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Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
The Legend of Valentine by Sheldon Collins follows Valentine Romanus, a Roman soldier in 3rd-century Rome, who saves an empress during a raid. Pining over a prior love, Valentine sleeps with a married noblewoman with connections to power players like General Claudius. He also forms a bond with Agatha, a blind singer, igniting a love that's complicated by her protective family and Rome’s Christian persecution. Meanwhile, in the Senate, Junius conspires with Claudius to depose Emperor Gallienus, whose policies on religious tolerance spur resentment among the elite. Claudius’s betrayal leads to Gallienus’s assassination, securing Claudius’s rise as emperor, intensifying anti-Christian crackdowns, and thrusting Valentine into further danger. Valentine, now disillusioned, turns to a peaceful life but is drawn back to Rome after soldiers kill his adoptive family and enslave their son. Determined, Valentine unites old friends to rescue Regalus and confronts unresolved feelings for Agatha during Rome’s violent power shifts.
Sheldon Collins’s The Legend of Valentine: An Ancient Historical Love Story that Ignites a Revolution is a detail-rich story of Roman intrigue and Christian resilience, all built around Valentine Romanus’s transformative journey. Collins’s historical backdrop is meticulously rendered, and I especially found the portrayals of Roman military life and political scheming to be the best parts of his writing. We do get points of view beyond Valentine, which allows readers to understand the machinations of ancient Rome. As much as I liked the Agatha-Valentine angle, it is the very brief affair with Serena that delivers one of the greatest arcs in the novel. The Christian themes are clear, although not overtly heavy-handed, as Valentine’s spiritual transformation embodies the faith’s direct plight against Roman authority. Overall, this is a well-done Christian historical novel that leans into the era’s turmoil, the quiet resilience of early believers of Christ, and the fictionalized bedrock of a day now and forever dedicated to love.
