ŷ������

The excellent retelling of the story of the Byzantine/Roman emperor Basil II continues in this sequel to the first volume "A Test of Loyalty". As with that installment, here Sakel and Theocharis continue to humanize Basil and make him understandable as never before, and to do so with spectacular artwork that only gets better and better. I am grateful to them for their work to make the remarkable history of Byzantium come alive for new audiences! In this installment, we get a look into the machinations of the imperial chamberlain, a eunuch bastard of an earlier imperial family, as he undermines Basil to advance himself while a usurper swallows more and more of the Anatolian themes. In the end Basil's power is at a low ebb, setting up his maturation into the spectacular, if grim and forbidding emperor he went down as in history.
Sakel's art continues to dazzle, and I love how, as accomplished as she is, her work gets better with each new graphic novel. I spent a long time just looking at some of her illustrations, especially her fantastic depictions of the opulence and complexity of the palace and the grandeur of Constantinople's spaces. I know she'll top herself, but I'm not sure how!