![]() The dialogue, at times stilted, is now and then wonderfully theatrical. Readers undeterred by the overly ornate prose and long descriptive passages may take to this 11th-century debauch. Yet beneath the chic, glittery decadence he rings changes on time-worn themes: the redeeming power of love, lust for power versus statecraft, the conflict between desire and duty. Journalist Ennis, whose first novel this is, elaborates on actual historic events to create a mosaic of conspiracies and betrayals, sexual excess, battle scenes. ![]() Most of the other characters are plucked from history too, among them vain Empress Zoe and her vacillating, guilt-ridden emperor husband the power-mad monk Joannes, Theodora, Constantine and fiery Maria of the Robes. ![]() The hero of this long, densely written saga is the dispossessed Viking prince Haraldr Sigurdarson, a real historical figure who participated in the power struggles of the Byzantine Empire, where he served incognito as an imperial bodyguard. ![]()
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