Conqueror [Paperback]

Review
This for me was a very eagerly anticipated book, but i was never quite sure what to expect. There was always the lead that this book was to be about Kublai Khan, and to a degree it is, but not in the way i expected, and that's not a bad thing, having read so much its not often i'm surprised by an author.

What surprised me most was the whole encompassing picture that Conn Iggulden has managed to cover in this one book, Yes its a 500+ page title, but the ground covered would take some authors 1000+ pages, yet Conn misses nothing, retains the action, retains the depth of detail and quality of writing. If anything was missing it was the wild pace of Wolf of the Plains, but that slowing of pace matches the story, Wolf of the plains is the Wild abandon of Genghis, where as Conqueror is the maturing of a nation, the education and building of Kublai.

What i think pleased me most was learning about new characters from history, Guyuk, Uriang-Khadai, Arik-Boke and Mongke and their actions that led to the creation of the man Kublai Khan, the man the was needed to carve out a place in history, without the actions of the others he may well have been a scholar or a monk and vanished into obscurity, and who knows what would have happened to that part of the world...or the world as a whole?

What thrills me even more is that at the end of the book, there is still at least a whole book if not a whole series still hidden away for Mr Iggulden to come back to, Like the empire series there is no real end, there is just a point in history reached that means the tale is paused.

Conn I for one will be nagging you to come back to this, while i liked the empire series, I have loved the Genghis series, Wolf of the Plains being my favourite book you have written.

I highly recommend this book and this entire series not just to fans of Historical Fiction, but also to fantasy fans, thriller fans ..anyone..anyone who loves a great read well written and well told by a natural story teller.

Book Description

The one and only Conn Iggulden takes on the story of the mighty Kublai Khan. An epic tale of a great and heroic mind; his action-packed rule; and how in conquering one-fifth of the world's inhabited land, he changed the course of history forever.

A scholar who conquered an empire larger than those of Alexander or Caesar.

A warrior who would rule a fifth of the world with strength and wisdom.

A man who betrayed a brother to protect a nation.

From a young scholar to one of history's most powerful warriors, Conqueror tells the story of Kublai Khan - an extraordinary man who should be remembered alongside Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known.

It should have been a golden age, with an empire to dwarf the lands won by the mighty Genghis Khan. Instead, the vast Mongol nation is slowly losing ground, swallowed whole by their most ancient enemy. A new generation has arisen, yet the long shadow of the Great Khan still hangs over them all ...

Kublai dreams of an empire stretching from sea to sea. But to see it built, this scholar must first learn the art of war. He must take his nation's warriors to the ends of the known world. And when he is weary, when he is wounded, he must face his own brothers in bloody civil war.

Conn Iggulden is a master craftsman whose books are truly a world apart from the vast swathes of incomparable imitators who plague the genre. His books are inspirational reads that uplift the reader no end, thrusting you into a forgotten world of bygone civilisations. `Conqueror' is a book of epic proportions and it outclasses similar reads in every conceivable aspect.

When I collected my copy of `Conqueror', I was pleasantly surprised by the length as it extends over 500 pages. Here was a read that I could sink my teeth into and devour. It is one of those books that you could read anywhere and totally switch off from reality. It is also one of those books that you will find completely impossible to put down. The only problem with books of this quality is that they are all too soon completed leaving the reader with a longing ache for more of the same.

`Conqueror' is a tale of politics, leadership, expansion via conquest, brotherhood, warfare, destruction, death, pillage, yet one which subtly reinforces the importance of family, friendship, culture and tolerance. A quick succession of Great Khans leads to the ultimate power struggle between Kublai and his younger brother. Civil war looms and the lesser Khans are forced to choose between their oaths or complete destruction.

In this book, the reader will travel into the lands of the Sung and into the heart of the Islamic world. Different leadership styles lead to very different outcomes for the subjugated peoples and various cultural practices are described quite interestingly by Conn. Vast tacks of land are covered by the ever mobile Tumans and the reader will experience the hardships of travel along with the scouts and Yam riders. Conn has an ability to bring the smell of the scenes alive for the reader to experience and this complements the superb visual descriptive passages enormously.

Conn's characterisation as ever is second to none. All of the key characters are given differing personalities which allows each scene shift to feel fresh allowing a long book to flow fluidly throughout. Characters have sides to them that attract and often repulse, yet they are all fully dimensionable, conceivable and most importantly interesting. Just enough characters from the previous book survive to make it into `Conqueror' and this allows the transition between books to retain a sense of familiarity. That being said though, you could probably get away with reading `Conqueror' as a standalone novel. But please don't do that as you would be denying yourself countless hours of literary pleasure.

All in all, this was an excellent book and one which held my attention and interest throughout. I cannot wait for Conn's next work and hope that it is not too far off!

Up til now Robert Harris (especially the Cicerio trilogy) and Bernard Cornwell have been my main exposure to historical fiction. I really enjoy them, love the historical detail, the battle descriptions (Cornwell), and the personality given to the characters.

Fans of Iggulden will know how good he is, but readers of Harris and Cornwell need to know that here is a like-minded, like-gifted exponent of the genre. Maybe I'm just coming late to the party, but I'm glad to get here!

Given that Iggulden was new to me, the book rather on the large side, I was expecting to take a while to get going. No - I was gripped from the start, and held the whole way through. This is superb writing, and a great overview of Kublai Khan. I havent read the others in the series and it didnt detract any from the story line.

There was a point in the book where I wished he would stop switching scenes, but once these scenes and their characters got rounded out I got caught up in the events and enjoyed him developing the storylines in parallel.

There is a map at the start of the book and a family tree, but both of them could do with be a little more detailed, but that takes little away from the overall scope, style and enjoyability of the book.

Top notch - for all fans of this genre of historical fiction.