Chris reviewed Agent of Byzantium by Turtledove
None
4 stars
Sailing through Byzantium and it's parallel world time again; St Mohammed as the patron saint of changes; it's the 14th century and Byzantium endures. Once again though you have one character bringing about several worldchanging events, for example stealing the secret of the telescope from Asiatic nomads, and also discovering that having cowpox makes a person immune to smallpox. Turtledove admits to being influenced by L Sprague de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall, but there the exotemporal innovations to Ancient Rome are brought about by a time traveller, not by a person from that era. Still and all, it isn't to be taken too seriously, as the cover blurb 'In the spirit of Flandry and James Bond' suggests.
Sailing through Byzantium and it's parallel world time again; St Mohammed as the patron saint of changes; it's the 14th century and Byzantium endures. Once again though you have one character bringing about several worldchanging events, for example stealing the secret of the telescope from Asiatic nomads, and also discovering that having cowpox makes a person immune to smallpox. Turtledove admits to being influenced by L Sprague de Camp's Lest Darkness Fall, but there the exotemporal innovations to Ancient Rome are brought about by a time traveller, not by a person from that era. Still and all, it isn't to be taken too seriously, as the cover blurb 'In the spirit of Flandry and James Bond' suggests.
