I signed up for the tour on a whim and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Ringside Gamble. I enjoyed it so much more than I thought.

Nong's story unearthed an abundance of emotions. We read of the poverties he and his family had to endure. His strength and determination to compete in Lumpinee, to make his family proud.

It reminded me of The Karate Kid and Daniel, who too was bullied as a child, before becoming the best at his game.

The author clearly has an affinity with Thailand and I felt I'd learnt so much about the country, its people and its history by the time I'd finished the book.

Characters throughout felt authentic and I quickly found myself emotionally in Nong's character and was rooting for him all the way.

Ringside Gamble is a thoroughly enjoyable action packed read.

This is an intriguing mix and well worth reading. There’s a kickboxing story, a bit of mystical fantasy and a goal set and strived for. All mixed in with Thai rural life, gambling and saving the environment. I was impressed with the descriptions of the kickboxing matches. Great pace and energy. The humour lightens the story (especially a grumpy lion when its advice is ignored, made me laugh). Thank you to LiterallyPR Ltd and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine freely given.

Ringside Gamble by S. J. Clarke was an excellent read from start to finish, especially as I have been to The Far East and Bangkok and had the opportunity to go and watch Thai boxing. The author S. J. Clarke has done a lot of research to write this book. I thought I was back in the Far East re-living my fabulous holidays, sadly without the smells, beautiful Thai food and the heat! lol.

Khao Lak, is a young Muay Thai boxer and he is living in poverty. But, he has a big dream and has to find the inner strength to become a Thai boxer.........he wants to compete at the world-famous boxing arena, Lumpinee, in Bangkok. This is going to be very hard for Khao even to make his dream come true, but Khao is determined to do this. Sadly, conflict arises from his so called friends and now with temptation all around him and now loneliness, he is the only one to make his dream come true!. People tell him he is dreaming but he has his heart to go to world-famous boxing arena, Lumpinee, in Bangkok and become a Muay Thai boxer.

Does he do it?

This book was excellent, even my hubby read it and enjoyed it.

I highly recommend this book. A must read that will inspire you to go for your dreams!

Thank you to NetGalley and Literally PR LTD for letting me download a copy of Ringside Gamble by S.J. Clarke.

My review was published at www.equinoxx.info on July 21 2024.

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While browsing through the list of books I could read from the NetGalley website a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon one titled 'Ringside Gamble'.

Curiosity got the better of me. I clicked on the book's page and read that the story was about a Muay Thai boxer - Nong - on the rise in his chosen profession but the ascent comes with hurdles of corruption in his sport.

A book about combat sport with gambling featured in some sort? Of course I was going to read it!

I'll have to be straight up - I found Ringside Gamble a struggle. It seemed the author - S.J. Clarke - was too descriptive by adding scenes in the novel which, I felt, didn't need to be there. It came across - to me - that there was a poor editing job done.

With that said, Clarke's use of mashing everything together to tell the story about Nong could be seen as a tool to educate people about Thai culture. One of the most predominant things in the story is the influence of spirit animals on the main characters.

I enjoyed almost all of the scenes which involved the animals. The only time I felt it went a bit too far was near the end when one of the baddies (a corrupt gangster) was punished by one of the imaginary animals in the story. As soon as I read how the gangster fell to the animal, I felt annoyed because - for a few pages - I felt the punishment he received did not fit the crime. However, later in the novel, reasoning was given for why the animal chose the course of action against the bad guy.

The parts in the novel which explain Nong's fights were very descriptive and perfect. That - for sure - was a plus.

I struggle to agree with the 'advanced praise' for Ringside Gamble from Book Authority which states that the title is 'highly recommended for readers of all ages'. I would not suggest this book be read to, or by, young children because of the use of occasional curse words.

I also find it difficult to reason how - of the thirteen ratings this book has received on Amazon (as of July 21 2025) - all have rated it five stars.

Unless I'm missing something: I'm afraid Ringside Gamble is close to middle of the road as far as I'm concerned.