Genghis: Lords of the Bow | Conn Iggulden

Genghis: Lords of the Bow | Conn Iggulden | Not quite as good as the first

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Genghis: Lords of ...

	Genghis: Lords of the Bow Conn Iggulden Delacorte Press, 2008 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A great series

Much like the Caeser series before, Conn Iggulden has managed for me to take some time out of my life and go to a place back in time where I feel part of the action. Having a B.A. in history, I appreciate a good history story where the author has filled in the patches. If you are a die-hard history fan who knows everything that there is to know about Mongol civilization, then save yourself the hassle. This book is for the people who liked the drama and story in movies like Gladiator, Troy, or Kingdom of Heaven. Conn Iggulden's stories have captivated me and I find it hard to stop reading once I start always telling myself, "one more chapter, then I'll go to bed," waking up at 3 in the morning with my face in the book of a chapter half read. I pay much more than the $15 this book is on amazon.com for other things to attract my attention in such a way.

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Not quite as good as the first

Although, I enjoyed this novel, I thought the first in the series was a bit better. This book bogged down in places. The author kept the story goin mainly by introducing interesting characters and fleshing out some of the existing characters. Not much actually happens otherwise.

Fun and engrossing

Good, tight plotting and writing. Great descriptions of battle and effective building of suspense and subplots. Characterization is fine; somewhat stereotypical but better than most novels like this. Read it to enjoy, not to learn.

Trivial Pursuit

After a great beginning with Volume One, I had high hopes for this novel and even bought the hardcover edition in my haste...Unfortunately, the author really loses focus here (something it generally takes series book #3 or #5 to attain!)...The story becomes absorbed with petty dealing and transparent conspiracies, as boring as they are predictable, completely undermining the sweep of historical force that was Genghis Khan...Stick with Cornwell.

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Action-packed, skim-the-surface novel does not demand immediate reread

I really, really want to adore Conn Iggulden's "Genghis" series. Iggulden is a talented, prolific writer, but as with his take on Julius Caesar, his "Genghis" series seems to be skimming along the surface of the legend of one of history's astounding characters.

The first novel saw the rise of Genghis from absolute despair to early triumphs. Iggulden's tale was evocative of the time and place of the Mongols' rugged, harsh homeland, and he captures the rigors of life on the plains and in the mountains incredibly well. And yet there were strange gaps in the story - such as virtually no discussion of the ponies that play such a huge part of the Mongols' story. It was an odd omission.

There's another similar omission with "Lords of the Bow" - there's virtually no discussion of archery! The Mongols may have been the greatest archers the world has ever seen, and Iggulden indeed shows the Mongols using the weapon to great effectiveness against the hated Chin armies. But again there's virtually no discussion of how a Mongol becomes such an amazing archer. When contrasted to Bernard Cornwell's treatment of a similar topic in his Grail Quest series ("The Archer's Tale," etc.), this omission is jarring. To be fair, Iggulden doesn't try to give the reader an honorary PhD and must sacrifice some worthy material for pacing, but largely ignoring the cultural side of horses and archery just ain't right.

For all that, Iggulden has written a fun, violent story - Genghis is marching against the Chin. Iggulden revels in scenes where scouts struggle over lethal mountain passes to circumvent Chin walls and in the slaughter of thousands in mighty battles. He has created some fun supporting characters to boot, not least a cunning shaman (is there any other kind?) who uses duplicity to get close to Genghis.

Read this for a lark - it'll do just fine.

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reviews: 1, page 2, 3, 4

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