Blood and Sand

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

And so my dear, curious, clever reader, I implore you to ask questions and challenge narratives. Facts may be indisputable, but truth is a wily thing. Discover it for yourself, and maybe somewhere along the line, you'll see the world–and its possibilities– in an entirely new light -Author's Note

I honestly wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. I've had a couple duds from Netgalley recently and this is a book I requested on a whim– not remembering what it was that drew me to it. Yet, I'm kinda blown away by it.

It needs to be said that this isn't a book for people who like historically accurate narratives. The author takes many liberties here. This isn't to say nothing is historically accurate, it does feel like much research and studying took play for this book to come into fruition. Just, as the author even mentions in the notes, events are moved around, people are alive later than they should be, etc., but it makes a good story.

It is hard not to like Attia. She is a strong and independent character. Her time as a slave does seem beyond easy, but again, I'm willing to overlook it because I like her so much. I really wanted to see her kick ass more often, but what she does do is awesome. I'm hoping in the next book she will fight more. Xanthus is great too. Not the typical gladiator, but one who is ready to die– unable to live with the guilt weighing on him.
Their relationship slowly blossoms and I absolutely loved it. It is subtle and slow moving. There were a few times I wasn't sure... how far the relationship progressed, so I wish those scenes had been written clearer, but their relationship is clearly defined.

While I thought the book took a while to set up, I was still somewhat invested into the book. The characters had me invested as I waited for the story to pick up and when it finally did it had me. So, I would say this is slow to moderate pacing, with a decent amount of action scenes with (Xanthus at least), then towards the end while things don't pick up, the suspense is there to hook you.

Some warnings I want to throw out there: rape, abuse, slavery, attempted suicide
There are some pretty heavy scenes, but this is ancient Rome, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

In conclusion, I'm totally going to read the next book and this is one I recommend to people who like historical fiction re-visioned, Old Rome, and strong female characters.