Conn Iggulden – The Conqueror Series

I keep getting deflected by other interests on the Internet but I really must get on with the Book reviews.

I have always been fascinated by the great generals of history. Genghis is perhaps one of the better known and it was a pleasure to pick this book up at a reasonable price.

To quote the front flap of the Hard Cover Edition:-

Genghis Khan is the powerful leader of a nation united from the tribes and victorious in the long war against the Chin, the Mongolians’ ancient fow. But now trouble arises from another direction. His embassies to the west are rebuffed, his ambassadors killed or mutilated.

So Genghis and his armies, led by his brothers and trusted generals, embark on their greatest journey, through present day Tibet, Iran and Iraq and on to the shores of the Mediterranean. Conquering city after city, one empire after another, by battle, by the siege warfare they have learnt from the Chin, by fear and by persuasion, the Mongolian power stretched over the entire region.

Genghis Khan conquered a greater empire than any other man. This achievement was made even more extraordinary as during these years, over these campaigns, his sons as well as his brothers were vying for his favour, for the right to lead the most successful of his armies, to bring in the greatest conquests, to achieve the succession.

He had already proved himself a great warrior. Now the challenge is to show himself as an outstanding ruler for his people and that rare leader, one who can manage his succession.

As Bones of the Hills (Conqueror 3)
reminds us, Iggulden is the real thing when it comes to historical story telling on the huge scale. Here, all of his distinctive skills are well to the front.

A boy was deserted in the wild by his tribe — but he didn’t die. As those Iggulden followers who have read Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror 1)
and Lords of the Bow
will know, this unlucky boy has grown into one of the most frightening and all-powerful figures in history, Genghis Khan.

He’s persuaded the tribes that had been pulling each other to pieces to dismiss their differences and combine under his leadership to fight their oldest foes. Under his remorseless (and ferociously Elysian) leadership, a powerful commonwealth has been fashioned.

This is only the start of his problems. Genghis Khan sends out envoys, but they are tortured and killed. He tries to open trade routes; his attempts are met with bloody rebuff. The Mongolian army is stretched to the furthest corners of Genghis Khans domain, and devastation looms.

This is heroic tale telling on a nigh-operatic scale. Conn Iggulden has long been the maestro of the broad brush stroke and brings up the ancient world with great elan.

Of course, the success of a book such as Bones of the Hills (Conqueror 3)
depends on the intense depiction of its heroic central character, and of the numerous novels which have tried to conquer Genghis Khan, none have got the hang of the task as well as Conn Iggulden.

Philip
Bones of the Hills (Conqueror 3)

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