Byzantium

By: Stephen R. Lawhead

Narrated by: Stuart Langton

Length: 25 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Although born to rule, Aidan lives as a scribe in a remote Irish monastery on the far, wild edge of Christendom. Secure in work, contemplation, and dreams of the wider world, a miracle bursts into Aidan's quiet life. He is chosen to accompany a small band of monks on a quest to the fabled city of Byzantium, where they are to present the beautiful and costly hand-illuminated Book of Kells to the emperor of all Christendom.

During this expedition by sea and over land, Aidan becomes, by turns, a warrior and a sailor, a slave and a spy, a Viking and a Saracen, and finally, a man. He sees more of the world than most men of his time, becoming an ambassador to kings and an intimate of Byzantium's fabled Golden Court. And finally, this valiant Irish monk faces the greatest trial confronting any man in any age: the command of his own destiny.

©1996 Stephen R. Lawhead (P)2001 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Not merely a gripping yarn - and it certainly is that - this is also a novel about faith and the tests life plants in its way. Lawhead, author of the popular Pendragon cycle of fantasies, here makes a sure move into mainstream fiction." ( Booklist)

Intriguing tale of medieval competing cultures

Vikings and monks in Byzantium with corrupt Romans and Islamist saviors - clashing cultures that are somehow woven into a story so unbelievable that it feels real. I read this story last year and had to go back to it again. Even though I knew what would happen it gripped me again from start to finish.

Chapter order is incorrect on recording

Recording begins with Chapter 28. I went ahead and listened to half of the book figuring it was the author's way of continuing the story from a previous title. A bit disappointing to get to the climax of the book and hear, "Chapter 1".

excellent story and performance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, great reading and excellent story

What did you like best about this story?

Kept me interested and did not want to stop listening but alas I always have something to do so cannot listen for more than 3 hours at a time.

What about Stuart Langton’s performance did you like?

Will listen to him anytime he is excellent

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no; I look for books that take awhile to listen to usually over 10 hours

Marvelous epic tale

Best book I have heard since Lord of the Rings. Brilliant writing, and the audio performance is great.

Excellent Writing

Too many novels today is to cater to our modern armchair arrogance at how the world should be viewed.

Today we look at the people of the past and shake our heads at how wrong and ignorant their uneducated views of the world were. In all reality, they would look at us to same way. With nuclear holocaust at our fingertips, soft moral decadence and innumerable genocidal wars on our records, it is hard to questionthe degree of shock they would feel at seeing how their descendants turned out.

This is a story of soul searching, physical adventure across distant foreign landscapes and high stakes human chess at its finest. The intellectual swordplay that took place amongst the competing adversaries was both unpredictable and very refreshing.

These were not modern people; they saw things a certain way, and the author doesn't apologize for not appealing to our 21st century moral snobbery. It's hard to find a novel that doesn't try to stroke your modern, insecure ego and actually tells a tale of how things were.

The narration done very nicely that I only gave it 4 stars because I said there were a few degrees of intensity that was missing where it could have been delivered. Otherwise a great storyteller

Above all, its an epic adventure in a literary environment where 'epic adventure' is a tired term. I recommend.

BETTER READ THAN LISTENED TOO!!!!!

Excellent story ruined by gut wrenching, monotone narration. I got used to it about 2/3 of the way through but could not help but think the book would have been much better had i read it rather than listen to it. Great story. Horrible narration.

Crazy good...

I thoroughly enjoyed this audio book. I was completely unfamiliar with the historical events around which this story takes place, but I found the main character Aidan, to be very believable and sturdy. I do think it was a TAD too long...there are places where the story drags a bit, but overall, I enjoyed it very much. For some reason, the narration sounded weird in my car...any "s" sounds or soft "c" sounds came out very grating on my system. I am sure it was just my car, as I did not notice this when I listened to the story on my iPhone. At any rate, I thought the narration was excellent, and the story very well done. I would recommend this to anyone that likes adventure stories, and historical fiction.

Fascinating concept; mediocre development

This is one of those kind of historical novels that gives you just enough background and tidbits of historical interest to make you want to know more than you will ever get out of the book. I spent more time researching these tangents than I did listening to the story! The story's plot really developed more along the protagonist's perspective than it did the time period of the setting. Because of this, I really expected to see much more character development than I did. The character did not display the gradual, reasonable shift in credo. It was sudden and dramatic and based on self-contradicting, narrow-minded trifles. That is, the exact same beliefs that gave him hope and direction at one point suddenly is the reason to abandon all hope and direction. And the rationale for that switch seems shallow and inconsistent. The story ends with an epilogue that occurs many years later. The characters show no indication having lived or grown or changed during the interim--they change so diametrically during a relatively short span of their lives, then nothing for the rest. This was somewhat disappointing as I'd hoped for some evidence of the protagonist's credo change being worth all that angst. The plot and characterization may have disappointed, but the historical leads made up for it--for I enjoyed learning more about The Great Schism (when Christianity split into the Western structure and the Eastern Orthodox structure) and The Byzantine. Not to mention all the minor tidbits: sultanates, Turkey, Vikings, monastery life, etc. I did struggle with Langton's narration. He had some voice mannerisms and affects that I had a hard time ignoring. It's worth giving it a listen if you enjoy the historical setting.

Good History- Great Story -Awesome Reader-

I have been listering to "Books on Tape" for over 20 years. This has been one of my favorite listens. I just wanted just to learn more about Byzantium but I was drawn into a fabulous story with memorable characters.I can actually hear the Viking King bellowing his commands to his crew. Stuart Langton brings the story to life. I will just look for other books he has narrated.
I will also explore other books written by Stephen Lawhead. Enjoy.

My favorite book

This is my favorite book by Mr. Lawhead as well as my favorite fiction book.