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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
`The world will hear my name.', April 4, 2008
In this second novel in `The Conqueror' series, the metamorphosis of Temujin of the Wolves into Genghis Khan is completed. Gathering the tribes is the first step towards Genghis building a nation which he will then lead against the fortress nation of the Chin.
This is an epic story magnificently written. From the beginning, as Genghis seeks to unify the tribes as one nation, we can sense the magnitude of the task ahead. The Mongolian tribes are people of the plains, fighters on horseback and nomadic in lifestyle. Their greatest strengths are their capacity to move quickly, their iron discipline and their skill with the bow. To prevail against the Chin, they need to travel vast distances over desert, cross inhospitable mountains, and deal with complex fortifications.
Tackling these challenges and keeping the nation together in a strange environment presents new challenges for Genghis. The success of this campaign depends on his ability to effectively govern the tribes, manage his own generals, mediate between his ambitious brothers and deal with his own feelings. The transition from young warrior to conqueror of nations is not easy, and is not without cost.
`Some of you will die, but the sky father loves the warrior spirit and you will be welcomed.'
This is a deeply satisfying novel. If the first novel gave us the boy who would become the man, then this novel gives us a sense of both the conqueror himself and the challenges of command. The fiction is largely supported by the known history and will provide a wonderful adjunct to those interested in this period.
`We ride because we have the strength to rule.'
I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good sequel to birth of an empire, March 25, 2008
This is a good and solid sequel to the author's Birth of an Empire, which recounted the life of Temujin up to the merging of the tribes. In Lords of the Bow, the tribes are united (some with more enthusiasm than others) under Temujin, and the first steps towards an empire are taken. The Xi Xia to the south and the Chin to the east are conquered.
There are good descriptions of the culture shock that greets the Mongols when they come upon the stone-walled cities of the Chinese, the permanent houses, the writing, the caltrops which can wreak havoc upon horsemen, and writing. You get a good feel for the problems with communication over distance, Temujin's reluctance to leave any living enemies behind him when he advances, and the Mongol style of warfare.
Birth of an Empire had Temujin as the dominant central figure: you saw the forces that shaped him. In Lords of the Bows, Temujin is still, of course, the dominant figure, but the novel spends more time with his brothers than with Temujin himself. In a way this is good: you get to see more details of life. But in another way, it may not be so good: there is something to be said perhaps for seeing things through Temujin's eyes, and seeing them through his ears, so to speak. Unlike Birth of an Empire, Temujin is no longer in a position to travel on his own--he is always surrounded by tens of thousands of people, and so he must learn, must experience most things through the eyes of others. It's the difference between a general and a scout: the general is usually well behind the front lines and must depend on others. I presume that we will, before long, be seeing the next installment in this well-done series: the move westwards. Until that time, if you want a fictional account of the campaigns in the west, try Cecelia Holland's superb novel Until the Sun Falls.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"To drive Your Enemy Before You...", April 14, 2008
"And hear the lamentation of the women."
Poor China - seems they can't get a break these days. Like it's not bad enough with the "Free Tibet" crowd and the Olympic Torch fiasco, here we've got Conn Iggulden piling on, sending Genghis Khan and his fearsome horde crashing through the "Chins" walled cities and wrecking the kind of havoc made popular in John Kerry's now infamous "Jenghis" Khan testimony to Congress in post-Vietnam America.
And like it's predecessor, "Genghis: Birth of an Empire", "Genghis: Lords of the Bow", is a raucous, swashbuckling mayhem fest that is at the same time intelligent and illuminating - a rare peak under the covers of a man as ruthless as he was a great - make that extraordinary - field general and tactician. A man who through sheer determination and the magnetism of his personality united tribes of the northern plains that had been warring among themselves for centuries, succeeding in bringing their foes of far superior resources literally to their knees. As with "Empire" before it, "Lords of the Bow" puts a human face on Genghis - but just barely this time. For unlike the man-child we were introduced to in the first volume, we see the transformation from the child turned out on the steppes to die to a conqueror larger than life, the vanquisher who tramples his enemies not out of cruelty, but simply of cold efficiency. Iggulden resists the temptation of putting a politically correct kind face on the Genghis of nightmares, penning a masterful portrait of a leader with military brilliance of Alexander, forged with the diabolical cleverness of Machiavelli.
"Lord of the Bows" reads a lot like an Eastern version of the venerable Bernard Cornwell, and in fact, the similarities between the tactics and success of the English long bow and the short, composite bows of Genghis' pony-mounted denizens are uncanny. Battle scenes are gripping and realistic. The author's depiction of the battle of Badger's Pass is a rare literary treat, as fascinating in the strategy and tactics as it is entertaining and suspenseful. But to allay any fears that this is simply a book military maneuvers, take heart: the story is spiced with politics, treachery, deceit, and chicanery - a stunning profile of justice and accountability honed and hardened by Mongolia's unrelenting climate and terrain.
Yet more fascinating than the conquests and the carnage is the "why" - is rape and pillage really the end, does conquest and submission trump occupation and even unimaginable riches, painting a curious dilemma as Genghis and his tribes leave a broken Chin empire behind and return to their beloved seas of grass and snow?
In short, another remarkable and enjoyable effort from Conn Iggulden has me anxiously waiting for the final chapter in the saga of the inimitable Genghis Khan. Well done!
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