Audrey Nynn is a Dragon King, a special race of people with rare and magical gifts. Audrey had been cast out of clan Tigony at a young age after an unfortunate tragedy when her power of pyrokenesis and controlling electricity first manifested. Passing for human, she marries and has a child, a near miracle in the Dragon King race. The leader of the Aster cartel, the most powerful of the three mafia-like cartels, has her husband murdered; and kidnaps Audrey and her son Jack to perform experiments on them, wanting to explore her natural fertility. Eventually, Audrey is of no more use to them, so she is sent to be a cage fighter, to be trained by the master fighter Leto.

The powerful Dragon King named Leto of clan Garnis has been a cage fighter for twenty years, and has risen to be the top fighter in the Aster cartel. He pretty much toes the line for the Asters, as his compliance and cage fight wins gain much-needed concessions for his family. When he is assigned to train Audrey, she fights him all the way; and is always looking for a way to escape and rescue her son from the Aster's labs. Eventually, she is sent to a witch named Ulia, who not only releases Audrey's long-tamped powers; but also makes her forget her present life, and know herself only as the Dragon King named Nynn. When Leto realizes that Nynn has been stripped of her memories of her husband and son; he begins to rethink his complacency with his life, and her need to escape. For fans of the prequel story Silent Warrior, there is a good bit of Hark and Silence in this one. They have been together for several years as this book begins. They are still cage fighters, and tag team fighters.

The leads in CAGED WARRIOR are well both well drawn characters. Nynn was single-minded in her desire to find her son and escape from the Aster's; but her character changed and grew as she realized her power and became an accomplished cage fighter. Leto was just magnificent. A strong, almost gamma hero; the changes he went through when Nynn turned his world upside down as their relationship developed was glorious to read. He changed for her and then with her, as their lives as partners and then lovers grew more and more intertwined. There are some great plotline threads laid out that are to be carried on in future books of the Dragon Kings series. CAGED WARRIOR is an excellent beginning for what looks to be a winning series for Lindsey Piper.