Embodied love meets empire in a fantastic history of friends and companions of Constantine the Great.
Embodied love meets empire in a fantastic history of friends and companions of Constantine the Great.
Action & adventure, Alternative history, Historical
For readers age 9 to 90, this fast-moving adventure novel tracks the fantastic history of a diverse group of companions in their attempt to subvert the Roman Empire with justice and love. Grappling with the realities of war, violence and selfish ambition as they interface with peace, friendship and belonging, it investigates the potential of love as an alternative way of being.
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Both the story and the writing are really enjoyable. The author describes well and the action flows. The characters are accessible and there is an ongoing challenge for the reader in the threats of both culture clash and family relationships. The blindness and dreams together give it a quality of fantasy similar to Madeleine l’Engle’s books particularly as the main character is a young female. I like the way you depict children like l’Engle does and C S Lewis did in the Narnia Chronicles. ~ Jane Schofield-Almond, history teacher and publisher
This book reflects the author’s passion for understanding the inextricable cogs between the church and all forms of empire. Informed by the depth and height of his theological, philosophical, historical and political research, this novel takes its readers instead into a fascinating story of a labyrinth that has its source some seventeen centuries ago. In it we are led inexorably on a series of transitions through the incredible, the real and the historical, where angels, demons and myths intertwine, attract and repel each other. Entering this labyrinth does more than inspire your imagination, it compels you to continue reading, to discover the end, and forces a personal reflection on what we are still fighting against in the 21st century. ~ Samuel Rhein, lecturer and publisher
Time will tell whether this book brought me back to Christianity. Be prepared to be torn back to a time when to be a Christian was to be a rebel: against empire; against violence; against the notion of personal gain. A marked contrast with all that Christianity has become a symbol of in our times. Mitchell takes us on a journey between illuminatingly-researched history and fantasy, digging into Christianity’s deep past to give radical presence to eternal social and political questions: Can love and hierarchy coincide? Can we build a new world in the shell of the old? What does the righteous path look like? ~ Dr Timothy Stacey, Researcher, Urban Futures Studio, Utrecht University and Co-Founder and Co-Director, AltVisions.org.
