![]() With his cold face and wolf's head sword, Yesugei is the epitome of a Mongol warrior. ![]() We meet Timujin's father, Yesugei - not a khan, but a respected war band leader of a tribe considered one of the noble houses of the steppe. It’s as if this scene echoes the pattern we will see repeated throughout his life as he challenges other men, for leadership of, first, the Mongol families, then, later, dominion over the cities and people of the Jin and the desert dwellers of the Middle East. We first meet Timujin as a nine-year-old boy racing wildly across the steppes, fiercely challenging his older half-brother for leadership of the small cadre of his siblings who gallop behind them. The first book of the series, "Birth of an Empire", intimately explores not only the daily life of the hardy people of the Asian steppes, but the warrior ethos and competitive drive that shaped the future conqueror and his kinsmen. ![]() I have found Iggulden's stories so dynamic with characters so psychologically intricate that they must surely embody the cultural ideal of the nomadic warriors I have read about in my studies. So, I will strive to cover the opening trilogy which, hopefully, will serve as a refresher on the series before I write a review for the latest book. I’m about to begin reading Conn Iggulden's latest saga about the descendants of Genghis Khan and realized that, although I read the first three books in the series fictionalizing the life of legendary conqueror Genghis Khan, I hadn’t written a review about them yet. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |