I rarely buy books for myself, because I have so many already and have such constant access to galleys that it isn’t necessary yet now and then, there’s a book I’ve gotta have, and that’s how I feel about this series. By the halfway point, however, my mind had changed completely! I found myself online doing image searches for the housing, clothing, and other parts of the nomadic life.

I wasn’t even sure if I would read the rest of the series. The first two or three chapters seemed fine, but not great. We have a nonfiction tome, but it’s the sort of slog one only undergoes out of desperation, or as assigned coursework. I wanted to read this series, or at least the first entry, because although I have read at least something about most of the greatest warriors in the world over time, I had read nothing about Genghis. I figure Mongols know how the name should be pronounced, so I have begun to pronounce it that way, too. One thing I learned in discussion with my spouse, who is a Japanese citizen, is that whereas we from Western cultures pronounce the warrior’s name with a hard G, Asians–including the Mongolian culture from which the Khan emerged–pronounce it softly, like a J. How much do any of us know about Genghis Khan? Iggulden’s Genghis series is shaping up as a triumph of historical fiction. Borrowing from history and legend, Iggulden reimagines the iconic conqueror on a more human scale-larger-than-life surely, but accessible and even sympathetic. The Mongols’ insatiable quest to conquer drives the narrative, but Iggulden deftly weaves several intriguing character-driven subplots into the saga, including tales of sibling rivalry between Genghis’s two eldest sons and the cupidity of a powerful and enigmatic shaman.

Aided by his brothers Kachiun and Khasar, Genghis strikes first against the Xi Xia Kingdom south of the Gobi Desert-a route into China that circumvents the Great Wall. Here, Genghis turns to the conquest of the “bloated, wealthy” cities of the Chin, or Chinese, Kingdom. In the debut volume, the Great Khan rises from the barren plains of central Asia to unify the scattered Mongol tribes into a nation. , continues his masterful series on Genghis Khan (following Genghis: Birth of an Empire Iggulden, coauthor of the megaseller The Dangerous Book for Boys

Genghis khan series books