Rating: 
Summary: Great Read
Review: Lawhead makes you part of the adventure and you feel as if you are part of the crew. Highly recommended to all types of readers.
Rating:
Summary: Great, quick read
Review: I thought the book was great. It's a little graphic in a few places. I wouldn't recommend it kids certainly. And it isn't light reading. But it's a great adventure and a real page-turner. I thought it take me 6 months to read an 890 page book, but it only took 2-3 weeks.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Historical Fiction
Review: I haven't read a lot of historical fiction, but I have an interest in Celtic and Viking cultures and history, so I gave "Byzantium" a try. Lawhead's book is a great mix of action, mystery, humor, anthropology, and theology. The book is epic in scope, and there are a lot of interesting plot twists in its nearly 900 pages. Lawhead does a great job of portraying a variety of setting and cultures -- Irish, Viking, Byzantine, Saracen. I read the first half of the book while on a trip to Scandinavia, and Lawhead's Viking characters helped bring to life the sites I visited. My only complaint with the novel is that the hero's spiritual struggle, while incredibly realistic and authentic, was paced poorly at times. I can't say anything more about this without giving away the plot, but the pacing of this struggle is the reason I gave the book 4 and not 5 stars. I've noticed that most of the historical fiction in my local Christian book store seems a bit too, well, romantic for my tastes. "Byzantine" is much closer to what I look for in Christian fiction. It's a great book.
Rating:
Summary: re: fantastic
Review: I just finished reading "Byzantium". It was so good, I could barely stand to put it down. It's refreshingly accurate in its history, although the characters are fictional. There was a real St. Aidan of Eire, but as far as I know, he never left the British Isles.
I found this book both humorous and serious at once! Lawhead is a clever master of dialogue and description. The passages in which the Danes encounter Byzantium and intend to plunder it had me laughing out loud, while at the same time, I knew they were being serious ...
This is a very well written book (a few misplaced commas, but those can be forgiven), and I recommend it highly! It definitely got me thinking about my own faith.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be better
Review: The historical fiction regular reader will know at once what kind of story this is. Similar to Aztec, The physician, Pillars of the Earth. However, Lawhead's style is slower and lacks a bit of action. Sometimes the plot seems to be crawling endlessly to nowhere, the passages are obvious and the reader just doesn't care about the characters. Aidan is the irish monk who is sent to Byzantium to deliver a gift to the Emperor Basil. There are other reasons for this trip, but since the story is given on first-person basis, what Aidan doesn't know the reader won't know either. Aidan is a character whose propension to doing good is so huge that sometimes it's irritating. Lawhead tried to add some depth to his character, making him loose his faith in God, but this part of Aidan's story was very poorly developed. Even some love scenes are thrown in in the middle of the book (between an irish monk and an arab female!), but they are tedious, even embarassing. Byzantium is, to conclude, an interesting book that must not be taken too seriously. And don't be scared by the size of the book, it is a very fast reading.
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: This book was excellent. Historically acurate in every detail, while remaining both fresh and entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: This is another must for all you medieval/ Celtic lovers out there. :) Lawhead once again opens up a world long forgotten and puts fact and history into the context of a thrilling story. Not as good as Merlin (my fav out of Lawheads Pendragon Cycle) but still a wonderful book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Byzantium
Review: Lawhead tells no finer story like an anciet bard. You will get catch up in the adventures of this young monk. The books has it all: adventure, pirates, love, horses, spies, far-away lands, and many things that any 13 year-old would love. It is so full of adventure I am suprised that Hollywood has not made it into a movie yet. I can not recommend this book highly enough. Read and you too will see for yourself and recommend it to everyone you met.
Rating:
Summary: When monks leave the monastery
Review: This book is a great read. It is worth every one of its 870 pages. I will not give away much about the story, as some reviewers have done, but I will say that if you have ever had an inkling about something greater guiding life, this book will thrill you. Please note, that you have to read the entire book to get the beauty of it. This book reminds us that even things that we know for certain, like death, can come about in ways we do not expect.
Rating: 
Summary: Platic Characters and boring plot
Review: The writing was plastic, the story told with out any emotion, the characters were thinner than a piece of paper. The book is light summer reading at best. I was disappointed and found the lack of depth in all areas of the book. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Read Lonesome Dove if you want a real adventure or read Byzantium by Norwich if you want to learn something about the place. But don't bother with this book.
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