Byzantium

This is the story of St Aidan, written with Lawhead's usual talent for evoking a real feeling for the age and a love for the characters. Aidan and a group of other monks travel from Ireland to Byzantium to hand deliver an exquisitely illuminated manuscript to the emperor - the famous book of Kells. But disaster overtakes them and Aidan is captured by vikings and taken into slavery.

Lawhead describes the various people's well. He does not romanticise the vikings, for instance, but paints them with all their barbarity as seen through the eyes of the Irish monk. And yet as the book progresses, these characters become some of the most wonderful that Lawhead has written, and you feel regret to wave them good bye at the end of this show more story.

Lawhead's research into his novels is extensive, but usually there are areas where experts on the subject would tell us that things were not quite the way they are set out. This is a fictional work, and sometimes the facts of history are massaged a little to make a better tale. But even with this in mind, this story is a wonderful historical narrative too, and most readers must surely come away with a better feel for the period than they had before they started.

All in all I think this is perhaps one of the author's best works, and thoroughly recommended. show less

Stephen Lawhead's Byzantium tells the story of a young monk, Aidan, who is captured by Vikings while traveling to Byzantium with a beautiful manuscript. Unfortunately I can't go into any more details about the plot because I dropped the book a little less than halfway through.

I know that first impressions can be deceiving, but lately it seems all my negative first impressions of authors and books — which I have tried to change with rereads and an open mind — have been correct. I remember reading some of Lawhead's fantasy in high school and not really finding anything memorable there. It was passable stuff, acceptable fodder for a young reader scouring the slim shelves of a provincial library, but I remember very little of it and show more have never had a desire to revisit his work. A recent enthusiastic recommendation for Byzantium determined me to try this author once again. After all, I couldn't explicitly trust the literary impressions I formed in high school, could I?

Turns out I could. On page 328 of 870, I had to concede defeat. There is something about Lawhead's prose that I just don't like. Maybe it's the sporadic attempts to sound Irish (every now and then prefacing a statement with "Sure, and") or just the way the story dragged. When a book starts feeling like a chore to pick up, it's time to put it down.

So I don't think I'll be picking up another Lawhead book any time soon. Maybe I should just start trusting my first impressions! show less

This is a door-stopper of a book, a first person narrative of a 10th Century Irish monk, Aidan, and his pilgrimage to Byzantium in the course of which he'll become "a slave, a spy, a sailor" going from a monk's robes to a slave's rags and collar to "the silken robes of a Sarazen prince." This book is on a fantasy rec list, is found in the fantasy section in the store and is by a fantasy writer--but I wouldn't call it fantasy despite a few prophetic dreams. Rather it's a work of pure historical fiction based on a real historical figure. I felt it got to a slow start, it became a page-turner about a hundred pages in, but it grew more and more engrossing as it went on--both adventure and mystery with a dollop of romance featuring memorable show more characters and an interesting insight into the appeal of Christianity (but not in a preachy way, I promise, even though a crisis of faith is at the center of the book.) show less

I had started reading this book 8 years ago, and never finished. The story stuck in my mind, though, and it was always there luring me in to reread it - so I did. This time I pushed through the lull in the middle to finish, and I'm glad I did. This was a great story - sweeping in the geographic scope, and really interesting with the play of different religions and cultures.

Very long, but very good. All of 650 pages! It recounts the life and adventures of an Irish monk sent on a pilgrimage. The adventures themselves would be pretty interesting, but I think one of the strongest points of the book is the way it portrays people. Characters of all peoples and lands are depicted as people, capable of both goodness and vileness, and there are ever-shifting relationships between them all. Aidan, the viewpoint character, seems an excellent depiction of someone experiencing marvels, undergoing horrific hardships, and losing his faith on account of his experiences before finally recovering it. The book itself doesn't reveal just who he is until the end, but I spoiled myself for that by accidentally seeing something show more on the last page - I recommend avoiding it, as it'll make the developments less striking. Although the book is pretty violent and emotionally tough at times, I didn't feel it was a problem, and in some ways it felt less unpleasant than some books with less violence (The Kite Rider, say). I wouldn't like to read anything else along these lines for a while, I'm feeling the need of a gentler read, but I feel like this one was worth it. And I will be keeping an eye out for further Lawhead books. show less

I vacillated a lot during the reading of this book. There were times it was very dry and slow, and other times when the author did a great job of building and engaging characters. There were times it was a 5-star book for me, and times it was a 2-star book for me. One thing it did well was to share the main character's struggle with Faith - from a high to a low. I was a bit disappointed at the end when the character just "fell back into" faith through what felt to me like a cliche of Christian doctrine. There was deep work and life that tore the character's Faith from him, and if he is really to reclaim it in any significant way, I guess I'd want to experience that same depth of life and experience. Otherwise, it just feels like a cheap show more choice. Of course, it seems there was an actual historical figure behind the fiction, and if that's the case, perhaps the author felt justified in the simplified version if it's all the history gave him.

I'll certainly try another book by this author. show less

Read in 2005 - pre-Goodreads

Review: 12.01.17

I really enjoyed this saga. It is the story of a Viking escaping from slavery. It is the story of a monk traveling to Byzantium, the story of a beautiful manuscript, and the story of faith. I do not read many Christian novels (I find the writing to be sub-par), but the story intrigued me and the writing was excellent. I've often thought of reading more from this writer, but haven't yet.