Conn Iggulden

I finished reading Wolf of the Plains last week, and thought it was a fantastic piece of historical fiction, that really brought the young Genghis Khan to life - and made him a very sympathetic character.

I'm not long off from finishing the sequel, Lords of the Bow, but I'm feeling underwhelmed by it. There's very little focus on Genghis as a character, with literally only a couple of short sections that show any kind of character development. Most of the time we see him he's simply observing events - and while he's active in those events, his character is superficial.

One of the more surprising sections was a long one with Khasar and Timurge going to Baotou, told mostly from Timurge's POV. While it gave for a great visceral experience, Timurge was otherwise utterly passive all the way through, and simply acted as a proxy for the reader to observe things developing.

We see bits from a lot of characters, but little depth. Those little details of living history that made the first book so rich are not so evident here. It makes Lords of the Bow feel somewhat superficial and rushed by comparison to Wolf of the Plains.

I'm interested in knowing what happens to the brothers, but my enthusiasm for the rest of this series is waning.

Has anyone tried his Wars of the Roses series?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CUTLML0/?tag=brite-21

I'm tempted to have a look at that at some point.

Im a big fan of Iggulden and i actually finished reading Stormbird the first book in that series few weeks ago. Its a real fascinating story, full of characters that Conn writes so well to make their famous name come alive.

I have more respect for Iggulden after first War of Roses book because he has many POV characters, people like Henry VI is much harder to make interesting because he is not Ghengis the military geniuis who created the military system that is legendary, he is not Kublai Khan who conquerred China or Ceasar/Augustus who made themselves divine emperors in an old repbulic.

Brian G Turner said:

I finished reading Wolf of the Plains last week, and thought it was a fantastic piece of historical fiction, that really brought the young Genghis Khan to life - and made him a very sympathetic character.

I'm not long off from finishing the sequel, Lords of the Bow, but I'm feeling underwhelmed by it. There's very little focus on Genghis as a character, with literally only a couple of short sections that show any kind of character development. Most of the time we see him he's simply observing events - and while he's active in those events, his character is superficial.

One of the more surprising sections was a long one with Khasar and Timurge going to Baotou, told mostly from Timurge's POV. While it gave for a great visceral experience, Timurge was otherwise utterly passive all the way through, and simply acted as a proxy for the reader to observe things developing.

We see bits from a lot of characters, but little depth. Those little details of living history that made the first book so rich are not so evident here. It makes Lords of the Bow feel somewhat superficial and rushed by comparison to Wolf of the Plains.

I'm interested in knowing what happens to the brothers, but my enthusiasm for the rest of this series is waning.

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You shouldnt stop now because Wolf of the Plains is the most thrilling, great start to the series because Temujin, the brothers are almost homeless,alone, weak family that rises to power. But book 3-4 are truly great, the Khan family, Ghengis brothers story is told even more after his death,the sons, the generals that created Mongol Empire. Tsubodai is one of the best generals in history, the only one to beat Russian winter, win a battle there. Then there is one of the most famous Emperors. There is the whole west Asia,middle east arabic/islam empire story etc

Trust me seeing Kublai getting few 1000s mongols to go war, get the order oh go conquer millions strong army of Song Dynasty is very exciting. Character wise book 3-4 are great, the best in the series.

Connavar said:

You shouldnt stop now

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Oh, I did finish the series earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure about starting his Caesar series simply because Colleen McCullough did such an amazing job with that period and it would be such a hard act to follow. I guess I'll try his Wars of the Roses series, then.

Brian G Turner said:

Oh, I did finish the series earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure about starting his Caesar series simply because Colleen McCullough did such an amazing job with that period and it would be such a hard act to follow. I guess I'll try his Wars of the Roses series, then.

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His Ceasar series is very good but its not as strong as Mongol,Kubla,Ghengis series. Military history wise its very good but it seemed like he wasnt as interested in Roman politics,culture of Rome itself as he was telling indepth about Mongol culture. I have read military history books about Mongol art of war, their culture based around that warfare,empire his books series is like 99% historical accurate. Ceasar,Octavian books are more fiction because its not even clear which year Ceasar was born.

War of the Roses, i will read book 2, 3 soon. I look forward to book 4 there are a certain welsh/french man called Henry Tudor that is involved in the latter end of the wars.