Racing To Read: Raksha Blog Tour

Hey everyone! Today I have a stop on the Raksha Blog Tour. I have a review of the book for you all and an excerpt.

Blurb

She has no name.

She has her knives, her training, and her halo.

The first and second give her the ability to defeat the opponents she is pitted against each month. The third frees her from pain and fear. From any kind of emotion at all. Everything is as it should be. Everything is as it should be, until…

Fear… Pain… Anger… Happiness… Desire… Guilt…

Love.

When a newly named Kit escapes the Sanctuary after killing her best friend, the last thing she needs is another knife in her hand. Or Ryka, the damaged, beautiful blond boy, whom she refuses to let save her. The sights and sounds of Freetown are new, yet one thing is familiar: the matches. The only difference? Where the blood in the Sanctuary landed only on the Colosseum floor, Kit will quickly learn that a river of red runs through Freetown’s very streets.

Without her halo, the inhabitants of Kit’s new home consider her saved, but is that really the case? Would she be better off free of the guilt associated with all the blood on her hands, or is the love of one boy worth living through all the pain?

Raksha is the call of the dead. It is the rumbling chant for fresh blood from the other side, the demand for sacrifice. The Colosseum is behind Kit. The fighting pits await.

My Review

She grew up training for fights. It doesn't bother her because of the Halo she wears keeps her from feeling any emotions. After she is paired to fight her trainer she wins the match and he loses his life. This triggers the start of her life when he breaks her Halo and she begins to feel. She escapes as he wished, takes the name he gave her of Kit and comes across Ryka. Even though she doesn't want to kill again or use her knifes she doesn't want to give them up. Ryka takes her to Freetown where everyone lives different than from where she is from. Here the woman don't fight and they don't carry knifes. She is still learning to deal with her emotions and not sure of what to think of this place. Ryka is a fighter in Freetown and one of the favorites. She may soon have to use her knifes again as trouble seems to be really brewing in her new home. It might not be as safe there as people wished. She now has to decide if she wants to put the Halo back on to get rid of her emotions or leave it off and sort them out on her own. The fighting has just begin again for Kit as Raksha is called out.

Kit is a tough girl who really is empty on the inside until she gets her emotions. She has always done as she is told. I love how she is a girl who can hang with the best. When she gets free of the Halo she really struggles to figure out her emotions. Being a fighter all her life anger is one she really has problems with. She also gets to know what guilt is like. I know it had to be hard on her to struggle with all of these and really not knowing how to handle them. I can see why she might want to put the Halo back on. Ryka at first seems a little cocky thinking no girl can fight. When you see how he was brought up you see why he acts this way. He and Kit are always arguing about every little thing. They both have things to learn about each other and learn to accept about them. I love reading about these two. It at times is like a love hate relationship.

This story starts right off with a bang. You get to see just what kind of place Kit lives in and it isn't a good one to most people. She is pretty much treated like a slave doing what she is told and fighting for her life. Sanctuary is a hard place to live and she really has no one to show her love. Freetown at first seems a whole lot better place but the more you read the book the more you realize it has it's very dark side as well. The people there don't use Halos but a lot of them are evil underneath and they have ways of dealing with people they don't want around. This book is a very thrilling read that has lots of action in it. It is very well written and I can't wait to see more of this fascinating world. I just know things have only got started. It had a twist near the end that I did not see coming and was shocked by it. I love how the author put that in there. If you like books with dynamic characters and a fast paced story line give this a try.

4 out of 5 Stars

Excerpt

I focus on him and clench my dagger in my hand. The sea of voices swells, and I’m certain I can pick out Miranda’s deranged shrieking, yelling over and over again, “End him! End him!”

Falin Asha’s brown eyes fix on me and it looks for a second like he’s crying. That can’t be right, though. I hover just out of his reach, staring at him. “What’s going on?”

He smiles crookedly and brushes his hair back out of his face. “It’s going to be okay, all right? Remember that.”

I’m so thrown by his comment that I am utterly unprepared for what he does next. The knife in his hand snakes out toward me, and I skitter away from him to the left. He knows how I react, however, and he moves with me, my mirror image. He darts for me and does the unthinkable, something that spells the end to the fight and me along with it: he grabs hold of my striking arm at the wrist. A low gasp runs around the Colosseum, growing in pitch until it’s a rushing echo in my ears. I try and fumble for the Balisong on my belt, hoping I can flick it open and use it, but Falin Asha is there before me. He doesn’t knock my hand away, just holds his over it. He pulls me closer to him and sucks in a deep breath.

“Don’t let them see,” he hisses. With that, I feel a twisting movement between our two bodies, and then his eyes go wide. He looks stunned, the way Elin children do when they fall and they’re unsure whether they’re supposed to cry or not. I look down and see his own knife submerged up to the handle in his stomach. A cracking, bubbling noise comes out of his throat, and he smiles slowly at me. The whole Colosseum has gone deadly silent. I can think nothing other than this: What have you done? What on earth have you gone and done?

Author Bio

Frankie Rose is a British expat, who is currently enjoying the perks of living in Australia- her awesome husband, sunshine, and vitamin D. She spends her time creating fictional universes in which the guy sometimes gets the girl, the heroes occasionally die, and the endings aren't always happy. But they usually are.