James Conroyd Martin

Excellent fictional biography of Empress Theodora from her early life until her coronation. I think this may be one of the best fictional works concerning her. I'm looking forward to the concluding volume.

Excellent historical novel. I loved the characters, and the author did a great job of building a real sense of the time and place. I've wanted to read more about this period of Polish history for a while and I bought the entire trilogy on impulse knowing nothing about the author, or the woman on whose diary the story is based. I’m not disappointed!

Loved it

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.

Pretty good despite only covering the first half of Theodora's life. I feel that the story is stretched out a tad too long, given that not that much is known about her background before becoming empress.