Agent of Byzantium Kindle Edition

Agent of Byzantium is one of the best books I have ever read. The first time I ever read it I was in a hospital. The second time I read it I was in a foreign country. Now I am reading it for the the third time. Turtledove manages to take history and tweak it just enough to create his alternative world such that you are totally drawn in, and by the time you are finished, you are utterly convinced that this is what actually happened, and that the real history you learned in school is actually the dream. And this is coming from a man (me) who has an MA in History!

Great novel.

I'm new to Harry Turtledove but I was aware that he wrote historical alternate universe fiction. The premise of this particular book is a Europe in which the Byzantine Empire persisted for much longer than it actually did and Christianity remained the dominant religion in that area rather than Islam. The main character, Argyros, is a member of an elite order of imperial secret agents called the magistrianoi. The book is fragmented, presented in a series of vignettes following the same character in different adventures in his career.

THE GOOD

The main character is lively and interesting, the kind of person you really want to root for. Despite the book's fragmented nature, you really get the sense of who he is and how he is developing. Argyros is a so-so fighter but a brilliant strategist and investigator and his story is great for those who enjoys secret agent stories. The emphasis on his adventures is infiltration, trickery, and disguise rather than brawling.

There are many colorful characters as well besides Argyros. We meet some for a short time, such as a pagan shaman who accompanies a barbarian army; others stay for much longer, such as George the poetic master of offices and Mirrane, the master Persian spy who serves as the Moriarty (or perhaps Irene Adler) to Argyros's Sherlock Holmes. Each of these characters is deftly painted and feels as real as anyone else regardless of the amount of page time they get.

Turtledove does a great job bringing the world to life. While I don't know nearly enough about history to critique the choices that he made in adapting the real-life Byzantine empire to his story, I do know that he manages to achieve a great deal of verisimilitude. His world *feels* historically accurate and everything that happens in the story *feels* like it could have happened. The army combat scenes, the wilderness scouting, the scandalous political and ecclesiastical intrigues, and even the fancy state dinners and chemistry experiments all have a ring of authenticity to them that reveals the hand of a master historical writer at work.

THE BAD

Honestly, there's not much bad that I can say about this book. The disconnected nature of the early vignettes may put some readers off. If you're looking for a long continuous narrative you won't get that here. Turtledove freely jumps from decade to decade in Argyros's life and it's not till the middle of the story where you start seeing much in terms of recurring characters (like the aforementioned George and Mirrane) and overarching plot threads. None of this bothered me personally but it's something that may not be of interest to others.

I have read a number of Harry Turtledove's alternative history novels. Many were good, even great.

But this early novel which follows the events in the life of a government agent in an alternate Byzantium--unaffected by the tidal wave of Islam as Mohammed became a Christian in this timeline--just sparkles.

It is written in a more concise fashion than some of his later ones. Also, it is something you can hand to your teens. Unfortunately, some of his other really good ones (the Hawaii WWII series, for example) have too much sexual content. It can be frustrating to read something that is actually kind of educational and then it turns out to be R or even X rated.

Finally, it is a true hybrid of alternative history and classic sci-fi: the Byzantine protagonist just happens to be around when certain things are discovered. Only, it wasn't Galileo who developed the telescope and turned it into a practical scientific tool in this timeline . . .

Perhaps not a great novel, but a well told story nevertheless. When I first saw that this was an "alternate history" fiction I thought I would be disappointed, but the main character, along with all the others he meets, is engaging and often finds himself at a crossroads in his alternate history. From his accidental discovery of a "vaccine" for smallpox, the early use of the telescope for military intelligence, explosive charges, to the printing press, the hero is not the inventor, but the clever agent who comprehends the potential of inventions on which he stumbles and learns to use in support of his empire. All along he meets other well crafted characters and in the end "gets the girl".

Harry Turtledove at his best. It is now obvious to me where his inspiration came from for the 'Krispus Rising' fantasy series. Byzantium and the Eastern Roman Empire is already a fascinating subject--Turtledove takes that exotic time and place and extrapolates into a future it did not survive to see.
In this time of tension between the West and the Islamic world it is rather humorous to read the references to 'Saint Maumud'. (In the story timeline, Muhammad became a Christian monk, famous for his mantra "There is no god but God and Jesus is his Son".)
I believe I read the last quarter of the novel years ago as a short fantasy story under the title 'Super Wine'. The tale is even better in context now. (Prospective world conquerors beware: hard liquor and explosives are a bad mix!)

For a fan of historical fiction and alternate history scenarios, this is an ideal light read.

The key word is light -- don't expect this to be too much detail and don't expect large descriptions of war or battlefields etc.

The setting is an alternative history where Mohammad converts to Christianity and the Byzantine Empire is stronger than ever in the 14th century -- and it has the Sassanid Empire still there along side it.

It has a lot of things you would not expect in the 14th century and you may probably disagree a lot with the assumptions and the coincidences, but, as I said, treat this as a light read to keep you amused. You won't regret reading this book if you keep that in mind.