Caesar's Lord

Constantine's Empire #3

by Bryan M. Litfin

After more than a decade of tumult, Roman warrior Rex and his aristocratic wife, Flavia, are thankful to the God they serve for the peaceful life they are living in the city of Alexandria. But with the Empire in flux, it cannot last. When Rex is called away to serve Constantine in his fight against Licinius, Flavia's loneliness and longing for a baby lead her down the road of temptation. Perhaps one of Egypt's gods will grant her conception?

As battles rage both within and without, Rex and Flavia will have to rely on God's forgiveness and protection if they are to survive the trials to come. Their adventures sweep them into the great events of the ancient church, including the forging of the Nicene Creed, terrible murders within the imperial family, the quest for the true cross of Christ in Jerusalem, and the end of pagan Rome as a new Christian empire dawns.

Bryan Litfin brings his epic Constantine's Empire series to a thrilling close with this dramatic tale of struggle and redemption.

Genres: Fiction, Christian Fiction, Christian, Historical Fiction

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2022

About the author

Bryan Litfin received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. His undergraduate work was at the University of Tennessee in the field of Communications.

Bryan now works as Head of Strategy and Advancement at Clapham School, after serving for 16 years as Professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and 3 years as an editor and writer at Moody Publishers. He is the author of The Conqueror (Revell, 2020), Every Knee Shall Bow (Revell 2021), the Chiveis Trilogy (Crossway, 2010, 2011, 2012), Early Christian Martyr Stories (Baker, 2014), After Acts (Moody, 2015), and Getting To Know the Church Fathers (Brazos, 2007, 2nd ed. 2016), as well as numerous scholarly articles and essays. In early 2022, he will release Wisdom from the Ancients (Harvest House).

Bryan is married to Carolyn, and they have two adult children. He enjoys writing, traveling, teaching, reading, spending time with family, and being involved in his local church.

Reviews

[Life of Literature · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again packed with detailed history that speaks volumes of the author’s ability to research well, this novel provides a rich setting for a complex and intriguing plot. I read the first book in this series and was disappointed with the detailed descriptions of the pagan lifestyles, but I tentatively picked up this third novel (I skipped the second one) because the back description spoke of a conversion to Christianity for the characters. I liked that this novel had a thread of hope with this Christian element coming through stronger than earlier in the series. There are still a lot of descriptions of pagan cultures and persecution that make this book better suited for mature audiences. The plot has enough interesting twists and turns to keep my attention and the story is well written. I think this book is good for the right audiences, but its content may not be suitable for all readers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell Publishing. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

[(Katie) Paperbacks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the entire Constantine Empire series by Bryan Litfin. I think men and women would both really enjoy this series. If you liked A Voice In the Wind by Francine Rivers, definitely pick this series up.

In this series we see the growth of the Roman Christian church. And the people that fight to see that our values and faith stay strong.

I loved our two main characters Flavia and Rex. There is enough romance and excitement to please everyone in these stories.

Just a heads up though, there is quite a bit of violence during the war parts, as well as some explicit content but no strong excessive love scenes.

My favorite parts of this series was when our heroes were fighting to save the church, sneaking around and spying. Who doesn't love some good spying?

*trigger warnings for the series: violence, and miscarriage, and some explicit content.

*Thank you to Baker Publishing for a copy of this book to read and review.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final volume in the story of Flavia and Rex. Excitement abounds as these two live through the tumultuous years of Constantine's reign and participate in them. History and developments in codification of Christianity are given, i.e., the Nicaean Council, defining Christology. A very good simple explanation for laypeople was laid out for the various Christian heresies. The message of God's love and forgiveness is stressed, especially when the couple is faced with temptation.

Highly recommended.

[Margaret Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book in Litfin’s series of novels based upon the life of Constantine. Litfin focuses on the early AD 300s because it was one of the most pivotal times in church history.

If you like historical fiction, war novels, spies, ancient Rome, and/or romance in the midst of danger, I think you’ll like this whole series. Litfin has taken what he has gleaned from much study about Constantine and turned it into a riveting book full of all of the above. Themes of lust vs love, political power vs spiritual power, loyalty vs betrayal combined with heart-stopping plot twists kept me reading late into the night several times.

Be warned that this is not a G-rated book – Litfin’s descriptions of brutal warfare, life for the poverty-stricken masses under crazed rulers, Christians being persecuted, and so forth are not sanitized. You may think historical fiction is boring, but not this book! I’m worn out from everything that happened in just a few years as things changed dramatically for the Christian church at the beginning of Constantine’s reign. Litfin does an excellent job of weaving his fictional characters in with the historical figures, and also of making all the theological disputes quite easy to understand.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#Caesar’sLord #NetGalley

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a solid end to the trilogy. It moved at a decent pace throughout the book. It held my interest throughout, and it was easy to pick back up where I left off. The author did an excellent job of recreating the ancient world and blending fictional characters in real, historical moments in time. I thought what he wrote was fairly believable. The character development is solid. There were a few surprises for me throughout the book.

The book is broken up into three parts. In the first part, Rex and Flavia are separated for a time as Rex is sent on a mission to Rome from Aegyptus and then is "drafted" into the military at the behest of Crispus, Constantine's oldest son. After the "final" military campaign is over and Constantine has unified the Roman Empire under his rule, the second part of the book focuses on the deity of Christ and the Church Council that was held to determine this important aspect of Christ's identity and character. There is also imperial intrigue and some "horrific" moments that occur. By this point, Rex and Flavia are reunited and pretty much remain together throughout the rest of the book. The third part of the book focuses on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and attempts to obtain sacred relics to counter the growing heretical beliefs in Rome regarding the very existence of Jesus in addition to His claims about Himself. I was a bit surprised that Rex and Flavia find the crossbeam used to crucify Jesus and bring it back to Rome with them. When they went to the Holy Land, I wondered if something like that might happen, and sure enough, it did, so I was both surprised and not surprised at the same time. It was an odd moment, hahahah.

As violent as the book was in parts, I also liked the amount of grace and hope that is found throughout its pages. That was one thing I took away from reading, as well as the gratefulness, the thankfulness over the forgiveness of sins as well as the grace Yahweh shows to us each day. People become Christians that I did not expect to become saved, and friendships are mended in the end as well.

Another "you got me!" moment was when Rex met an old childhood friend who wanted to copulate with him even though Persephone knew Rex was married. She offers him the opportunity to taste her, and Rex says he thinks he will take a taste, and then the chapter ends. I couldn't believe it! And then a few chapters later, we discover that Rex states he wants to taste and see how good the Lord is before leaving ("fleeing") the house for safer ground. So it was a great moment in the book as I did not want to see either Rex or Flavia succumb to that kind of temptation. I also felt like the author was leading up to some kind of "moment" happening between Flavia and Athanasius. I was happy I was wrong in that regard, too.

Of course, you then had their behavior contrasted with Constantine's wife's behavior, how she engaged in an adulterous relationship, killed her step-son to hide the father of her unborn child, supported the death of her lover, and was ultimately murdered herself for her crimes. I was so shocked at Crispus's arrest and death that I stopped and looked it up online to see what was said about it - such a sad way to go, if he was indeed as godly as the author makes Crispus out to be! Faustus's death was sad as well, considering she was murdered while attempting to abort her unborn child.

We take so much for granted today in terms of our beliefs as Christians as well as what happened in history during that time. We also assume we are smarter than the ancient Christians and "know" more than they did even though they had access to more documents than we have today, and they also lived closer to the time of Christ so there could still be generations of people who had knowledge and stories to tell that were passed down verbally but not written down. The author shows how "touch-and-go" some moments were (but for the grace and hand of God) in terms of heresy growing in strength and opposition to Christianity and how it was overcome in the end. I thought he did a great job of showing just how precarious Christianity still was, in some respects, and some of the dangers it faced as it made the transition from being a religion for outcasts to becoming the undisputed religion of an empire granted, I think it also shows the seed being planted in terms of the dangers of having so much power, even political power, in the hands of the Church despite Constantine and other rulers being shown as trying to prevent any kind of overlap between "church and state" or the imperial government putting political pressure on religious matters and forcing a desired outcome. Granted, I don't know how much of that portrayal is historically accurate versus how the author wants to present the Roman Imperial rulers of the time. In any case, it was an interesting wrapping up of this trilogy as well as an interesting trilogy overall because of how it looked at this important time in Christian history, when Christianity was no longer just a religion of the masses but became an important religion for the rulers of the realm as well. I thought the author did a nice job of demonstrating how fragile some things were in terms of beliefs and support in "their time" (the time period in which this book takes place) that we take for granted today in the U.S. of A.

It was a good book, a fun read, and a solid ending to the trilogy. I am glad I finally found a copy of the book and was able to read it and finish the series.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical fiction that captures the spirit of a tumultuous time in the history of the Roman Empire and of the church -- a time of military and spiritual conflicts. Constantine seeks to unify the empire under Christianity, but Arianism and Manicheism threaten to break it apart, as do his family's internal rivalries. The warrior Rex and his wife Flavia stand in the middle of these challenges. Their thrilling adventures take them from Alexandria to Constantinople, Rome, Jerusalem, and other parts of the ancient world, where they meet church fathers and serve the emperor.

[Crystal Ellyson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book through Revell in the Librarything.com Early Member Giveaway. I am given a honest opinion about this book. The book was different from anything else that I have ever read. This book is not for everybody because of some of the content. Some of the content that was in this book I felt that it shouldn't been in the book. It is better for older readers. I did like the characters though.

[David Fosco · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Caesar's Lord' does an excellent job of bringing to light past challenges in the catholic faith. Giving a glimpse into what it might have been like to live at the beginning of emperor Constantines conversion to Christianity.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Caryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Litfin has crafted an epic historical drama! I was immediately immersed into the story. It's well written and nicely paced. This novel is hard to put down.

Recommend to readers who enjoy historical fiction.

I borrowed a copy from my library. I've expressed my honest view.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best of the 3 books in the series!! Adventures continue for Rex and Flavia, and this book is packed with Christian church history! Really enjoyed it and how it tied up everything!