Justinian: The Sleepless One

by Ross Laidlaw

Nephew of a semi-literate peasant, Justinian I was one of the most fascinating of the Roman emperors. His reign marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his prolific building works yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, which remains the third largest church in Christendom. Although he never took part in military campaigns personally he managed to expand considerably the Eastern Roman Empire's territory. Justinian's wife Theodora, daughter of a bear keeper and former prostitute, was his partner in one of the greatest love stories in history. After her early death—in her forties—Justinian was devastated and sought oblivion in work, becoming known as the Emperor who never sleeps.

Genres: Historical Fiction

322 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2010

About the author

Ross Laidlaw is a Scottish writer of historical, thriller and spy fiction.

Laidlaw was born in Aberdeen and now lives in East Lothian. He attended the University of Cambridge and has spent time working and traveling in southern Africa. In 1979, while working as a geography and history teacher at Belhaven Hill School near Dunbar, Laidlaw's first book was released, The Lion is Rampant, receiving significant praise. He has since released five more books with the most recent being Justinian: The Sleepless One which was released in 2010.

Reviews

[Ireney Berezniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Justinian: The Sleepless One is a mixed bag: an uneven narrative and spotty character development, blessed with fine research of the period. As a work of fiction, this title was a failure partially redeemed by the richness of historical detail contained within. No romantic depictions of "leaves rustling in the wind" will be found here; rather, this title reads more like a non-fictional treatise on the tribulations of Justinian and the empire in his charge, complete with footnotes and references. The title had me so confused, that I was not entirely certain whether I had been reading fiction or not until I reached the author's historical notes and appendices, which explained his fictional plots.

Having said this, I generally did enjoy this title despite its shortcomings. The story of Justinian, Theodora, the great general Belisarius, and the resurgent Roman Empire of 500 AD is the stuff of legend. Much non-fiction had been written on the time period and key players of the era, but the fiction has been rather sparse, particularly on the subject of Justinian. Here, the author does succeed in presenting the contradictory persona of Justinian: leader of a great empire set on restoring it to its former glory, yet not a leader of men as such; sometimes confident, great builder and able, if not brilliant, administrator, other times riddled with insecurities and self-doubt; at times a visionary rewriting the Roman law which still forms the basis of law in many modern state, but often close-minded, failing to see the benefits of printed press, opting to preserve the livelihoods of legions of scribes instead.

However, while the title of the novel leads the reader to believe it to be focused on the famous emperor alone, the reality is that other characters commandeer just as much attention. The character of Theodora, Justinian's wife, sees a fair share of ink spilled on her subject, as does Belisarius, the great general who did much to restore the Roman territory and defend her easter borders. A number of auxiliary or random characters are also injected periodically, presumably to provide more colour and "fiction", resulting instead in broken pace and flow more often than not.

While not a great novel, Justinian: The Sleepless One did entertain me. I haven't particularly enjoyed Laidlaw's skills of a novelist, but I did appreciate the meticulousness of a historian, or at least someone who clearly enjoys history. As such, at some point I will undoubtedly read Laidlaw's other historical works, Theoderic and Attila: The Scourge of God. However, these will have to wait, as priority will be given to worthier titles, judging by the quality of this one.

[Evan Quinlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book massages a wealth of historical facts, ideas, and possibilities into an easily digestible narrative. The journey through Justinian's reign flows smoothly and coherently, and concepts normally found only in histories and scholarly works are presented within the context of a compelling story. As someone interested in Byzantine history, I felt this book rounded out my education by giving me a more personal view of the characters and events of the period.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's dry. Ross Laidlaw can't seem to make up his mind as to whether the book is a history book of a poorly-written historical novel When it's a novel the characters are cardboard cut-outs. When it's a history book it's dry and, according to Laidlaw's own admission, inaccurate since he's compressed events to make the whole thing more dramatic.
Sorry, Mr Laidlaw, but this was a desert of a read..

[Dugy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice novel based for the greater part on historical facts about Justinian not solely as an emperor but also as a man. Care is given also to highlight important figures in his life such as his wife Theodora and the general Belisarius.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

On one hand this book offers a solid account of the Justinianic period, taking in all the major people, places and events of the time.

On the other it is also crippled by stilted writing, shallow characters and some pretty glaring anachronisms (Narses starts talking about the merits of Blitzkrieg, while a Chinese sage is described as speaking Mandarin, to name a few).

The story arc starts off promising, takes a gigantic dip, then seems to rise again but ends anticlimactically. The last two chapters were sad to say pretty bad. The bit where a very elderly Justinian travels with a Chinese sage who teaches him about Buddhism and introduces him to a religious debate commune was a creative liberty taken just a bit too far!