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    Anna of Byzantium
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    Anna of Byzantium
    Unavailable
    Anna of Byzantium
    Ebook200 pages3 hours

    Anna of Byzantium

    By Tracy Barrett

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    For fans of Joan of Arc and Alexander the Great, comes "a gripping saga of alliances, intrigues, deceits, and treacheries" about Anna Comnena of the Byzantine Empire.

       Anna Comnena has every reason to feel entitled. She's a princess, her father's firstborn and his chosen successor. Someday she expects to sit on the throne and rule the vast Byzantine Empire. So the birth of a baby brother doesn't perturb her. Nor do the "barbarians" from foreign lands, who think only a son should ascend to power. Anna is as dismissive of them as are her father and his most trusted adviser--his mother, a manipulative woman with whom Anna studies the art of diplomacy. Anna relishes her lessons, proving adept at checkmating opponents in swift moves of mental chess. But as she matures into a young woman, her arrogance and intelligence threaten her grandmother. Anna will be no one's puppet. Almost overnight, Anna sees her dreams of power wrenched from her and bestowed on her little brother. Bitter at the betrayal, Anna waits to avenge herself, and to seize what is rightfully hers.

    Praise for Anna of Byzantium:
    A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
    An ALA Quick Pick
    An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
    A Booklist Editor's Choice
    A Booklist Top Ten Historical Fiction Pick

    [STAR] "[Anna of Byzantium] involves readers in a gripping saga of alliances, intrigues, deceits, and treacheries worthy of a place among the tragic myths." — The Bulletin, Starred review

    "In the tradition of E. L. Konigsburg's A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver and Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy comes this story of a real-life historical figure, Anna Commena, groomed to be the sovereign of the Byzantine empire…Barrett uses an effective first-person narrative to draw readers into Anna's story, and the author's precise use of detail helps re-create Anna's world, the palace of Constantinople in the ninth century. . . Readers will be caught up in…this exciting read."—Booklist, Boxed review

    "A fascinating mix of history, mystery, and intrigue."-The Horn Book Magazine

     "Barrett does a remarkable job of painting moods and emotions with spare, elegant sentences. . . This splendid novel about a neglected period of history is the perfect choice. . . Hard to imagine it being any better written." —VOYA

    "This wonderfully engaging novel both entertains and serves as a lively history lesson with its well-researched background, dramatic plot and dimensional characters. Barrett's descriptive, engaging prose will draw readers into a fascinating historical time, filled with political intrigue and a complex, admirable teen protagonist who faces her changing future with an inspiring combination of heart and mind."— Wichita Eagle
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom House Publishing Group
    Release dateApr 13, 2011
    ISBN9780307789006
    Unavailable
    Anna of Byzantium
    Author

    Tracy Barrett

    Tracy Barrett writes both fiction and nonfiction set in the ancient and medieval past, as well as contemporary novels, for middle-grade and young-adult audiences. Her titles include the popular Sherlock Files series, as well as the award-winning Anna of Byzantium, Dark of the Moon (starred review, Kirkus), King of Ithaka (starred review, SLJ), and others. She loves traveling, and speaking to groups of students, teachers, and librarians.

    Read more from Tracy Barrett

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    Reviews for Anna of Byzantium

    3.5/5

    94 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is an..introduction...to Princess Anna Comnenus (about whom I knew nothing.)Written for the YA reader (but I quite enjoyed it, aged nearly 60!) it evokes the Byzantine palace pretty well, and gives an impression of her hatred for her younger brother (who gets the crown when she had hoped for it)After seeking to poison him, she spends the rest of her life condemned to a convent- where she wrote a memoir of her late father, The Alexiad.But checking her life story, there are unanswered gaps. Younger brother John (a spoilt and hateful chid here) became a much-loved king. Anna's incarceration (here occurring when she's still a teen) was actually after several years marriage and several children...So the jury's out on the details...but an interesting read that certinly introduces the characters..
    • 2/5
      Anna of Byzantium is loosely based on a historical figure, but I found her narrative voice in the first half of this book excruciatingly boring. The pace of the plot picked up about halfway through, and I ceased to be annoyed by the dryness of the tone, but overall it was not a great read. The main reason that I finished it is that I was pinned to the bed (by a nursing baby) and never got around to picking up another book in between nursing sessions.

      That said, it did improve significantly in the last part of the book, and the history was good. I read the author bio in the back just after finishing it, which told me that this was the author's first novel. For a first effort, it was pretty good, but still the narrative voice wasn't engaging enough for me.
    • 4/5
      I am too easily swayed to write a coherent review of this book, but I have been interested in the Crusades and this drew my attention. I would like to learn more about the Comnena family and this was a good start.
    • 3/5
      A story giving flesh to the historical character of Anna of Byzantium. Yes, it's historical fiction and liberties were taken with the characters, but overall I found it fairly interesting. The Byzantine empire isn't something I'm terribly familiar with, but this book definitely piqued my interest in it. I also enjoyed the references made to classical myths my Anna's teacher. Always fun to see classics at work. I enjoy reading books like this based on lesser known historical characters. We get caught up on the same few "big" characters of the past that so many other interesting people get overlooked. I'm happy to see fiction like this in the young adult section, letting children know about these lesser known figures like Anna.That being said, I really disliked Anna. She's the main character and I suppose as such you're supposed to empathize with her and see things from her perspective, but I had trouble as seeing her as anything more than a spoiled brat who was trying to play a game that she didn't realize the rules of. Maybe I just got off on the wrong foot with her in the beginning chapters, after all, my first impression was of her whining about how horrible her life was and how everyone was against her and couldn't understand her. She's a spoiled princess. Instead I really enjoyed the character of her brother John. Sure he did some pretty bratty things, but somehow I doubt that Anna would have hesitated to do those same things if she had been in position to do so. Despite his dyslexia, John truly learns to play the game of politics and not only wins his way to the throne but also outmaneuvers the ruthless grandmother. He did what Anna tried to do but better, and in the end he proves to be a good person. True, Anna did redeem herself somewhat by the time the narration returns to her in the convent, but I still feel that on some level she was still the spoiled princess.
    • 4/5
      I love this book because the author purposely portrays the main character, Anna Comnena, in a way that makes the reader hate her. She is spoiled, arrogant, cold, and power hungry above all else.A great work of character development, the reader sees her gradually change over the years.This is a sad and powerful story, with rich detail about the historical setting of Byzantium.I loved this book!
    • 3/5
      I liked this book mostly because I enjoyed learning about Anna Comnena. I thought it was very straight forward and easy to follow. Not a challenging read for most middle school readers, but a good introduction to the Byzantine Empire and the lives of royal families of the time.
    • 4/5
      As a young girl, Anna Comnena has many qualities most young women of our times would envy: she is very sure of herself, intelligent and a young beauty. More than that, she’s also a princess designated as successor to her father to rule on the Byzantine Empire. Too perfect to be true? Certainly. Very soon, Anna’s arrogance costs her everything she has ever hoped for.The novel is a short, fast-paced read with an unusual heroine. It is interesting to read about a young girl with such a self-confidence, who wishes for power and vengence and finally learns a little bit more about life through her failure. The author certainly keeps it interesting, although the conclusion of the book seemed a little long considering the length of the book (a small 199 pages). We very seldomely read about the Byzantine Empire, and although the author took some liberties with the history, it is a refreshing setting.
    • 5/5
      A quick, easy, and colorful read. I have never read anything involving the Byzantine Empire and this book just whetted my appetite for it. While it is very fictionalized, it is still an excellent story, both for young and adult readers.
    • 2/5
      Reviewed Dec. 2000 I knew almost nothing about this time in history, so I was excited to read Asimov's version of this time. Asimov feels that Anna's "horrible" brother John whom she tries to kill is actually a fine king. The author took quite a few liberties with the history of this young girl. She does admit in the end the true history of Anne. I think I would have liked to have seen a bit more history of the Crusades and the cruelty associated with it. 24-2000
    • 5/5
      Loved it. A quick read that made me easily imagine being with Anna.