Conqueror by Conn Iggulden

Conqueror is the 5th and final book of Conn Iggulden’s Conqueror series, which covers the Mongol Empire from the birth of Genghis Khan up until the reign of his grandson; Kublai.

Guyuk Khan, Genghis’ grandson through Ogedai, is khan when the book opens. Guyuk was not a strong leader, and the book intimates that the empire may have fractured and descended into civil war had he not died when he did. Guyuk’s death brings his cousin; Mongke, older brother of Kublai, to the throne, and that is where the story really starts.

While in the previous book it was implied that Kublai and Mongke’s mother; Sorhatani, really wanted the throne to go to Kublai, she was happy for any of her sons to ascend to power, so accedes to Mongke’s leadership.

Mongke is a warrior first and foremost, and a proud Mongol, this leads him to drive all of the Chin scholars and scribes from the capital of Karakorum, and may also provide some of the conflict between he and Kublai, as the younger brother is scholarly and adopts many Chin customs and manner of dress. Mongke then gives his brothers some measure of power, and in the cases of Hulegu and Kublai sends them away from the Mongol homeland, so as to lessen the chances of conflict, he only keeps the youngest brother Arik-Boke, close.

From this point on the story really divides into 2 separate stories. Mongke’s part is considerably lessened and the book focuses on Hulegu and Kublai. The warlike Hulegu finishes what his grandfather started by extending Mongol control into the middle east, even taking and sacking Baghdad. The khanate Hulegu established in what is now Iraq lasted until 1338 ending with the death of his great great great grandson Muhammad Khan.

While Hulegu is occupied in the middle east, Kublai goes into China to overthrow the rulers of the Sung territories. Genghis had also tried to take over the Sung territories in China, but had died before being able to do so. Kublai’s scholarly ways were seen as a weakness by his brothers, but they along with wise counsel from the Buddhist monk Yao Shu and generals like Uriang-Khadai (in reality the son of the great general Tsubodai, but not mentioned as such for narrative reasons in Conqueror), prove a great strength during the campaign. Unfortunately Mongke’s untimely death and a grab for power by Arik-Boke, cut Kublai’s largely successful campaign short.

I knew that Kublai Khan would eventually become the Khan, as it’s been largely recorded in history, and he is seen as one of China’s great rulers, reigning for over 33 years, and at the height of his powers the empire covered one fifth of the world’s inhabited lands. What I was unaware of before reading the Conqueror series was that there were 3 khans in between Genghis and Kublai. I had always thought that power passed seamlessly from Genghis to his grandson. I was also unaware that Kublai was himself a warrior and general when he was younger, before Mongke died, and he had to wrest power from his younger brother to prevent a civil war and extend the empire as much as he did.

Throughout the series Conn Iggulden has filled in the many blanks surrounding the Mongol Empire to create a fast moving, fascinating picture of an ingenious, although sometimes brutal people. The differences between the various tribes of the Mongols that made up the Golden Horde and would rule the eastern world were often mirrored in the relationships between Genghis and his sons and then later his grandchildren. Women too played a part in these books. Genghis’ mother Hoelun, played a big role in Wolf of the Plains, as did his first wife; Borte. The mother of Kublai; Sorhatani, put the wheels in motion for her son’s ascension to the throne in Empire of Silver and in Conqueror and Kublai’s wife; Chabi, is a strong lady who has significant influence over her husband.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed expanding my knowledge of the Mongols through this series, although at times Iggulden does play a little fast and loose with history for reasons of not spoiling a good story, and he puts in a few too many repetitive battle scenes for my liking. If you want your history entertaining and don’t mind not being pedantically accurate in every detail then the Conqueror series is a good look at a part of history not often covered by many of the historical novelists around today.

Empire of Silver

There's a subtle change in Conn Iggulden's 4th book of his Conqueror series Empire of Silver.

Genghis Khan has died and his mantle of Khan has passed onto his 3rd son Ogedai. Genghis' surviving brothers; Kachiun, Khasar and Temuge, and even his great general Tsubodai are looked upon largely as relics of a past era and Ogedai is very different from his father. He has built his own city; Karakorum, a move that pleases Temuge, but perplexes his other uncles and Tsubodai who believe in conquest only, and can't understand why he is setting himself up as a target for his jealous older brother Chagatai.

What many people don't know is that Ogedai, young though he is, has a heart condition. This heart condition becomes a problem and it changes the course of the Mongol empire in 2 ways. Ogedai's younger brother; Tolui (father of Kublai) sacrifices himself to buy his brother a longer life. This unexpectedly elevates his beautiful and intelligent wife; Sorhatani, to a higher position. She is given her husband's title and rights, something unheard of in Mongol society. Sorhatani makes herself indispensible to Ogedai and gets close to his wife; Torogene. It's obvious that even then she was jockeying her sons into position.

Ogedai dies when his son and heir; Guyuk is on campaign in Hungary. The news halts the Mongol advance, something that Tsubodai wishes to continue. The authors note muses that if the Mongols had not retreated after Ogedai's death then they very possibly could have taken over all the west and changed the course of history irrevocably.

There was one introspective scene where Tsubodai saved a Russian girl from being violated by two of his men during the sack of a Russian. The girl cannot speak Mongolian and Tsubodai doesn't know enough Russian to hold a conversation. He ascertains that the girl has heard of Genghis' and he wonders bitterly how history will remember Tsubodai the man that helped to forge the legend of Genghis, or if history will remember him at all.

By the end of Empire of Silver, an era has passed. Genghis and all his brothers have died, Tsubodai is probably the last remaining relic of the violent birth of a nation.

I hadn't previously heard of Ogedai, I'd always thought that the mantle passed directly from Genghis to his grandson Kublai. This was not the case. In his short reign (he ruled between 1229 and 1241) he started the Mongol empire on the course that Kublai would be remembered for continuing. It was a fascinating look at a little know historical figure and for me it introduced one of the great women of history: Sorhatani Beki.

Conn Iggulden has two further books planned in this series and I assume that they will focus on the reign of Kublai Khan. They are as yet untitled, but will have a reader waiting for them.

Bones of the Hills

It's been a little while since I posted a review, this is partially because my reading slowed down and also because I was hospitalised briefly for an operation. February sucks!

Bones of the Hills is the 3rd of Conn Iggulden's Conqueror series, a planned 6 book series chronicling the life of Genghis Khan and his heirs; Ogedai and Kublai.

Following his successful siege and conquest of Chin capital Yenking (Beijing) in Lords of the Bow Genghis has gone from strength to strength and increased his empire substantially. At the beginning of Bones of the Hills Genghis' armies are continuing to take over China, have conquered Koryo (Korea), made successful incursions into Russia and launched an attack on the Arabs. It's not really stated where they are exactly, but most of the action seems to take place in Afghanistan.

The Arabs are a worthy and difficult opponent for the Mongols. They share some similarities and this makes it hard for the Genghis' forces to subdue and control them as they have others that they have encountered.

Genghis' relationshhip with his oldest son; Jochi, sours to the extent that could cost the older of the Khan brothers his life. Genghis' also loses patience with his named heir Chagatai and he declares that his third son; Ogedai will become Khan on his death.

A lot of this particular volume centres on one of Genghis' greatest generals; Tsubodai. Tsubodai was introduced in the 2nd book and is certainly an interesting footnote character in history, and he was responsible for many of the great Mongol leaders victories.

Most of the book seemed to detail the campaigns and battles against the Arabs. After a while I fount it a bit tedious. There are only so many battles one can read about before they start to blend into one another. Possibly it may be of interest to a military historian, but not to me. Genghis also came full circle from the exiled son of a Khan to the ruthless conqueror who cared for nothing but his next conquest, it made for a very unsympathetic protagonist and he fully deserved the rather unpleasant end he met.

Frustratingly the characters of Temgue and Kokchu were not further developed before one faded into the background and the other was executed for his excesses. In Lords of the Bow readers were introduced to a fighting Buddhist monk; Yao Shu, and he reappeared, unfortunately for an interesting character he was not given enough time to develop.

Despite Bones of the Hills failings I am looking forward to Empire of Silver and seeing how the empire Genghis built fares under his son Ogedai.

Lords of the Bow

Lords of the Bow is the 2nd of British author Conn Iggulden’s Conqueror series about the lives of the Mongol warlords Genghis, Ogedai and Kublai Khan, it follows Wolf of the Plains, reviewed here in August 2010.

The action picks up some years after the end of Wolf of the Plains and opens with Genghis taking over the last of the Mongol tribes yet to join him, that of the Naimans. He spares the life of the tribe’s shaman; the ambitious and scheming Kokchu.

The majority of the book concerns itself with Genghi's attack on the Chin empire, concentrating on his siege of the empire’s capital city; Yenking (Beijing). Before entering China the Mongol warlord takes over the Western Xia kingdom and accepts a Xia princess as tribute. He marries the girl and prefers her to his first wife; Borte. The girl is charming and clever as well as being attractive, it is highly likely that she and her offspring could cause trouble for Genghis, his brothers and sons in the future.

To get around the problem of the story focussing on events and characters that the audience is probably aware of the outcome of Iggulden goes elsewhere. Two of Genghis’ brothers; Khasar and Temuge, are central in this volume. The brothers are a total contrast. Khasar is tall and strong, none too bright, the typical Mongal warrior, preferring to let his bow and blade do the talking. Temuge is the youngest of the brothers, physically the weakest and never excelled at the martial arts as did the other three. Khasar sees the Chin as weak and deserving of conquest by the nomadic northern raiders, whereas Temuge sees the benefit in their civilisation and wishes to add these elements to the Mongol lifestyle.

Genghis fractured relationship with his oldest son; Jochi, is described. The warlord does not believe Jochi is his son, he is the product of a violation of Borte by a Tatar when she was held captive by the Mongol’s old enemy. For this reason Genghis favours younger son Chagatai over Jochi and this has the possibility of seeing the oldest son pitted against his brother and father in the future. Something that could be exploited by the devious Kokchu.

The book moved at a fast pace and the research into the Mongol’s lifestyle and the lengthy sometimes brutal siege of Yenking was obviously exhaustive. My only real negative critcism is an overly long middle section regarding Khasar and Temuge’s journey as ’spies’ to the Chin city of Baotou. It gave the reader an insight into the characters of the brothers, but didn’t really seem to serve any other purpose. The pretext for the mission was to find out more about China’s Great Wall and procure a mason to help the Mongol’s break through it, but this could have bee accomplished with far less pages than it took to tell and without the unnecessary, to me, story of Tong leader Chen Yi.

It ends on a less final note than Wolf of the Plains, which had a standalone feel to it, but as there is a sequel already available that’s not really a problem. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to Bones of the Hills quicker than I did Lords of the Bow.