3/5 Stars

This is not a typical book I would pick up, but I was pleasantly surprised. I've never really read a book with so much martial art focus so that was new for me. I did find that the book dragged a little but that can happen with fantasy and world-building. While it wasn't my favorite book it got me interested enough to continue exploring other similar books. Would absolutely recommend it if you are at all interested. It may surprise you.

What an incredible journey! From the world-building to the characters, this was amazing! I did have some issues with the dialogue, but I will definitely continue this series!

**Many thanks to Orbit/Hachette Book Group and Netgalley for an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of this book**

Short Answer: READ IT. I enjoyed this book very much. But, temper your expectations a bit.

If you're looking for a book that reminds you of Final Fantasy 8, The Karate Kid, and a splash of Star Wars, YOU WILL LOVE THIS.

If you are looking for a dragon mech book, look elsewhere. There ARE dragons in this, but they're a very small, very minimal part of it.

New fav of the year! What a treat! I seriously cannot recommend this enough and I can’t stop thinking about it! I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much nor did I really have any expectations and for the book to completely blow me away…amazing. Set in a futuristic world and almost dystopian/sci-fi.

Heavy on the martial arts, awesome world building and well developed main characters. It was immersive and filled with action. Written so well that I could not put it down. It was new, fresh and exciting. Love the idea of the duels to solve problems and to start wars. No weapons just plain old hand to hand combat.

I love the relationship between Murray and Cego…who whole Mentor and Mentee thing always gets me especially when they are all each other has. Murray is a seasoned fighter known once as a Grievar who won many fights until he lost one and now has become a Scout. And who does he find? None other than Cego.

It was so incredible to see Cego’s journey through the book and for us to finally get some answers about him in the last few chapters….had me speechless and also crying in disbelief. Cego leads a very brutal and vicious lifestyle as an orphan. He is literally 13 years old I believe. And sometimes fighting/training scenes can go beyond my head but I actually liked what we got in this book. To see Cego develop was so satisfying. We mainly follow Cego but the scenes with him and Murray are my absolute favs.

I hope we see even more world building in book 2, seriously excited about that because the world sounds so rugged and interesting. I didn’t have an issue with the pacing or the plot. I followed it really well. The last 100 pages were so jammed packed that I know some many have issue with it. Personally I did not and I freaking loved it. The way it ended…left me in bits and I can’t wait for book 2!

Overall, a massive 5 stars. A must read for action/fantasy fans who enjoy some martial arts. I would even recommend to those who are newer to fantasy as I think this is a great introduction.

The blurb by Fonda lee convinced me to request this. And she’s totally right - the action scenes were INCREDIBLE! I believe the author is a mixed martial artist and it shows right through the passages/fight scenes. I will say the story lost its grip on me mid way through unfortunately. I think the characterizations felt a little too YA and young. I was hoping they would feel more real. The characterizations in general felt lacking. But the actual world itself is very cool and I haven’t quite read a concept like it. A solid 3.5/5.

I was gifted a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I first started this book, I was unsure as to the fantasy element but, as I got further in, I discovered a fantastic dystopian world. Revolving around a strict set of rules 'The Combat Codes' we are introduced to our main characters Murray Pearson who is a retired Grievar, now turned scout looking for new fighting talent and Cego, a young kid found in the Underground fighting in the slave circles. This chance meeting starts the journey of discovery for both characters. I enjoyed this world a great deal and now need to carry on with the series after the cliffhangers that were dropped in the final 50 pages.

Loved the idea for this one, physical combat training but in a sci-fi world. I was afraid it was going to be similar to Cradle but was pleasantly surprised. I'm glad this series got picked up by a major publisher, and will definitely continue.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I read this over the course of one afternoon, so I figured that deserves at least four stars from me. Granted, I did a bit of skimming. Probably 60% of this book consists of prolonged and very technical fight scenes. While I did appreciate the depth of the author's knowledge--this is lacking from a lot of SFF--it was a bit too much, and the associated emotional stakes were never as high as I wanted them to be.
That was easily the biggest problem for me, with this book.
One thing I DID like about this book was the worldbuilding. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and leans into the ridiculousness of the premise. It's just fun. I also liked the blend of science fiction and fantasy--which drew me to this book in the first place. I don't understand the light stuff (magic? simulations? both?) very well--that might be on me, for skimming--but it certainly was cool and unique. This book had an interesting take on virtual reality, which isn't normally a trope I enjoy.
I liked the twist about Cego's past. I kept reading this book, despite a lack of interest in most of the characters, out of a stubborn belief it HAD to get better, and the ending did reward me for that.

This is a rich sci-fi/dystopian world with a familiar -- but no less engaging -- story line. The fight scenes were tightly written, especially for martial arts fans or practitioners! If you're looking for a fast-paced, action-movie-turned-book with great character journeys, this is an easy-to-pick-up but hard-to-put-down book!

I liked the world and I liked the premise of using single hand combat to solve disputes between nations. The author clearly has experiences with strategies and different fighting techniques since the way he describes the
fights is pretty well done; it feels like watching the fight.

My main problem with the book, although I liked it, it's how predictable it is. The main plot twists are pretty well telegraphed and if the reader is already a sci-fi/fantasy reader, it's pretty easy to know where the story is going. Even the smaller plot points are easy to predict based on the tropes of the genre. It was pretty easy to imagine which role each character would play, and it was pretty much what I thought. The characters don't really have a ton of development but I think that will come on the next books based on how this one ends. It was a good setup book even if predictable.

It was a fun read and I do agree with people that say this book is more of a sci-fi than a fantasy book.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

The Combat Codes, a MMA style book by Alexander Darwin, provided the reader with a face paced wealth of hand-to-hand fighting combinations, but kind of lacked world-building.

I think if you are super interested in martial arts and fighting sequences this is the book for you. A boy who comes from nothing and makes his way in the fighting scene. I think I was drawn to this by an early review of Harry Potter meets Red Rising, but I just don't think that is what I got from it. There was just too much fighting for me.

This is a really great start to a fantasy series, if you are into martial arts (well even if you’re not) it’s an incredibly interesting bonus to this story. Going into it I thought "aw man, what if there's just constant cliché fight scenes where there doesn’t need to be" but the author handled it in a way where I wanted more and wanted to know more. There's a actually a scifi gladiator spin to it, I don’t know man, I just thought it was super unique.

It follows a rags to riches trope, a young martial artist with a mysterious past who must fight his way into the world's most prestigious combat academy while he makes and has to rely on his new friends. So it also has a school setting trope as well. I was really surprised by this, I enjoyed it so much. I recommend this one to anyone who might be bored with the often times medieval chosen one kind of fantasy. They did recently reveal book 2 cover and that title and artwork has me super sus for what’s to come.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit for an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Combat Codes is a story for people that enjoy world building, slight magic, politicking, and lots of fighting! I think the fighting is based on martial arts and they were fleshed out really well. It lost me around 30-60% and I feel like the big twist was quickly moved on from. I assume it will be addressed in the sequel. This first novel was basically just setting up the tone for the rest of the series with nothing too shocking, Even though the major twist at the end wasn’t brought up again, it has me interested to see what happens in the next book. This one was a 3.5 stars for me.

Action pack with an endearing MMC who made me cheer him on throughout. I have never read a fantasy like this and look forward to reading more books by Alexander Darwin.

Thank you to Orbit books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!

"We fight so others do not have to."

Alexander Darwin's debut novel, The Combat Codes, is a beautifully written dark dystopian Sci-Fi novel that is a must read! This book is set in a world where nation's have put aside war and resolve their issues in combat trials. Grievar Knights, warriors bred and trained for combat, represent their nation to gain territory and resources.

Murray Pearson is a retired Griever knight who holds lives and breaths the Combat Codes. He is a living legend that has watched these Codes slowly erode away. The Grievar Knights of today have abandoned honor, discipline, and hard training for tech and "stimulants" to win matches for their nation. Murry is now a scout who searches the Underground fighting rings for new talent that will be trained at the Lyceum to become Grievar Knights themselves. In the Underground, Murray discovers Cego, an unusual boy who show promise and talent. Cego fights like no other and his origin is shrouded in a mystery Murray Pearson is determined to solve.

I am so happy that I was chosen for this book from NetGalley. The story is unique, the characters are well written, and the world building is first class. Rarely to you get a beautiful blend of all three. The fight scenes are phenomenal. Once you get into this book, you realize this isn't just run of the mill combat as Grievar Knights step into a circle augmented by different alloys which affect them emotionally. This aspect just sends this book onto a whole other level. I applaud the writer for such a fresh and original idea. Reading the fight scenes made my heart race. You feel like you are in the mind and body of each fighter sweating, bleeding, and hurting along with them. The Rocky Theme was queued up in my mind each time Cego stepped into a circle! When writing a novel, the old adage "write what you know" is pleasantly represented in this book as Alexander Darwin, the author himself, is trained in martial arts and his knowledge of this translates well onto the page with each and every fight scene. But this novel isn't just about fighting. You are going to visit a world unlike any other and meet a number of characters that are so very well written that you just can't put this book down. And this will be series so if you enjoy this book you can anticipate more! Do yourself a favor and check out Alexander Darwin's, The Combat Codes.

The combat training felt interminable. This book wasn’t for me, but if you like MMA and a whole lot of overused fantasy tropes you might enjoy it. Since this was the first book, and I knew that there was no possibility that I would read a second one, I skimmed to the end, which is a cliffhanger. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. 2.5 stars

Imgur link directs to Instagram post scheduled for July 14th
Blog Post goes live July 11th
Will be covered in Arc round up video going live on YouTube around July 10th or 20th (Depending on health and filming opportunities)

If you enjoy hand to hand combat in any form this is going to be the book for you. Combat Codes by Alexander Darwin focuses on a world in which hand-to-hand combat solves everything, from trade disputes to political machinations. I really felt a lot of Red Rising and at times Karate Kid vibes in this novel. It wasn’t perfect but it was intriguing enough that I’d recommend it for fans of any of those things.

The story is told following two characters - Murray and Cego. Murray is a Scout and former Knight. Having lost a fight that had devastating consequences for his country he is now tasked with finding new blood for the Greivar school that trains up new warriors. Cego is a young boy with a mysterious past who Murray finds fighting and brings up to the school for enrollment. Outside of these two characters, there is little past the very surface of any other character. Our ‘good’ characters are very clearly good, and our ‘evil’ characters are very clearly evil.

The world itself I think needs a bit of fleshing out, which may come later. Murray and Cego are both members of a race called Greivar. These people traditionally lived under the earth and solved all problems by fighting in rings of alloy that attract mysterious spectrals (small whisps of light that seem to have some sentience). They now fight for the nations, sold and traded. I’d love to see more emphasis and information there, and based on the ended of this book we just might get that in the next installments.

Outside of this I can say this one was a fun read if not frustrating at times. I’m still unsure if it was just Murray and his attitude but the book was half spent waxing on how the Greivar are superior to the other races because they were fit and fought, and half spent moving fairly slowly through a school setting. Towards the end we finally see Murray bend his own rules and do something and the plot picks up. Unfortunately I was put off by him by this point. The lines of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are very distinct and there is little nuance, which is disappointing.

My biggest gripe was where were the women? I know this was not just something I noticed, as a great many reviews I looked over also pointed this out. There was a shocking lack of women for a society that’s entirely built on fighting. I believe we had two speaking female characters, possibly four mentioned even in passing. Coupled with a strange moment of hate and aversion to make-up/cosmetics I was left with a weird taste in my mouth.

A lot of this could simply be a debut/first book problem. I will continue the series and hope to see some improvements from Mr. Darwin. I loved the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu aspects of this, a lot of the fighting, and the exploration of muscle use and recovery. Those are all super relative to my interests! Give us more of that, more women and some more world building and this could be a fantastic series.

P.S. Orbit, you did these covers dirty. Bring back the old ones.

3 Gi’s out of 5

This book was very good, well written- but I didn't feel as if it offered anything unique to the scene of sci fi/fantasy crossovers. The Combat Codes takes place in a land ravished by war and weapons of mass destruction and in an effort to save the land, the world agrees that combat will be solved by martial art type hand to hand battles. This is where we meet our two main characters: Murray and Cego. Murray is retired and looking to train the next knight to follow after him, where Cego comes in handy.

The problems I mainly have is that my brain didn’t connect with these characters in the way other books have. This book is if you mixed Karate Kid with something like The Sword of Kaigen. This book could’ve truly thrived if written from Cego’s sole POV, and taken down to a YA level. As it is, it is a good but not great sci fi.

Huge thank you to Black Crow Books and Orbit UK for having me on The Combat Codes book tour!

This is quite a dark MMA-inspired fantasy novel with very well choreographed fight scenes! I was intrigued by the description of this novel, and really wanted to see what the author’s own expertise in mixed martial arts would add to a fantasy novel. It definitely shone through in the many fight scenes!


I enjoyed this novel, despite its almost 500 pages, it really flew past, the pace is breakneck throughout. The plot moves very quickly, and we don’t have to wait long to get into the cage fighting that the blurb promises us.

I really liked the tournament element of the novel. It reminded me of Naomi Novak’s A Deadly Education and The Hunger Games, the mix of characters competing against each other in a tournament but also living in a boarding school of sorts.

The only element of the novel I was a little disappointed with was the lack of female characters. This novel is packed full of males, all of whom start to feel a little similar after a while, and could’ve done with a few females (or non-binary folk) to really distinguish between everyone.

Overall I liked this novel, it’s an interesting start to a trilogy, and I am intrigued to see where the plot goes next! If you like dark fantasies with a lot of fight scenes this could be the one for you!

Huge thank you again to Black Crow PR and Orbit UK for having me on The Combat Codes blog tour.