3 stars
When I picked this book up, I expected the gladiator fights to come much earlier than it did.
However, I do think everything in the first half of the book was necessary to set up a story. Without it, the friendship between Fallon and Elka would not have come off the ground, and in my opinion, that friendship is one of the best things in this book.

Furthermore, the struggles of slavery came through, but Fallon is very lucky. One thing that intrigued me was if you are a slave but you have it good or better than others should you consider yourself lucky? Should you even be happy about it even though you still are a slave? It is an interesting struggle you go through together with Fallon as she ponders over the same thing.

One thing that really threw me off, was that Lesley Livingston used the Greek names for the gods sometimes instead of the Roman names. For example, "What the Hades?". I understand that What the Hades sounds more fun than What the Pluto, however, this story is set in Rome during Julius Caesar's reign so the Greek gods have been gone for a while by then.

Thus, if you like historical fiction in Rome, female friendships, bloody gladiator fights and a bit of romance, I would recommend this book to you.