As both a history lover and a historical fiction lover, I was excited when I discovered this book would be releasing. The establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire is a period of history I haven’t seen dealt with in either general market or Christian fiction, and despite some unfavourable early reviews, I was determined to read this novel for myself and form my own opinion.

I really do wish I had enjoyed this novel more than I did. There’s no doubt that the author has a firm grasp on the history of the time, and the narrative sections that dealt with the historical action and setting were mostly well written. However, I felt the characterisation was often trite, the hero and heroine a little too idealised (their romance included), and the dialogue far too modern-sounding and very on-the-nose. And I thought the author relied too heavily on the more offensive elements of ancient Roman society and the baser elements of human nature to help characterise the “bad” people in this novel.

And on that note, a word on the content. Ancient Roman society was depraved and blood-thirsty, and given the nature of this story, it would be unrealistic to expect a sanitised read. Also, it’s written by a male, and that always brings a different perspective to a novel. With those disclaimers, here is my personal opinion: I do feel as though some of the content in this book was either unnecessary or could have been conveyed less crassly, however these specific instances were dispersed throughout the novel and would only have had a small impact on my enjoyment had other elements been more to my liking. But bear in mind, this is the opinion of a reasonably widely-read female who is in her early forties. I can easily see how there would be a wide range of responses to the content in this novel depending on the age, gender, and reading preferences of the individual. My advice would be to read a range of reviews on this book if you have concerns about the content.

My final comment relates to the Gospel message as portrayed in the novel. To me, this setting provided an excellent opportunity to explore the impact the Gospel message would have had in a time and culture far removed from our own. I’m aware that this is only the first book in a series, so perhaps I am judging prematurely, however the message I got from this book was “the Christian God is better (or more powerful) because he’s real.” But as I said, perhaps that is the most logical point to begin for a character like Rex, and his understanding of the full Gospel message will develop across the series. Still, I would have liked the story to explore how Christianity would have impacted people living at this time on an intellectual level as well as a practical level.