Book Riot Read Harder Challenge 2016: Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900. This title was one of NYPL's Read Harder suggestions for this category -- supposedly the setting is inspired by ancient Rome. This was so dramatic to listen to as my morning drives turned into pre-dawn darkness this month. At 12 discs, this may be my longest audiobook listen yet! The alternating voices are the same two actors who did the excellent audio for The Scorpio Races. I've heard this book described as "Hunger Games meets Harry Potter," and it does mix boarding school, fast friends, fights to the death, and world-changing stakes. It also has its own feel, and the violence is more graphic and sexual, making this a high school/adult crossover book (not one for your 9-year-old Harry Potter fan). The Commandant? Phew. (Everyone calls her "sir.") It's a very cinematic story, and the film rights have already been sold. Expect the fandom to grow. 
 (view spoiler)[I found myself rolling my eyes at Laia's chapters after a while. Does she do anything but ask herself questions, beat herself up, and have no motivation other than her brother whom we barely met? I grew weary of her "why am I so weak? why aren't I brave? I am so helpless! Where is Darin?" monologues. Still, it allowed her to come into her own at the end of the book, and I appreciated that she did. Also, a lot of the drama was sapped after the first "injured isn't really injured/dead isn't really dead" plot twist. I think you have to use those sparingly for best effect, and here, the plot hinges on several. (hide spoiler)] 
 I grabbed the print book to look at some of the spelling of names and places, and my favorite description, when we first meet Spiro Teluman: 
 "A Martial man comes through the narrow back door, looking more like a river pirate than a blacksmith. His head is shaved, and he drips with piercings - six through each ear, one in his nose, his eyebrows, his lips. Multicolored tattoos - of eight-pointed stars, lush-leafed vines, a hammer and anvil, a bird, a woman's eyes, scales - run from his wrists up his arms and into a black leather jerkin." 
 "There are two kinds of guilt. The kind that's a burden and the kind that gives you purpose. Let your guilt be your fuel. Let it remind you of who you want to be. Draw a line in your mind. Never cross it again. You have a soul. It's damaged but it's there. Don't let them take it from you."