First and foremost, thanks to the author, Katerina Roman, and to NetGalley, for sharing an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this novel to me in exchange for an honest review.

Gladiatrix: Escape from the LIon's Den is a really solid debut from Roman. 

What I enjoyed most: 
- the world building was solid and seamlessly integrated - set in a sort of post-ecoapocalyptic future Earth, our characters are grappling with food shortages, lack of potable/clean water, and thugs who run... pretty much everything where they live. When the characters have to leave the city, the worldbuilding is also really solid in our alternate setting.
- distinctive - there's nothing else I've read quite like this book! Approach to the topics/themes covered in the novel are unique, and the balance of sex (exotic dancers) and violence (who also cage fight) is really compelling from pretty much the beginning.
- pacing of the narrative - the story continues to move along smoothly, which can be hard to do when a debut novel is so ambitious in scope, themes, content, character development, world-building, etc.
- strong femme protagonist - "Dany," our principal protagonist, has been through a lot, and continues to go through a lot throughout this first novel; she nonetheless maintains her fighting spirit (literally and figuratively), and relentlessly fights to protect the people she loves, at any cost to herself (physically, emotionally, etc.) - we love to see this kind of loyalty from a protagonist. 
- fully developed femme characters - Roman ensures that her characters are well-rounded and developed, thus ensuring dialogue feels compelling and real, and that readers are invested in the characters as the novel progresses. 
- the tension protagonists feel between the need to fight for their own lives and their distaste for needless violence - in a world where violence is both sport and a form of currency, Dany and other protagonists' distaste for violence makes them more relatable and human (e.g. the scene with Dany and the crocodile and how this haunts her for some time afterwards, her lack of a desire to kill another woman in the cage, etc.)

What I enjoyed less: 
- editing - this isn't usually something that I nitpick on with self/indie pub literature, particularly for a debut novel; however, Roman would benefit from at the very least a line editor, as some of the orthographic errors detracted from the flow of the novel and created confusion for me as a reader
- this novel tackles really challenging content (SA, gaslighting, etc.), and while weaved in very well by Roman, this novel will not be a good fit for all readers as a result, and readers would benefit from a note by the author at the beginning or something similar to ensure they're aware of the type of content in the novel.