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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
relaxing
fast-paced
One of my favourite books of all time. Sure, I’m a bit biased, being a Byzantine nerd, but I have a feeling that out of all books that I read on this topic, this would still reign supreme. The balance between the author’s travelogue perspective and tales of ancient glory was perfect. Fidler’s narrative voice was also very comfy. I love this book so much.
I don't think I've read an historical account of a city which goes between the history and a holiday the author went on, but I loved it. It kept me engaged and linked the historical events and structures with the modern city of Istanbul.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
I enjoyed the travelogue sections about the author and his son in Istanbul, some of the anecdotes of various historical figures, and of course the siege of Constantinople at the end.
The book covers a very long time period (roughly 1000 years), so it gets fairly repetitive with "Emperor X comes to power, reconquers Rome's old provinces of Italy/Spain/North Africa, loses them again due to incompetence/wars/misfortune". I realize that is what historically happened, but without having any interesting stories or details about the people during those time periods the pacing of the book dragged in these sections.
The book covers a very long time period (roughly 1000 years), so it gets fairly repetitive with "Emperor X comes to power, reconquers Rome's old provinces of Italy/Spain/North Africa, loses them again due to incompetence/wars/misfortune". I realize that is what historically happened, but without having any interesting stories or details about the people during those time periods the pacing of the book dragged in these sections.