The period seems to have been as catastrophic in the East as the 5th century was in the West (the populations of imperial cities just collapsed). So, I'll give one a try and see what it's like. I now understand Sean Gabb has written a number of novels in 7th century Rome and Byzantium, under the pseudonym Richard Blake, which have had some good reviews. Heraclius was going to be the main protagonist and I was considering a POV for Muawiya. I briefly flirted with writing a super accurate historical novel about this period myself, and still have a draft of half a chapter which was going to be a prologue and featured Phocas marching to Constantinople to overthrow Maurice. It is the earliest account of the great war between Islam, on the one hand, and Rome and Persia on the other, and it also has good coverage of the 602-628 Romano-Persian war. So not a novel but the Armenian history by pseudo-Sebeos with the commentary by James Howard-Johnston is amazing. I have suffered similar disappointments with novels set during the crusades. It is disappointing because there is so much untapped potential. Count Belisarius also sets a very high standard. I'm always on the look out for novels about Byzantium in particular, but I usually end up staying away because they never look promising.
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