Powerful! Epistolary novel giving us an startlingly original and imaginative view of the Emperor Constantine. We relive the two fall months in 312 AD from preparations before the Battle of Verona, journey South, until the eve of Constantine's battle with his brother-in-law, Maxentius, at the Milvian Bridge. The author has written a numbing interpretation of what Constantine saw in the sky, as reported from several different characters' viewpoints--Synesius, his private secretary; Geta, the head of secret police; Fausta, his wife; a bishop traveling with the army; and summing up given by Tetricus, Praetorian Prefect.

From a [fictional] collection of letters, private diary entries, memoranda, crisp police reports the author has fashioned a masterly work detailing Constantine's "dark night of the soul" and his feelings of abandonment by his god, the Invincible Sun. Battle scene at Verona was equal to best descriptions of fighting I've read elsewhere. All of the characters were fully-fleshed: the intense, emotional, saturnine Constantine; his enigmatic wife, Fausta; the various civilians and military officers. We witness Constantine's extreme reaction at the death of his good friend, one of the legates, and we are privy to Constantine's tempestuous marriage. Public events, such as Verona and the vision, are described by several different figures. Very well-written; it was hard to believe a sheaf of documents could put me right into the story--and into the heart of the protagonist. The striking cover was a detail from a mural of Constantine's vision in a church on Cyprus.

Most highly recommended. ( )

A well written fictional reconstruction in the form of letters and journal entries covering Constantine's march on Rome in AD 312 and, at the end, his conversion to Christianity. Of particular note are some of the religious debate and the bizarre relationship between Constantine and his wife Fausta. ( )