Blood and Sand

by C. V. Wyk

[Ashley]

Actual rating is 4.5 stars.

This was GLORIOUS! It exceeded my expectations. The last gladiator book I read was The Valiant and I was massively disappointed by it. But Blood and Sand is everything I hoped The Valiant would be! In short: if you like the TV show Spartacus I have no doubt you'll love this book. There's violence, politics, revenge, sexual abuse, and romance.

Attia was a total badass too. I loved how she could really fight, and she proved it (she wasn't all talk!). I loved her "I give zero fucks" attitude. She never accepted being a slave.

My one gripe (and the reason I'm giving it 4.5 stars instead of 5) is the romance. I liked it, but it developed very quickly. It wasn't quite insta-love, but it was close. I would have loved a more slow-burning, epic romance. Instead we got kind of a shallow one. I felt like they "loved" each other way too quickly. They didn't even have *that* many interactions. Also, I'm refusing to believe that Xanthus is actually dead. If he really is I might have to drop this down to 4 stars!