Excellent. It's engaging and compelling, and "takes you there". Obviously well researched, it includes good detail and readers will come away with a story that will stick with them for a while. Recommended.

I really appreciate the review copy!!

While there are plenty of things about Theodora’s past which testify to her determination and strength of character, there are also sections that were a bit dull such descriptions of her artistic tableaux. The part in which Theodora is learning a type of dance – which has no importance to her life once the instruction is over – dragged while the religious discussions she has in Alexandria which do impact her life as Empress are given half the time. I also wished more was told about Stephen’s past since curses, wizards, and reading auras while traveling across the Levant and Egypt sounded fascinating.

Things seem to be picking up towards the end of the book but it’s then that I learned this is to be a duology and most all of Theodora’s life as Empress, including all the religious and feminist things she’s known for, aren’t here. I enjoyed going back to the old style of historical fiction books I used to devour but I’m not sure I want to read another long book to get the second half of her story. C+

Fantastic telling of a Empress Theodora’s life, the past and present storylines were sometimes hard to follow but I really enjoyed reading more about her life. What a fascinating woman.

I loved this book so much. I truly kept me interested from start to finish. I knew nothing about this woman but she was amazingly strong, intelligent and ambitious. I liked that it told two stories and was a constant page turner. I can't wait for the next book. I highly recommend this book - you will not be disappointed.

I can't decide whether I want to give this a 3.5 or a 4 star rating. I knew next to nothing about Theodora before reading this book so I was really intrigued when I read the description of this book. It's really well written and researched, I liked how the story was told in both first and third person. The swaps between Theodora and Stephen's stories and between the past and the present was well done. However I kind of wish we could have got more about Stephen's past since I found his character and experiences as a apprentice interesting and wanted more detail while I found some of Theodora's a bit too lengthy, at least the actress parts, I got more interested when she moved on from that and got into more exciting situations and how she meet Stephen onto becoming Empress. I would have liked more detail with that, it seemed to take more time on the duller parts of her life and less on the political manoeuvring with her enemies, though this should hopefully feature more in the next book of the duology.