Venture is a bonded servant who sees his only way to have a chance at a better life is to be a professional fighter. Unfortunately, the world in which he lives doesn't allow bonded servants to fight, but that doesn't stop Venture's master, Grant Fieldstone, who is much more progressive than most, from enrolling him in a gym and basically sponsoring him. Grant's daughter, Jade, is Venture's best friend, and when they develop feelings for each other, that makes Venture even more determined to succeed in the fighting world so he can make something of himself and be worthy of Jade.

This is a story about a young man who is always getting in trouble, who grows up over the course of the book. I enjoyed the world building and character development, but would have liked to read more about the society in which Venture and Jade lived. The book kind of meandered along until the latter half when the action picked up with Venture learning to fight, but it didn't bog the story down.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and look forward to continuing with the series.

4/5 stars.

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.

Venture is a bondservant with the opportunity to break those bonds. He is given the opportunity by his master to attend an elite fighting school where he trains in pursuit of a profession, and possibly more.

A coming age tale, with something of a Karate Kid spirit. Venture is a troubled young man when his mother dies, but he is natural fighter with good instincts. He has always been more than a slave to his master Grant Fieldstone, and when given his chance he takes it. It was a bit slow to start, and it was hard to get a good sense of the larger world and caste system hinted at beyond the walls of his home and the fighting school. There are some times when I felt that he was in his head alot and conversations where drawn out longer than I felt necessary.

The action and fighting scenes were well, done and there was good tension. Sometimes the plot felt predictable as much of it had been revealed in the backcover write up, so I felt that I had a good idea of where everything was heading. The characters prayed and mention God a few times, but there is also worship of multiple gods, and this was never explained in depth. I will also mention that there was an instance of a British curse word.

In the end this book had a lot going for it, but while there were some truly great moments, especially with the fight scenes near the end of the book, there was also a fair bit of predictableness and 2D-ness to many of the characters. It is a coming of age, medieval series starter, that left me wanting to like it, but just not quite there.

I received a complimentary c