Rating: 
Summary: Terrifying, yet entertaining!
Review: What strikes you most, if you are into historical fiction and know a little about historical fact (like me), is that Justinian II was a real person who probably did do everything this book shows him doing, or a close facsimile thereof... yes. Hey, it was the Dark Ages, you know, and I do make the distinction between the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, not that the Middle Ages were a halcyon era either. This is Byzantium in the seventh and eighth centuries.
Yes, he was detestable, cruel, inhumane, and we might say, psychotic. Being a Greek, he would most likely understand our diagnosis. But the facts of his deposition, mutilation, exile, and struggle to recover the throne are truly amazing in and of themselves. I don't recall too many other figures of historical prominence who have achieved that feat. This and the included dialog of his longtime faithful friend Myakes, who I would call a stalwart Roman soldier even in Byzantine times, make for entertaining reading.
I don't think the author is moralizing so much as trying to present us the real character of this man, Justinian II. If you are into Roman/Byzantine history, read it, OK? If you don't you just might see Justinian show up at your door with a squad of excubitores!
Rating: 
Summary: Falls Short Of Expectations
Review: I don't have a whole lot to say about this novel. It was a dry and mostly uninteresting read at best. Justinian is an unlikable and almost flat protagonist. If you are looking for historical information, or if you just want to read about Sklavinian serving women pulling off their tunics, then this might be a book for you. If you are looking for literary skill or an absorbing read, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: A Fascinating Tragedy!
Review: I have never read any of Harry Turtledove's works of alternative history because, as a history buff, I could never quite bring myself to spend time reading about "what might have been". I find "what was" more than entertaining enough. I regard historical fiction however - if it stays within known historical fact and only fictionalizes conversations, motives, and minor characters (and even then sparingly) - as different, more like pure history. So when I saw this book of apparent historical fiction by Turtledove, I was intrigued enough to try it. I'm glad I did. I found the book totally fascinating and extremely well-written. Of course, as I do with all historical fiction, I researched the subject enough to determine how faithful the author was to actual events. Although generally available reference works are somewhat light on Justinian II, everything I was able to find agreed perfectly with the book. The book totally absorbed every hour I didn't spend sleeping, eating, or working. Will I now turn to Turtledove's alternative history? I doubt it. But I sure hope he writes more historical fiction!
Rating:
Summary: Justinian the SECOND?!?!!?
Review: I was misled by the title. This book is about Justinian the SECOND, undoubtedly not as an interesting of a topic as Justinian the first might have been. Unfortunately, my response to this novel was tainted by this expectation.I have to agree with the other reviewers in this column who felt that while the plot is somewhat eventful, basically this seems to be a dry read with sex thrown in to spice things up. The religious research was complete and the image of Byzantium complete, although a reader might wish to see the empire in its better days, not corrupted by a greedy leader such as Justinian II is presented herein. The character of Justinian is definitely at no point someone to be sympathized with. The hackneyed device of using another character to point out the main character's foibles is a bit blatant, and the final moral, if you can call it that, is the hoary old ideal that power corrupts and if you don't want to get killed you have to be a nice guy. This shows very little political insight, and in the process of the novel the heavy-handedness of the message interferes with much of the reading pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: An Engaging Page Turner!
Review: Justinian is the fascinating epic story of a man who became emperor of the Romans twice. The author succeds in transporting the reader to a place and a time sorely neglected in historical fiction. Anyone who finds the empire of the dark ages of interest will find this novel, based on the life of the 8th century emperor Justinian II, throughly engaging. As an avid reader of the ancient history genre, Justinian brought the people and places to life. Truly one of the best historical fiction novels I have read...a real page turner.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read, lacks historical clarification
Review: Mr. Turtledove is quite successful in making an interesting read. Calling the book a historical novel is a bit of a stretch, however. Switch the term around to get novel with some history and you'll have a better description of "Justinian." Mr. Turtledove displays Justinian II as a bloodthirsty and insane ruler, especially after his restoration. While this makes for a good fictional story, the author simply ignores some historical facts. For all those who have already read this book, I highly encourage you to pick up Constance Head's "Justinian II of Byzantium" to get a look at the historical Justinian II. In his so-called "Historical Notes," Mr. Turtledove has the audacity to cavalierly set aside Professor Head's book as something he "disagrees" with. I find this ironic considering that Mr. Turtledove in his novel champions the somewhat absurd idea that Justinian II had reconstructive surgery on his nose. All in all, "Justinian" is a good way to grab your attention, but it is by no means the authoritative source on the Emperor Justinian II's life.
Rating:
Summary: Good read, lacks historical clarification
Review: Mr. Turtledove is quite successful in making an interesting read. Calling the book a historical novel is a bit of a stretch, however. Switch the term around to get novel with some history and you'll have a better description of "Justinian." Mr. Turtledove displays Justinian II as a bloodthirsty and insane ruler, especially after his restoration. While this makes for a good fictional story, the author simply ignores some historical facts. For all those who have already read this book, I highly encourage you to pick up Constance Head's "Justinian II of Byzantium" to get a look at the historical Justinian II. In his so-called "Historical Notes," Mr. Turtledove has the audacity to cavalierly set aside Professor Head's book as something he "disagrees" with. I find this ironic considering that Mr. Turtledove in his novel champions the somewhat absurd idea that Justinian II had reconstructive surgery on his nose. All in all, "Justinian" is a good way to grab your attention, but it is by no means the authoritative source on the Emperor Justinian II's life.
Rating:
Summary: Nicely Written Tale of a Thoroughly Unengaging Character!
Review: Nicely written, to be sure, but this book never caught fire for me, perhaps because of its decidedly unsympathetic protagonist, the Roman emperor of Byzantium, Justinian II (Rhinometus -- for the "nose-cut"). Mutilated by having his nose slit or cut in some unspecified fashion by his enemies when he was overthrown after a stint as emperor of the Bysantines, this self-absorbed, albeit reasonably intelligent, tyrant managed an almost unheard of second shot at the Imperial throne -- only to cast that away as well by inspiring his subjects to a second revolt because of his excesses and unremitting cruelty. Certainly a tough character to render sympathetically. And that, I think, is what ultimately did in an otherwise well written novel. Although the prose is sharp and the voice mostly "true," the book still doesn't really get off the ground. Turtletaub did not attempt to create a novel solely from the perspective of the period, as Robert Graves did with his Count Belisarius, but rather to evoke a "modern" voice which might have been, had the writing and speaking conventions of the times matched our own vernacular. But even this nicely managed artifice (and he does pull it off) cannot save a tale which revolves entirely around so unpleasant and thick-headed a fellow as this Justinian seems to have been. How can one want to read more about a fellow who savagely butchers those soldiers who remained by his side, during an unssuccessful battle, because most of their fellows went over to the enemy and thereby lost the day for him? Not something likely to inspire loyalty in one's followers nor sympathy in the audience reading about this exploit! Or the fellow who, returning to his throne, butchers the lackeys and hangers-on who accepted and served the men who overthrew him as they now accept and serve him! A man who spurns his own daughter because her mother died giving birth to her! A man who inflicts the most hideous tortures on those who overthrew him and who revels, with his wife, in this exercise of revenge and then goes off to bed with her for a pleasant night of love-making. Granted these are not unknown types in the world, but they are not the stuff of engaging tales or sympathy either. Justinian's affection for his barbarian bride and his grudging deference to his mother, or his hard times as a mutilated exile in the northern Byzantine trading town of Cherson, are hardly enough to make him a sufficiently engaging or sympathetic character to sustain this rather weary tale. Certainly it reflects an interesting historical time and place as well as a well-done effort to novelize such intriguing events. But it just doesn't cut it, no pun or fun with Justinian's lost nose intended. And I, for one, would have liked to see more of these Khazars, who are among the most enigmatic mysteries of this period in history. Certainly they played a mighty big role in Justinian's activities. And, apparently, went on to play an even bigger one in subsequent events. (See D. M. Dunlop).
Rating: 
Summary: The Drawback to Historical Imagination
Review: SF author Harry Turtledove had a utilitarian motive for publishing his first straight historical novel under a (not very opaque) pseudonym. Historical fiction (leaving aside Patrick O'Brian) doesn't sell very well. The author didn't want the bookstore chains' computers to see poor sales for a "Turtledove" title and promptly cut their orders for his future books. Sales of "Justinian" may be further depressed by the fact (noted by many reviewers) that the protagonist is, from the modern point of view, detestable: cruel, arrogant and supremely confident that God is on his side. His courage, intelligence and genuine, albeit imperfectly realized, religious faith are buried beneath his vices. The obstacle to making Justinian sympathetic is that the assumptions and prejudices of his age were vastly different from our own. An accurate portrait of _any_ Seventh Century man cannot avoid warts that repell us moderns (and we would probably be just as repulsive to them, if they could look at us). When the Seventh Century man was flawed even by the standards of his contemporaries, our feelings of revulsion are hard to control. That is why most historical fiction dips its heroes and heroines in sugar. There is much to be said in favoring entertainment over truth, but it doesn't hurt to stifle our natural impulses and look truth straight in the eye now and then. "Justinian" certainly does that - and with a great deal of verve and verisimilitude, too.
Rating:
Summary: A book about a real tyrant
Review: The only reasons as to why I read this book was because of Mr. Turtledoves reputation as writer of fine literature. That and my love of the history of the Easter Roman Empire. Both reason's were amply rewarded by this book.
It just re enforces my gratitude to live in 21st Century America and not then & there. That and to Thank God for our Founding Fathers for having established the Republic.
In that Justinian was a very evil & self centered man who lived in a very hard time & place. Altogether He was an adventurer of the worst kind who left a wake of death destruction where ever he went.
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