Agent of Byzantium

Agent of Byzantium is a collection of short stories that take place in an alternate timeline where the Byzantine Empire did not fall.  The book takes place around 1300 AD and follows one particular citizen who works as sort of a James Bond-esque character for the government.  The stories are certainly interesting and definitely left me wanting more.

The book starts with an introduction by Isaac Asimov where he discusses his love of alternate history stories.  He talks about how he would like to see one where Einstein's letter to Roosevelt arrived a day later.  This would put its arrival on Pearl Harbor Day when a response probably would have been delayed or lost in the shuffle.  I thought that that was a really interesting idea and it was nice to read Asimov's reasoning behind "presenting" this book.

The part of history that is changed so that the Empire never fell is that Mohammed, instead of founding Islam, converted to Christianity and became a Christian saint.  With this change, the Muslims never become a significant military force and never pressure the Empire.  In addition, this means that the Persian Empire never fell either.  This means that, throughout the book, Byzantium and Persia are engaged in a cold war.  This matters more in some of the stories than others.

Each of the stories basically has a gimmick, some (more) modern invention that is discovered by the protagonist that shapes the story.  In one, he finds a telescope and another has him finding a printing press, among several other stories.  I understand that that was a nice gimmick that allowed even someone without a strong grasp of history to be involved in the story because they could recognize the modern inventions.  However, I cannot help but feel that this at least somewhat implies that technology would have progressed faster without Islam, which is not a sentiment that I like as much.

It was interesting to read this so close to the end of the Mongoliad because they take place in similar time frames and it was exciting to see some of the similar things between the stories (though Mongoliad had much better combat).  In this book, the protagonist spends some time living among the mongols which resembled some of Gansukh's chapters in Mongoliad.

There is certainly nothing wrong with the stories in this book.  The biggest problem is that there are only five.  I wish that the book had been either a full novel rather than short stories or at least a lead in to a larger exploration to this alternate timeline.  Sadly, Mr. Turtledove has not done any such thing (at least not yet).

Overall, I would give this book an 87%.