Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, and surprisingly readable.
Review: Before I read this book, I knew nothing about Byzantium. So I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, and realized after I started that I had made a mistake; I didn't realize when I bought this book that it was the third volume of a three-volume set. Doubtless, it would have been less overwhelming to start at the beginning, especially for someone like me, with no previous knowledge of the subject. Still, I learned a great deal from this book; not only was it informative, but it wasn't nearly as dry and impenatrable as I'd been afraid it might be. In fact, the style is downright readable; Norwich actually has a rather pleasant, if dry, sense of humor.I definitely plan on getting the first two volumes of this series, and continuing my education on the history of Byzantium.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of woe
Review: Here we reach the sad conclusion to Mr. Norwich tale. And it is not pretty. Not only the story of missed opportunities and human greed, but the method of the tale. It still gets 4 stars because it is amusing to read, it gives us a simplified perspective of a rather complicated period and makes fell sad for the last defenders of Constantinople/Byzantium. But the book has methodological flaws. After the fall of Byzantium to the Crusaders, it became a minor power in the region. Whatever importance it had was due as much to its strong defenses as to the weakness of its opponents. When the first decided conqueror since the 4th crusade came, it fell as it should have felt earlier. It was clear that since 1214 Venice was the political and military heir of Byzantium. Mr. Norwich fails to show that here, too enamored of his subject to be objective. To tell a tale it is good to fixate some, but to make us understand the undercurrents that drove the show it is not good. Almost nothing about the economical conditions comes through. One really has a hard time from the book understanding how the break up of the Empire could last as long as it did before the Turks took over. And one hungers to know more about the parts of the Empire that went solo after the initial break up. For example I would have liked to know more about Mistra who is dealt with almost as an after thought. Yet, as a tale of despair and tragedy, as an example of how a great civilization slowly dies, Mr. Norwich narrative is excellent for our days when few people would bother reading Mr. Gibbons story. They might at least want to get the gossip from Mr. Norwich.
Rating:
Summary: A tale of woe
Review: Here we reach the sad conclusion to Mr. Norwich tale. And it is not pretty. Not only the story of missed opportunities and human greed, but the method of the tale. It still gets 4 stars because it is amusing to read, it gives us a simplified perspective of a rather complicated period and makes fell sad for the last defenders of Constantinople/Byzantium. But the book has methodological flaws. After the fall of Byzantium to the Crusaders, it became a minor power in the region. Whatever importance it had was due as much to its strong defenses as to the weakness of its opponents. When the first decided conqueror since the 4th crusade came, it fell as it should have felt earlier. It was clear that since 1214 Venice was the political and military heir of Byzantium. Mr. Norwich fails to show that here, too enamored of his subject to be objective. To tell a tale it is good to fixate some, but to make us understand the undercurrents that drove the show it is not good. Almost nothing about the economical conditions comes through. One really has a hard time from the book understanding how the break up of the Empire could last as long as it did before the Turks took over. And one hungers to know more about the parts of the Empire that went solo after the initial break up. For example I would have liked to know more about Mistra who is dealt with almost as an after thought. Yet, as a tale of despair and tragedy, as an example of how a great civilization slowly dies, Mr. Norwich narrative is excellent for our days when few people would bother reading Mr. Gibbons story. They might at least want to get the gossip from Mr. Norwich.
Rating: 
Summary: Addictive and fascinating
Review: I found the book incredibly inspiring and fascinating. Viscount Norwich manages to describe the last years of a once glorious empire, now languishing as a puppet state, torn by civil conflict and strife. By the time one finishes the book - there is no doubt: with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the world saw an end to the world's greatest and most influential civilisations: that of Rome and that of Byzantium. To anyone searching for the roots of Western Civilisation (Rome and Greece), this book is a "must-read".
Rating:
Summary: Masterfully written tale of a tragic forgotten empire.
Review: I have read all three volumes twice now. The second reading was even better than the first. Lord Norwhich writes his history in story form and consequently draws the reader in as if he is reading fiction. The story itself is one of triumph, incompetance and in the end a tragedy of epic proportions.
Rating: 
Summary: Pity about the facts
Review: John Julius Norwich possesses a mastery of the English language expressed in flowing descriptive prose which envelops the reader to the point that you almost feel you were there. Unfortunately he does so in apparent ignorance of any of the scholarship of the last twenty years, and indeed much of that since the Second World War. His treatment of major issues such as the development of Pronoia simply does not fit the facts, while the minor innacuracies cast by the wayside remove any remaining credibility. A good novel, but go to John Haldon for Byzantine History.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful reading !
Review: John Julius Norwich's Byzantine Trilogy, represents an intellectual product of the highest quality. Undoutedly, he is a charismatic writer with the capacity to transform a somewhat neglected and forgotten period of our human civilazation, into a delighful experience for his readres. Bravo !
Rating:
Summary: Worth buying for the footnotes alone!
Review: Others have written at length about the scholarship and erudition. The Byzantium trilogy is indeed an excellent addition to my history bookshelf. If you need any encouragement to buy it, then just read a couple of the footnotes: "neither the imperial army nor Alexius Comnenus [the Emperor] emerges with much credit from the bloodbath of Levunium." footnote: "Anna Comnena (in The Alexiad, a history) exonerates her father from any involvement in the massacre, but then she would, wouldn't she?" Or regarding the Emperors before Alexius Comnenus: "...Inflation, which had already begun under Michael VII, (footnote here), spiraled more dizzily than ever." Footnote; "He was popularly known as 'Parapinaces', or 'Minus-a-quarter', since the gold nomisma, after having remained stable for more than 500 years, was said to have lost a quarter of its value during his reign." On an imperial marriage, the footnote reads: "The marriage evoked 100 lines of peculiarly flatulent verse from Claudian, the Epithalamium ending with an affecting picture of an infant son sitting on his parents' knees. Maria is said, however, to have lived and died a virgin." I recommend this book, and the other two books (Byzantium: The Early Centuries, and Byzantium: The Apogee) highly. Read them. You won't be disappointed. I draw a parallel between the books and what Lord Norwich said about the Byzantine Emperors: "Some of these Emperors were heroes, others were monsters; but they were never, never dull."
Rating:
Summary: Worth buying for the footnotes alone!
Review: Others have written at length about the scholarship and erudition. The Byzantium trilogy is indeed an excellent addition to my history bookshelf. If you need any encouragement to buy it, then just read a couple of the footnotes: "neither the imperial army nor Alexius Comnenus [the Emperor] emerges with much credit from the bloodbath of Levunium." footnote: "Anna Comnena (in The Alexiad, a history) exonerates her father from any involvement in the massacre, but then she would, wouldn't she?" Or regarding the Emperors before Alexius Comnenus: "...Inflation, which had already begun under Michael VII, (footnote here), spiraled more dizzily than ever." Footnote; "He was popularly known as 'Parapinaces', or 'Minus-a-quarter', since the gold nomisma, after having remained stable for more than 500 years, was said to have lost a quarter of its value during his reign." On an imperial marriage, the footnote reads: "The marriage evoked 100 lines of peculiarly flatulent verse from Claudian, the Epithalamium ending with an affecting picture of an infant son sitting on his parents' knees. Maria is said, however, to have lived and died a virgin." I recommend this book, and the other two books (Byzantium: The Early Centuries, and Byzantium: The Apogee) highly. Read them. You won't be disappointed. I draw a parallel between the books and what Lord Norwich said about the Byzantine Emperors: "Some of these Emperors were heroes, others were monsters; but they were never, never dull."
Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING
Review: The author is not a professional historian. He does not know how to read the sources critically and is unable to select and reject the secondary literature, but he has a beautiful style, and if you're not too concerned with historical accuracy, it is a pleasing introduction to a fascinating subject. DOWN WITH GIBBON!
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