The Mongoliad: Book Two (The Foreworld Saga) [Paperback]

Neal Stephenson (Author), Erik Bear (Author), Greg Bear (Author), Joseph Brassey (Author), Nicole Galland (Author), Cooper Moo (Author), Mark Teppo (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 25, 2012 | Series: The Foreworld Saga

This riveting second installment in Stephenson and company’s epic tale focuses on the aftermath of the world-shattering Mongolian invasion of 1241 and the difficult paths undertaken by its most resilient survivors.

The Shield Brethren, an order of warrior monks, search for a way to overthrow the horde, even as the invaders take its members hostage. Forced to fight in the Mongols’ Circus of Swords, Haakon must prove his mettle or lose his life in the ring. His bravery may impress the enemy, but freedom remains a distant dream.

Father Rodrigo receives a prophecy from God and believes it’s his mission to deliver the message to Rome. Though a peaceful man, he resigns himself to take up arms in the name of his Lord. Joining his fight to save Christendom are the hunter Ferenc, orphan Ocyrhoe, healer Raphael, and alchemist Yasper, each searching for his place in history.

Deftly blending fact and fantasy, The Mongoliad: Book Two captures the indomitable will to survive against immense odds.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Suggestions of revelations to come combine with expertly crafted fight sequences and immensely enjoyable characters to hold the reader’s interest.”
 -Publishers Weekly

" I loved this book. The action was some of the best I’ve read in a while. Each fight is important to the story. The battles range from one-on-one to ten-on-sixty. Each one is the right kind of detailed and wonderfully inventive. The characters are well drawn and multi-faceted... The plot pulled me to the next page relentlessly. I was thrilled when it was time for a battle, and I was thrilled when it was time for character development. I spent the entire time excited to see what this book had in store next. I am now excited to see what the next book has in store. I cannot recommend this one enough. Five Lovable Mongol Hordes out of Five."
-Ben Rhodes, Fanboy Comics

"Fact and fiction are seamlessly blended to create a detailed vision of 13th Century Asia and Europe, and the fear of the overwhelming Mongol horde is palpable. The violence is detailed but not gratuitous, and the fact that likeable characters aren’t safe proves the authors are not afraid to make sacrifices in order to provide a wonderful story."
-Geek Planet Online

“[a] sprawling, character-rich, action-packed epic that’s part history, part alternate history, part fantasy, part martial-arts saga…Jumping from place to place and character to character, the book has a potentially huge audience, not just fans of the individual contributors and readers of Book One but also the much larger fan bases for martial-arts epics, alternate history, and historical fantasy.”
-Booklist

About the Author

Neal Stephenson is primarily a fiction author and has received several awards for his works in speculative fiction. His more popular books include Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, and Anathem.

Erik Bear lives and writes in Seattle, Washington. He has written for a bestselling video game and is currently working on several comic book series.

Greg Bear is the author of more than thirty books, spanning the thriller, science fiction, and fantasy genres, including Blood Music, Eon, The Forge of God, Darwin’s Radio, City at the End of Time, and Hull Zero Three. His books have won numerous international prizes, have been translated into more than twenty-two languages, and have sold millions of copies worldwide.

Joseph Brassey lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and two cats. He teaches medieval fighting techniques to members of the armed forces. The Mongoliad is his first published fiction.

Nicole Galland is the author of I, Iago, as well as The Fool's Tale, Revenge of the Rose, and Crossed: A Tale of the Fourth Crusade. An award-winning screenwriter, she is married to actor Billy Meleady and, unlike all her handsome and talented co-writers, spends no time at all hitting people with sticks in Seattle.

Mark Teppo is the author of the Codex of Souls urban fantasy series as well as the hypertext dream narrative The Potemkin Mosaic.

Cooper Moo spent five minutes in Mongolia in 1986 before he had to get back on the train—he never expected to be channeling Mongolian warriors. In 2007 Cooper fought a Chinese long-sword instructor on a Hong Kong rooftop—he never thought the experience would help him write battle scenes. In addition to being a member of The Mongoliad writing team, Cooper has written articles for various magazines. His autobiographical piece "Growing Up Black and White," published in the Seattle Weekly, was awarded Social Issues Reporting article of the year by the Society of Professional Journalists. He lives in Issaquah, Washington, with his wife, three children, and numerous bladed weapons.

Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: 47North (September 25, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1612182372
• ISBN-13: 978-1612182377
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.3 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (173 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,491 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #62 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Alternate History

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Book 2 very similar to Book 1 -- ok characters, some plot advancement and no ending July 6, 2012

By L. C Glover VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Summary (2.75 stars):
Book 2 of the Mongoliad picks up where Book 1 left off -- No transition, just starts. Book 2 does introduce some new characters -- Father Rodrigo (priest who witness Mongol Horde in action), Ferenc (Hungrian boy that Father Rodrigo saved) and Ocyrhoe (one of the last sister of a Minerva cult in Rome). The plot arc with the new characters deals with the naming of who will be the new Pope as the previous Pope died suddenly. Father Rodrigo was given a divine message to convey to the Pope in order to save Christendom from the Mongol hordes invading Europe -- Perceival minus the good looks, horse, arm and martial skills.

The main plot arc moves forward to a certain degree but only moves the assault team closer to the Khagan with losses and wounds. If you enjoyed the first book, then you will enjoy the second book as these two books should have just been connected as seperating them makes no sense given the lack of ending in Book 1 and how Book 2 starts. If you have not read Book 1, then do not even think about reading Book 2 first as it will not make much sense.

If you have a limited book budget, I would look for something else to purchase before this book.

Mileu/World Setting (2.75 to 3 stars):
The world setting is well done for the most part but Book 2 depends heavily on the atmosphere set in the first book. The cultures of the different characters is interesting to read about. Each character is rather sterotypical and depends heavily on the world setting information associated with the location each character is from to help you envision what the character is like and how they handle themselves.

Plot (2.5 stars):
The plot is moderately interesting for a history based fantasy novel. The book does not do a good job of engaging the readers; the authors assume the reader knows quite a lot about the Mongels and Europe at the time the book is set. The plots do not have significants twists in them -- just a straight up conflict/mission to be achieved by the characters.

Writing (2.5 to 2.75 stars):
The writing is consistent with Book 1. The writing style is clean, crisp and to the point. It is not a joy to read the words but more like morning gruel you eat hoping to get to some tasty bit hidden in the gruel to flavor it / make it more interesting.

Characters (2.5 to 3 stars):
The characters do not evolve at all between the start of book 1 and the end of book 2. The characters are just there to be architypal figures for the players in the historical drama. The characters are not memorable in the least. You will most likely forget about nearly of the characters shortly after you finish the book and move on to a different book.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Boring October 12, 2012

By Nick Dowling

Format:Paperback

I really enjoyed book one of this series: it was a nicely written, well paced and didn't take itself very seriously. However, book two is a bore. As other reviewers have noted, it doesn't directly follow on from book one, and its emphasis is on the least interesting characters and plot lines. I had no idea what was going on with the chapters set in Rome - which make up about a third of the book - and ended up skipping through most of them (I don't think that I missed out on much). The chapters dealing with the Shield Brethren are quite good, but don't really go anywhere, and the rest of the book meanders along without much of interest taking place (the chapters about the depressed alcoholic Mongol khan moping about were particularly dull - this may be the first book to include a boring Mongol warlord!). I don't think that I'm going to shell out for book three on the basis of this book.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars What A Mess July 31, 2012

By John Jorgensen VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

There's just way too much going on in this book for it to be a satisfying, or even a coherent, read. That was true of Book 1, which I barely managed to slog my way through, and it's even worse in this continuation of the story. There are numerous plotlines in progress and we only get little glimpses into any one of them before moving onto something else. We hardly ever get a really satisfying examination of what's going on with any of them. That was true in Book 1, as I've said, and I'd hoped that Book Two would start to see the various threads woven more tightly together. There's a little of this, but not much, and to make matters worse, there are several new storylines, some of them completely unrelated to anything from Book 1 and driven by brand-new characters who never appeared before.

Oh, the characters! There are dozens of them, few of whom have any clear motivation for their actions. We hardly ever get a proper backstory, which has the effect of making their rivalries arcane and confusing. Few of them relate to one another in any way that's remotely interesting, and fewer still leave any kind of impression on the reader. There's a dramatis personae at the beginning of the book to help us keep track of who's who. This is nice, I guess, because the lack of compelling character arcs makes them pretty forgettable, especially when coupled with the fact that many have difficult, unfamiliar names. However, the DP often doesn't provide much information on who they are, other than alluding to one of the many knightly orders this boatful of authors has made up.

Pacing--It's hard to comment on that. Within each chapter, things usually move along. But when I got to the end of a chapter, and realized how little the story had been advanced, I felt drained. It felt like it took me forever to read the book, and many's the day I found myself making excuses not to read it. A novel is supposed to be read for pleasure, so when I need to overcome a reluctance to read it, it's hard to imagine a worse failure of the form.

If you want to read a fictionalized account of the Mongol Empire's salad days, check out Conn Iggulden. He's written a five-book series taking us from Genghis Khan's childhood to the height of Kublai's power. (I might wish for a sixth book to get us through to the end of the empire's golden age, but his stated intention is not to continue.) That series is a good example of excellent historical fiction. This--This is just a mess. I won't even bother with Book Three.