This is an interesting book. There is just one problem: it is barely about the first great plague and the end of the Roman Empire.
This book works well as an overview of Justinian’s world and goes in depth into his reconquests of lost Roman lands, the architectural wonders of Constantinople, and the Empire’s political and religious tensions. However, if you picked up this 324 page book hoping for what the title promises, expect to be frustrated at the lack of any plague discussion at all until page 163, and even then, a significant portion of the remaining text is devoted strictly to explaining raw microbiology before interspersing the plague’s relevance to Justinian’s empire with additional asides about military campaigns, Persia, the historical and economic importance of Chinese silk, and Byzantine politics.
Again, once I got through the dense marathon of military history that pads the first half of this book, it became a much easier and more interesting read. I certainly learned a lot along the way, but almost none of it was what I hoped and wanted to learn from this book based on the exciting promise offered in the title and blurb.
If you want to learn about the 6th century world, I would definitely recommend this book. If you want to learn about how the first great plague ended the Roman Empire, this book offers crumbs.
The Once and Future Lit 