Books about women from history should be more prevalent and popular. Kolovou has written an extraordinary history and I learned so much. I love history but I'm not a medievalist so a lot of this was new information. I can't really give any criticism on the content and the writing was easy to follow but some of it could have been improved for clarity. The quality is equal to other books from this publisher.

Anna Komnene and the Alexiad was an exciting and readable account of a 12th century Byzantine Princess and the times in which she lived. Actually, Anna was born in the 11th century and was a teenager when the first Crusade came, so it really spanned two centuries.

I admit to my shame that I have not yet read the Alexiad, Anna's famous work of history. After this, I have no excuse. The author does more than just explore the background of that work though, she has written a full length biography of Anna. A remarkable woman who was educated to a level which surpassed most of her contemporaries. She studied the Trivium (Grammar, Rhetoric and logic) and other subjects, her love of books led her to devour Aristotle as well as the works of ancient philosphers.

The big question, which some who know more about Anna might as is did she really plot against and try to kill her brother? Did she actually attempt to sieze power for herself in a coup? Ms Kolovou seems to think this did not happen, or if it did it should be placed in the context of the times: when internicene strife could lead to murderous divisions in families.
The evidence suggests Anna loved her family, and her parents and siblings. They were not just some Game of Thrones-esque warring dynasty.

The prejudice of 19th century scholars prevented Anna's work from being appreciated as it should have been. They wrote her off as a bitter old woman in exile looking back on better days. They also despised the Byzantines as a whole, but thankfully that began to change in the course of the 20th century and Anna is being seen with fresh eyes. New editions of her Alexiad have bought her writing to a new generation, and books like this are the perfect companion.

Thanks to Pen and Sword Books for approving my request for this title. This did not influence my review, and all opinions are my own and freely given.

I have often read many books about Anna Kommena who a princess and a female Byzantine writer. However, this new biography did not have any new information about the princess. Also, the author usually digress from her subject and goes off-topic. Thus, it was not well-written and could have been shorter. Still, I recommend this for anyone who do not know much about this intriguing Byzantine princess.

If you are at all like me in your knowledge of Byzantine princesses, you might vaguely recall that Anna Komnene was a highly-educated, wannabe-throne-stealing, plotting-against-her-brother kind of princess.

You, like me, would also be wrong.

It's not that I really gave much thought to these characterizations. I knew very little about Anna except for the mentions I had come across on texts relating to the First Crusade.

It shames me a bit that it has taken me so long to learn more about this incredible woman, living in an extraordinary time.

Here the author goes to great lengths to paint as accurate a portrait of Anna as possible. The amount of research that went into this book is staggering. She peels away the layers of misogyny and misrepresentation that have come to define Anna over the centuries as a bitter woman who coveted the throne that belonged to her brother. By placing Anna and her life in its proper context, that of the world of an eleventh century princess, the real Anna comes to life.

Anna was something men all throughout history have feared time and again - a highly educated woman who knew her worth, trusted her own intellect, and carried herself with dignity.

I found that my own lack of prior knowledge did not hamper me in any way from understanding Anna's world and how she fit into. The author does a fantastic job in recreating this world for the reader, in great depth - sometimes almost too much. We learn of her birth and childhood, as well as her all-important education. Anna was no lazy princess, but a seriously gifted and intelligent young woman who we might wish had been born a few centuries later, so we could know her ourselves. My favorite parts were hearing from Anna herself, in her own words. The author makes good use of primary sources.

The author sets the stage well. It was quite easy to lose myself in the grandeur, the dazzling and dizzying world of medieval Byzantium - and of course Constantinople in particular.

It is a wish of the author that those who read this text and learn more about Anna, would in turn look at the Alexiad with new eyes and a deeper understanding of the woman who wrote it. By the time Anna was at work on what would be her greatest achievement, she was retired to a nunnery, though was not a nun herself. Alexios' death in 1118 set off a mad scramble to secure the throne and it is at that point historians insist Anna attempted to steal the throne from her brother. Whatever her role in any conspiracy, the author points out that Anna was not actually forced to live in the convent.

I have not yet tackled the Alexiad, though my interest is renewed now that I have a better understanding of the politics of Constantinople and its people at the time.

Recommended.

At times Komnene’s life reads like a soap opera: feuding families, alliances, and coups. While the subject matter is interesting, the delivery sometimes misses the mark.

The author does an excellent job of remaining impartial about Komnene’s family by citing and quoting additional references so we get a more well rounded perception of each person’s values, strengths, and faults. However the author neglects to humanize Komnene and makes the historical figure appear too idyllic at times.
This could perhaps be due to the fact she existed a very long time ago, and it is hard to say with utmost certainty what Anna was like. Sure she had many accomplishments, but it would have been better to include her struggles or occasional character flaws too.

At a certain point I didn’t care for the immense detail provided on Anna’s family lineage, I don’t need to know who her third cousins are in order to understand and appreciate her life story. Overall a good read, although at times a bit slow and overly descriptive for a non-historian like myself.

I love to read about history but had never heard of Anna Komnene and couldn't wait to read it.I found it easy to read and while I wish it had a little more detail I really liked it.

I really loved this book! Anna Komnene was a woman who was underrated for her time. Women have not been given the proper due through the ages through history. While we are aware and know of them, we have not necessarily given them the deep dive and scrutiny that they deserve.

Anna Konmene was a powerhouse, and she deserves so much more attention than what she has been given this far. I could not believe how much I discovered about her, and so much of what I did not know, was laid out in an easy to read manner, that was not confusing or too jumpy to follow. Loulia Kolovou did a fabulous job with this piece, and I look forward to seeing what they publish next!

Ioulia Kolovou transports the reader to medieval Byzantium in Anna Komnene and the Alexiad and looks at the role of Byzantium's only female historian. This is an insightful and well-researched look into an interesting side of history.

A look at her life that went into her 15 volume homage to the Iliad. A biography and events that went into her work. Do get some passages from the book throughout.

Anna Komnene was an exceptional princess and woman of her time. She wrote the "Alexiad" which is the only account of the first crusade in Greek. However, because she was educated, strong, intelligent, and published the men of her day hated her, wrote terrible untrue things about her, and insisted she hide her self away in a nunnery which is what you did to princesses and women you could not kill in the Byzantine era. I had never heard of Anna and I enjoy books about the medieval period so this was a treat. I was a little confused by all the names and characters but since I know very little about the Byzantine period I guess that is understandable. It was good to read about something different than the usual European history. This lady was amazing. Maybe I will take up the Alexiad and the crusades. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read about Anna in exchange for a review.

Ioulia Kolovou has written a fascinating history/biography about Anna Komnene and the Alexiad which she wrote about her father the Byzantine emperor Alexios at the time of the first crusade. Anna is the only Byzantine female historian whose work has survived to give us a unique view of Constantinople from the view of the Greeks and not the crusaders. As an imperial princess wed to another imperial relative she was at the heart of imperial power and intrigue. As well she was uniquely well educated in the classical manner. Ms. Kolovou gives a balanced account of Anna's life and scholarly work. Great feminist historical read.

First sentence: Anna Komnene is one of the most intriguing figures in the history of an intriguing empire. The Eastern Roman Empire, as it was properly called, or Byzantine, as it is mostly known, took over from Rome in 330 AD and flourished for over a thousand year until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Anna was an imperial princess, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) and his wife, Empress Eirene Doukaina. A woman of extraordinary education and intellect, Anna Komnene is the only Byzantine female historian and one of the first and foremost historians in medieval Europe.

Premise/plot: Kolovou offers readers a new biography of Anna Komnene, author of The Alexiad. The book focuses on Anna's life as a daughter, granddaughter, sister, wife, mother princess, scholar, author, historian, and nun. (Though she only became a nun her last day of life.) What was it like to be born into a newly royal family? What was it like to be the first born? What were her parents like as rulers and as parents? What was family life like? What things would she have learned? How extraordinary were her circumstances? How did she feel about her siblings? Did she truly hate her brother the heir-apparent? Did she love her husband? Was she a good mother? How did she feel about the first and second crusade? What were her impressions of individual crusaders? What can we learn about the times by reading her book? What contexts are necessary to understand it? What kind of legacy did she leave behind? Why has she been so misunderstood throughout the centuries? How much can we actually know about her?

This book aims to present Anna Komnene, the fascinating woman, pioneer intellectual, and charismatic author to the general public. Drawing on original medieval Greek texts as well as on the latest academic research to reconstruct Anna’s life, personality, and work, it moves away from the myth of Anna the conspirator and ‘power-hungry woman’which has been unfairly built around her over centuries of misrepresentation. At the same time, it places Anna Komnene in the context of her own time, the medieval Eastern Roman Empire, known as Byzantium for its capital city, the ancient Greek colony and later magnificent city of Constantinople.



My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed this one! I did. I said YES on a whim. If you'd asked me before I wouldn't have said that the Byzantine empire was high on my list of interests...but it sounded intriguing to me. I liked the idea of reading about a female historian, one of the earliest. I liked the idea of spending time in the company of someone who LOVED to learn and valued education and knowledge. My curiosity was rewarded. I am glad I read it. I'm not sure there's a huge audience for this one. It isn't your typical beach read, your light and fluffy cozy mystery, your bodice-ripping romance. But I don't usually go for typical when I'm seeking my next book.

I thought the book was mostly clear. It includes a glossary of characters at the beginning. The chapters aren't always strictly chronological. Sometimes things are a bit messy here-and-there--topics get mentioned more than once. But. The chapters do have an arrangement--a progression of how she is presented and to be understood.

Whilst a little prior knowledge would be suggested, it is not necessary. Anyone with an interest in Byzantium, female historians, notable women, will find this to be a welcome addition to their own libraries.

Kolovou discusses Anna's family (important in the scheme of things), her birth, childhood, education, marriage - all though in the context of her father's reign as Emperor. Throughout, Kovolou uses many sources (including Anna's own words), not just those previously favoured by Western writers, to give a more rounded picture of Anna. Kovolou also addresses ambiguous passages or prior critiques of The Alexiad, and sets them up in the context that they were not only originally written but also according to Anna's own education and scholastic reading. Yes there were times when the author mentioned "more of that later" - only to indicate that the current discussion would not be derailed by going off topic midway through to pick up on something that would be presented in more detail - and in context - later on the book.

Most readers of The Alexiad pick up this tome for Anna's detail on the First Crusade - and as has been mentioned, it is the only Greek source available. I myself was tempted on more than one occasion to pick up my copy of The Alexiad and read it in conjunction with Kovolou's work - indeed, the author says at the end that it is her hope that the reader will do just that!

With a glossary of terms, maps, family trees a timeline for Anna herself, and an easy narrative, the reader will have no trouble following the story of this remarkable woman and her creation - The Alexiad.

<b>INTRIGUING SUBJECT WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BETTER</b>

Having a master's degree in Medieval History means that I knew about Anna as well as the Alexiad. She was one of those Unicorn women in medieval history, who wrote acclaimed works. Not many others could say the same, so she has always intrigued me. For that reason I was very much looking forward to this book and to learning more about her and her life.

<b>👍 WHAT I LIKED 👍</b>

<u>Subject</u>: Anna Komnene is a fascinating woman who dared go outside the norm of her time. For that she has been misconstrued ever since. She has been proclaimed a bitter, self-absorbed woman just because she dared enter a mans world. I was very pleased that Kolovou took a stab at rehabilitating her and restoring her good name.

<b>👎 WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE 👎</b>

<u>Confusing</b>: In medieval Byzantine children were named after their grandparents or parents. That means that there are a lot of actors in this book with the same name. Kolovou even notes on the difficulty of this, but she still doesn't make it any easier for herself or her readers. There were definitely some actors who didn't need to be there and much could have been done with alternate names. It would have made this a lot less confusing.

<u>Ahead of herself</u>: Too often the author got ahead of herself and started on a part of the story before she herself was even ready to tell it. Because of this the phrase 'as we will see later on' (and other such phrases) was littered throughout this book, creating an inconsistent reading flow.

The fascinating and interesting story of a Byzantine character I didn't know.
It's well researched, fascinating and I liked the style of writing.
A good and informative read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Anna Komnene was a Byzantine Princess but so much more, she was a scholar, historian and even a doctor and hospital administrator. She led an amazing life, especially for a woman of the late 1000s and early 1100s. History has written her story differently than Ioulia Kolovou shows her in this book. However, the author has taken great pains to share her extensive research with us. They say history is written by the victorious and that is often the case when men are writing the story of such a strong woman. I hadn't known anything about this amazing woman before picking up this book. I only gave the book 3 stars because I did truly enjoy it and learn from it, however, it didn't flow smoothly for me. However, I received my copy from #NetGalley as an unedited draft for my honest review. I hope that by publication the little issues I had will be corrected and I hope you enjoy #AnnaKomneneandtheAlexiad.