Genghis Khan, the history remembers him as a brutal ruler, but also as a military genius, who out of nomadic tribes gave birth to the vastest3.5 stars
Genghis Khan, the history remembers him as a brutal ruler, but also as a military genius, who out of nomadic tribes gave birth to the vastest empire ever, the Mongol Empire.
1209. Princess Chaka of Tangut Kingdom (China) is captured by Genghis Khan. She is forced to marry her kidnapper. Due to lack of a written language in Mongolia, she is encouraged to develop one. Besides that she becomes Khan’s chronicler in secret.
From East, Khan turns his attention to West. As Princess Reyhan is getting ready for her wedding in Samarkand, Persia, Genghis makes his plans to kidnap her. She is taken to Mongolia, where eunuch entrusts her with Chaka’s “manuscript in the hope that the recording of Mongol history would continue.”
After the death of Genghis, his son Ogodei takes over the rule. Genghis “displayed an unprecedented degree of tolerance towards people of other faiths…” Ogodei decides to tilt it to his benefits.
The plot is interesting: the princesses captured by Mongols chronicling the events of the empire.
The book starts at a very good pace with the story of Princess Chaka. Then before getting to Princess Reyhan a historical background of her lineage and conflict in that region is presented and that’s when I felt a shift in writing. It became more descriptive slowing the pace. I know that there are plenty of readers who appreciate more descriptive writing and that the part I enjoyed the most might seem rushed through to them. Also, with that shift in writing I felt that there is more telling than showing.
When you have a story driven by historical events after a while it tends to get dry. This story is very rich in historical background and as much as I like stories rich in historical background, I have to say too much was packed into this story. Between historical facts more character development could be breathed into the story to make it more dynamic.
Originally, I misread the synopsis as I thought the focus of the story would be Genghis Kahn and that’s not the case. I think this story would greatly benefit if it focused on him. This story gives a good depiction of who Genghis Khan was. He had no tolerance for disobedience of any kind. But he was tolerant towards different religions. He grew up in wilderness and needed advice in bringing order to society. He was also a ruthless conqueror leaving behind many atrocities. So you do get a sense of who he was, but at the same time I still wanted to get a better sense of him. What was his childhood like? What made him who he was? If little is known in history about his childhood, then this is a good place for any author to use the imagination. And that’s when the most amazing and energetic stories come to live.
Source: ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review....more
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