Review: Justinian

Justinian by H.N. Turteltaub
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is an interesting historical fiction offering, written by Harry Turtledove with a pseudonym, charting the story of the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian II Rhinotmetus (the slit-nosed), who qualifies as one the crazier of the crazy Byzantine Emperors. Mind you, I get the craziness of the second reign. I'm not sure I'd be best pleased with people who had cut my nose off.

The novel tells the tale of this Emperor by interposing a narrative featuring Justinian himself as the author, interposed by the reactions and additions of a fictional guardsman and loyal supporter of Justinian who corrects the main story from the prospect of twenty years later In the course of the story, we see various luminaries and future emperors appear and disappear from the story. The story itself is compelling and largely based on the Byzantines sources. That makes sense because Turtledove was studying Byzantine history before he because a sci-fi/fantasy writer.

The narrative itself is very much in Turtledove's style and is compelling. The fictional guardsman, Myakes, is a standard Turtledove hero- sensible, brave, loyal. Justinian, well, Justinian, he's a mess-spoiled, entitled, brilliant, stubborn, proud and ultimately crazy for revenge (again, not sure I'd be in a good mood if someone chopped my nose off). The story watches Justinian's first downfall, his recovery and his ultimate self-destruction in sometimes painful detail. Justinian is not an easy character, but he is vivid and is a study of a person undone by his faults. In that sense, he is a bit of a tragic hero.

This is book is worth reading and I enjoyed it a lot. A knowledge of Byzantine history is helpful, but not essential for reading this. But it is a fascinating story and an interesting reconstruction.

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