen, dar doar cât să te stârnească, să te zgândere şi să te facă să-ți doreşti mai mult. Vrei mai mult? Atunci e cazul să te răcoreşti un pic pentru că, probabil în baza „legii abstinenței sportive”, autorul se opreşte şi te lasă tânjind mai mult decât o făceai înainte de a trage cu poftă aceea gură de oxigen.
Relația lor - dacă o putem numi aşa - chiar dacă e prietenie, iubire frățească sau dragoste le poate aduce amândurora numai necazuri. Şi mai grav e că Venture, ca orice băiat / bărbat de pe lumea asta, nu e în stare mereu să distingă şi să fie convins odată pentru totdeauna despre care dintre ele e vorba.
Uneori ai impresia că Venture e purtat de destin. Dacă nu face (pentru că e obligat s-o facă) ceea ce îi impun alții atunci face ceea ce cu viclenie Jade îl determină să facă. Jade e puternică şi se opune cum poate „sistemului” şi îmi place să cred că şi-a stabilit strategia pe termen lung având nevoie însă ca Venture să facă ceea ce trebuie: să ajungă campion. Importanța ei se simte la fiecare pas chiar dacă nu este prezentă.
Am zis că lui Venture nu-i va fi uşor. De ce? Deoarece, în ciuda ajutorului primit, a autocontrolului pe care şi-l impune, se pare că nu poate avea chiar tot ce îşi doreşte şi poate chiar nimic din ceea ce îşi doreşte, pentru că există acele reguli scrise şi mai ales nescrise ale societății, pentru că majoritatea oamenilor e mai mult decât dornică să respecte acele reguli, pentru că... pentru că nu prea există multe în favoarea lui.
Care îi sunt opțiunile? Cum îi sunt acestea influențate de alegerile lui sau a celor ce au dreptul să decidă pentru el? Veți vedea voi. Oricum, la sfârşitul volumului unu (şi am răsuflat uşurată când am văzut că e doar volumul unu) nimic nu e rezolvat, nimic nu e definitiv. Mai există o şansă şi sper ca Venture s-o prindă cu ambele mâini.
Chiar şi cei mai cârcotaşi cititori vor fi nerăbdători să afle continuarea.
dupa o asa recenzie si eu vreau sa aflu continuarea!
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