- Hardcover: 246 pages
- Publisher: McGraw-Hill Contemporary (1 April 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0865531838
- ISBN-13: 978-0865531833
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.5 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,734,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Fast moving adventure in a parallel universe by the author of the 'Case of the Toxic Spell Dump'.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of Harry Turtledove's better books, as it is a self-contained volume and does not stretch into several tomes as some of his works are wont to do. It also focuses on a period of history little known to many in the English-speaking world, that of the Byzantine Empire of the Middle Ages.
Unusually for Turtledove, there is only one protagonist in this book, unlike the large casts that he brings into his later works. The main character is a soldier who after an initial military intelligence operation is recruited into the Byzantine secret service, investigating Byzantium's potential enemies at home and abroad. In this alternative history, the biggest difference is that Mohammed became a Christian bishop instead of founding Islam, with the result that the two great world powers of the Middle Ages are Byzantium and the Persian Empire (both of which in "real" history were eventually overthrown by tribes owing their allegiance to Islam.
The agent, Basil, is something of a world-weary character, whose only affinity with certain other literary super-spies is the amount of times he happens to be in the right place to deal with trouble. Nevertheless this is a fascinating set of stories whose charm lies as much in the historical setting and the theology and science of the day as in the action.
Format:Paperback
I read this book when I was a young teen. And I was entralled by it. I have to admit that I haven't been near it for years and its episodic construction is pretty loose, but I do recommend it. If nothing else, its a fun introduction to Byzantium.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
11 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Good Alternate History Fun
25 Oct 1998
Format:Paperback
A great collection of seven stories set in an early fourteenth-century version of Earth where Islam is absent. The Byzantine Empire retained its eastern holdings and swallowed up most of western Europe as well. Their main rival is the Persian Empire which also never fell in Turtledove's well thought-out alternate world. The stories span 15 years in the life of Basil, a soldier and eventual "agent" (read spy) for the Byzantine Empire. Great fun!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
The Name's Argyros, Basil Argyros
29 Sep 2007
Format:Paperback
Imagine a 13th century Mediterranean and Middle East...
-Where the territories of western and southern Europe won back by the Romans during the 6th century reign of Justinian were not only maintained but expanded.
-Muhammad never developed Islam. Instead he converted to Christianity, becoming a holy man, and is now venerated as St. Moaumet.
In the absence of Islam's rise, both the Roman and Sassanid Persian (which has by now engulfed the entire Arabian Peninsula) empires remain as the two superpowers, existing in a sort of medieval cold war.
Into this world comes Basil Argyros, an agent of the Magistrianoi, the imperial secret police; sometimes he acts as a soldier, but more often he's a spy. During the course of his assignments as an agent of Imperial security, Basil also makes some exciting discoveries, thus making him an agent in another sense: as one who brings change and advancement to the Empire. From the Franks he steals a new weapon, recently cooked up by their monks--gunpowder. He returns from the lands of the Asiatic Jurchen nomads north of the Black Sea with an instrument we know as the telescope. He delivers to the emperor the secrets of printing, a recent Persian invention they've been using to foment insurrection in the Empire's eastern provinces. What perhaps is the most fascinating of all is Basil's witnessing the discovery of inoculation, made during a time of catastrophic plague in Constantinople.
Basil's nemesis in many of these stories is the beautiful and deviously clever Persian spy, Mirrane. As the two of them match wits, they develop a mutual respect and admiration, eventually falling deeply in love.
The Baen paperback edition contains the following seven stories:
"The Eyes of Argos"
"Strange Eruptions"
"Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire"
"Unholy Trinity"
"Archetypes"
"Images"
"Superwine"
Only this edition contains the story "Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire;" however, that story can also be found in Harry Turtledove's alt-history collection DEPARTURES (which also includes "Islands in the Sea," the story about Muhammad's aforementioned conversion to the Christian Faith.)
As someone with a Ph.D in Byzantine studies, Harry Turtledove knows the peoples and times upon which he bases this alternative world, making it a fun, fascinating read.
-Where the territories of western and southern Europe won back by the Romans during the 6th century reign of Justinian were not only maintained but expanded.
-Muhammad never developed Islam. Instead he converted to Christianity, becoming a holy man, and is now venerated as St. Moaumet.
In the absence of Islam's rise, both the Roman and Sassanid Persian (which has by now engulfed the entire Arabian Peninsula) empires remain as the two superpowers, existing in a sort of medieval cold war.
Into this world comes Basil Argyros, an agent of the Magistrianoi, the imperial secret police; sometimes he acts as a soldier, but more often he's a spy. During the course of his assignments as an agent of Imperial security, Basil also makes some exciting discoveries, thus making him an agent in another sense: as one who brings change and advancement to the Empire. From the Franks he steals a new weapon, recently cooked up by their monks--gunpowder. He returns from the lands of the Asiatic Jurchen nomads north of the Black Sea with an instrument we know as the telescope. He delivers to the emperor the secrets of printing, a recent Persian invention they've been using to foment insurrection in the Empire's eastern provinces. What perhaps is the most fascinating of all is Basil's witnessing the discovery of inoculation, made during a time of catastrophic plague in Constantinople.
Basil's nemesis in many of these stories is the beautiful and deviously clever Persian spy, Mirrane. As the two of them match wits, they develop a mutual respect and admiration, eventually falling deeply in love.
The Baen paperback edition contains the following seven stories:
"The Eyes of Argos"
"Strange Eruptions"
"Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire"
"Unholy Trinity"
"Archetypes"
"Images"
"Superwine"
Only this edition contains the story "Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire;" however, that story can also be found in Harry Turtledove's alt-history collection DEPARTURES (which also includes "Islands in the Sea," the story about Muhammad's aforementioned conversion to the Christian Faith.)
As someone with a Ph.D in Byzantine studies, Harry Turtledove knows the peoples and times upon which he bases this alternative world, making it a fun, fascinating read.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Great alternate history from the master
27 April 1997
Format:Paperback
Harry Turtledove knows his history, and it is the mark of a great writer that he can make you interested in what has been a rather obscure part of the historical record. Most of us are familiar with the concept of the Byzantine Empire, but know little of its actual nuts and bolts. Mr. Turtledove presents a set of connected short stories in which his hero foils diverse machinations against his employer. I was intrigued, and looked stuff up in the encyclopedia afterwards, and found the whole thing quite fun
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