Overall i found this to be a very enjoyable read. It is based on the story of the Emperor Justinian and his Empress Theodora. However, the names of everything were changed.and I felt this actually detracted from the book. It would have been much better if the actual names of people and places had been used. By doing that, it would have been much easier to place the story for one thing. With all the names of places changed, it took away from the ability to piece together where the story was taking place and to build the scenery around it. She does an admirable job of describing places and people but it would have added that much more to have the actual place names. I also found it very distracting and unwieldy the change of the cross of Jesus Christ to a wheel and the constant reference to the One God instead of just God. It became awkward to read the One God all the time. Didn't flow or feel natural at all. I don't know if she changed all the names because she didn't strictly follow history in this novel but that is common in historical fiction. That is why it is called fiction instead of nonfiction. I believe she could just as easily used real names and talked about the changes she made in the notes at the end of the novel. However, I did learn some about a period of history that is not studied much in history classes and it was a very enjoyable story. The relationship between the Emperor and the Empress was real and she made their stories very relatable and believable.