Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden
Thursday, 31 Jan 2008 21:25
Lords of the Bow: Genghis' next steps to becoming the great khan of the Mongols
Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden, Harper Collins, out now in hardback, £14.99.
In a nutshell…
Genghis is at the gates...
What's it all about?
The year is 1206 AD. For untold centuries the tribes of the steppes have been persecuted, divided and culled when they became too unruly for the liking of their Chin masters.
But now one man, still shy of his 30th birthday, has achieved the seemingly impossible and united the warring tribes at the point of an arrow. For the first time in history the Mongols stand together to avenge thousands of years of punishment from the Chin.
Their leader, born Temujin of the Wolves, now goes by the name of Genghis. One day, he and his sons will carve out the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen, greater than the conquests of Attila and Alexander combined.
For now though, he stands on the borders of the northern Xi Xia kingdom with 45,000 mounted warriors and their families behind him.
Lords of the Bow, the second of the anticipated Conqueror trilogy from Conn Iggulden is a fictionalised account of Genghis Khan's first forays into Chin lands; the first steps towards immortality.
Who's it by?
London-born Conn Iggulden is carving himself a niche in bloodied historical fiction. His breakthrough came with the bestselling Emperor series (The Gates of Rome, The Death of Kings, The Field of Swords, The Gods of War); a retelling of the rise and fall of Julius Caesar and the birth of the Roman empire.
Lords of the Bow is the sequel to last year's Wolf of the Plains, which charted the rise of Temujin to the khan of all Mongols. He also co-wrote The Dangerous Book for Boys.
As an example
"Genghis clenched his hands tight on the reins of a dark brown mare. At the first sign of dawn, the drummer boys had begun to beat out a rhythm that was the sound of war to his ears. A thousand of them waited in the ranks with the drums strapped to their chests. The noise they made echoed back from the mountains and made his pulse thump faster. His brothers were somewhere ahead, half frozen after their trek across the high trails. Beyond them lay the city that had spilled Chin seed among his people for a thousand years, bribing them and slaughtering them like a pack of dogs when they saw the need. He smiled to himself at the image, wondering what his son Jochi would make of it.
"The sun was hidden as it rose above him, then, in an instant, the plains were lit in gold and Genghis felt warmth touch his face. His gaze came up from the ground. It was time." Page 307, chapter 21
"Genghis smiled.
'What is your name, angry man?'
'Ho Sa. I am Hsio-Wei of Yinchuan. You might call me a khan, perhaps, a senior officer.'
'I would not call you a khan,' Genghis replied. 'But you are welcome in my camp, Ho Sa. Send these goats home and I will welcome you in my ger and share tea and salt with you.'
Ho Sa turned to his companions and jerked his head back at the city in the distance. One of them spoke a string of meaningless syllables that made Kokchu and Temuge crane forward to hear. Ho Sa shrugged at his companion and Genghis watched as the other seven mounted and turned back to the city.
'Those are beautiful horses,' Barchuk said at his shoulder. Genghis looked at the Uighur khan. He nodded, catching the eye of Arslan where he stood along the line of warriors. Genghis jerked two fingers at the retreating group, like a snake striking.
An instant later, a hundred shafts flashed through the air to take the seven riders nearly from their saddles. One of the horses was killed and Genghis heard Arslan barking at an unfortunate warrior for his incompetence. As Genghis watched, Arslan took the man's bow and cut the string with a jerk of his knife before handing it back to him. The warrior took it with his head bowed in humiliation.
Bodies lay still on the plain, face down in the mud. On such ground, the horses could not bolt easily. Without their riders to urge them on, they stood listlessly, looking back at the tribes. Two of them nuzzled the bodies of the men they had known, whickering nervously at the smell of blood.
Ho Sa stared in thin-lipped fury as Genghis turned to face him.
'They were good horses,' Genghis said. The soldier's expression did not change and the khan shrugged. 'Words are not heavy. It does not take more than one of you to carry my reply.'" Page 125, chapter nine
Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster
Unlikely. The film rights for Emperor have already been snapped up, but it is far from a matter of time before the same can be said for Conqueror.
While the vogue for sword and sandal epics has faded (largely thanks to King Arthur and The Last Legion), Lords of the Bow and the Conqueror series would present Hollywood with a raft of challenges.
There is almost no chance whatsoever of any non-Asiatic actors being cast in the film, albeit until Genghis and his hordes arrive in Europe. The big blockbuster studio needed to take on such a project of Lords of the Bow would be making a huge risk by ploughing millions into a cast of unknowns. If you think the idea of Tom Cruise starring in The Last of the Mongols sounds too fanciful even for America, then it's worth bearing in mind that the last time a western studio tried their hand at a Genghis Khan movie, Omar Sharif ended up being cast in the title role.
That said; Lords of the Bow is a sweeping historical epic crying out for a big budget movie treatment and a brave studio could yet take it on.
So is it any good?
In Lords of the Bow, Conn Iggulden has paid a great service to one of history's most charismatic military conquerors/tyrants. Despite his early conquests setting the Mongols on to the road of near complete domination of the known world, not to mention the fact that up to one in ten men in Asia and eastern Europe are directly descended from him, Genghis Khan – or just plain Genghis as he is known at the time of Lords of the Bow – has been conspicuous by his absence from western fiction.
While his visage adorns the currency of Mongolia and dominates the government plaza in Sükhbaatar Square, Ulaanbaatar, and his name still strikes fear into unruly children in non-Turkic Muslim countries his armies devastated, the historical conqueror remains something of an enigma.
To his credit, Iggulden never flatters his novel as a true historical account, although he strives for accuracy at all times.
Most pleasing are his efforts of refusing to look at Genghis through the eyes of the modern world; the Mongol warlord has no great visions of freedom and justice for his fellow man, he seeks vengeance upon the Chin lands above all else.
Iggulden's Genghis has no qualms over ordering mass executions among his own people to quell dissent and does not give a second thought to laying waste to cities who vainly ignore the red tent raised before their walls.
As a result a smoke of realism rises from the fires of the Mongols' bloody victories, and all the book's many characters become more alien and interesting in turn.
As exciting as it is engrossing, Lords of the Bow paints a strangely attractive depiction of the Mongols' bleak and unforgiving steppes - in sharp contrast to the squalor-ridden cities of the Chin – and portrays Genghis, his generals and his family in an appealing, if sometimes appalling, manner.
A true boys' own adventure, Lords of the Bow leaves the reader wanting more; more conquests; more sedentary peoples being crushed; more cities being razed to the ground; more salt being sown in the fields; and, above all else; more Genghis Khan.
The third Conqueror book has yet to be confirmed, but its publication is a cast-iron guarantee, given the success of Iggulden's latest foray into historical fiction.
8/10
Matthew Champion
"Can't wait for the third installment of Genghis. Engrossing, believable, entertaining to say the least, a man's kind of read for sure. Good Story and well done. Thanks... money well spent." - Joe Bristow
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