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The Foreworld Saga #3
The Mongoliad: Book Three
The final book of the Mongoliad trilogy from Neal Stephenson and company tells the gripping personal stories of medieval freedom fighters to form an epic, imaginative recounting of a moment in history when a world in peril relied solely on the courage of its people.
The shadow of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II hangs over the shattered Holy Roman Church as the cardinals remain deadlocked, unable to choose a new pope. Only the Binders and a mad priest have a hope of uniting the Church against the invading Mongol host. An untested band of young warriors stands against the dissolute Khan, fighting for glory and freedom in the Khan’s sadistic circus of swords, and the brave band of Shield-Brethren who set out to stop the Mongol threat single-handedly race against their nemesis before he can raise the entire empire against them. Veteran knight Feronantus, haunted by his life in exile, leads the dwindling company of Shield-Brethren to their final battle, molding them into a team that will outlast him. No good hero lives forever. Or fights alone.
The shadow of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II hangs over the shattered Holy Roman Church as the cardinals remain deadlocked, unable to choose a new pope. Only the Binders and a mad priest have a hope of uniting the Church against the invading Mongol host. An untested band of young warriors stands against the dissolute Khan, fighting for glory and freedom in the Khan’s sadistic circus of swords, and the brave band of Shield-Brethren who set out to stop the Mongol threat single-handedly race against their nemesis before he can raise the entire empire against them. Veteran knight Feronantus, haunted by his life in exile, leads the dwindling company of Shield-Brethren to their final battle, molding them into a team that will outlast him. No good hero lives forever. Or fights alone.
804 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 26, 2013
316 people are currently reading
2699 people want to read
About the author
Neal Stephenson
88 books28.7k followersNeal Stephenson is the author of Reamde, Anathem, and the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World), as well as Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
June 4, 2013
Anyone interested in the historical Mongolian empire should avoid this bilge. Anyone interested in good writing should also beat a hasty retreat. The Mongoliad is as true to the era of Ogodei Khan as Conan the Barbarian is to the age of Attila The Hun.
It's hideously bloated and poorly written, like a parody that someone forgot to make funny. The first two sentences give a taste of the laughable dialogue - "The Shield-Brethren buried Finn on the hill where they had set up camp. 'It is not as grand as one of those burial mounds--the kurgans--we have seen,' Raphael pointed out to Feronantus, 'but it has a view of where we came from, and the sun will always warm the ground.'" - and the thought of wading through another 800 pages of this nonsense made me want to give up there and then. Everyone talks in this mock-heroic, pompous patois except Frederick Hohenstaufen, who throws "goddamn" into every sentence. This is meant to make him sound down-to-earth but just makes him sound American, which is ridiculous for a 13th Century German emperor.
Reading the dialogue is like listening in on a teenage game of dungeons and dragons, and very long game at that. This is the third book in the series, which might explain why the characters spend so much time going over events of the previous books. The non-dialogue writing is better, but there doesn't seem to be any plot; just a parade of groups of characters who spend all their time thinking and talking and doing nothing.
And boy, does it go on. There are seven authors here, all writing with the same breathless adolescent portentousness. The urge to introduce unfamiliar words is never resisted, even when there is no need. For instance, we're told that Haakon has only just learned how to pronounce the Mongol capital Karakorum, though I'm stumped at how else it could be pronounced. Meanwhile, groups of characters wander around and chatter to each other or themselves, but however great the distances not one of them ever seems to stumble on a plot.
I'm sure the writers enjoyed themselves, but it's all very self-indulgent, like fan fiction for a book that nobody has bothered to write.
It's hideously bloated and poorly written, like a parody that someone forgot to make funny. The first two sentences give a taste of the laughable dialogue - "The Shield-Brethren buried Finn on the hill where they had set up camp. 'It is not as grand as one of those burial mounds--the kurgans--we have seen,' Raphael pointed out to Feronantus, 'but it has a view of where we came from, and the sun will always warm the ground.'" - and the thought of wading through another 800 pages of this nonsense made me want to give up there and then. Everyone talks in this mock-heroic, pompous patois except Frederick Hohenstaufen, who throws "goddamn" into every sentence. This is meant to make him sound down-to-earth but just makes him sound American, which is ridiculous for a 13th Century German emperor.
Reading the dialogue is like listening in on a teenage game of dungeons and dragons, and very long game at that. This is the third book in the series, which might explain why the characters spend so much time going over events of the previous books. The non-dialogue writing is better, but there doesn't seem to be any plot; just a parade of groups of characters who spend all their time thinking and talking and doing nothing.
And boy, does it go on. There are seven authors here, all writing with the same breathless adolescent portentousness. The urge to introduce unfamiliar words is never resisted, even when there is no need. For instance, we're told that Haakon has only just learned how to pronounce the Mongol capital Karakorum, though I'm stumped at how else it could be pronounced. Meanwhile, groups of characters wander around and chatter to each other or themselves, but however great the distances not one of them ever seems to stumble on a plot.
I'm sure the writers enjoyed themselves, but it's all very self-indulgent, like fan fiction for a book that nobody has bothered to write.
October 27, 2015
The third part and final pay-off for the Mongoliad trilogy. Stephenson and friend's grand experiment in collaborative fiction draws to its epic conclusion. And Epic is a good word for it, weighing in at a staggering seventy chapters, this isn't a a quick read. Luckily, for the Kindle edition at least, the first 8% is actually the excellent Mark Teppo short story Seer (which I've cheekily reviewed separately) – Teppo is definitely an author that I'll be looking out for post-Mongoliad.
As is de rigueur for these kind of things each chapter jumps from one scene to the next more of less rotating through each of the narrative threads we've been following so far: Gansukh and Lian are travelling across the steppe with the Khagan so he can visit his father's grave and his ancestral homelands; Cnân and Feronantus are not far behind, chasing them to try and kill the Khagan; Andreas and the rest of the Ordo Militum Vindicis Intactae stay behind to continue to fight in the Khan's gladiatorial circus; and finally, off in Rome, Father Rodrigo finds himself caught up in the, increasingly strained, election of the new Pontiff.
As the final part it should be expected to bring the various disparate stories together into some kind of cohesive narrative – but spread across three different locations in Rome and the Mongolian steppe the chances of them all meeting up was always going to be remote. The three storylines on the steppe feel somewhat connected. Feronantus's group has left the Khan's circus and is now trying to catch up with the Khagan's journey to re-find himself. But the story with Rodrigo and Ferenc in Rome feels completely disconnected from the other storylines. The only connection really is the presence of the Binders: Cnân with Feronantus and now a new Binder, Léna, is introduced as part of the retinue of the Emperor Frederick to provide a bit more background to the group and some balance to, the barely trained, Ocyrhoe. And while it's not a perfect novel (or even trilogy), in this respect, it does pretty much succeed as Feronantus completes his bridge from one story to the other completing the circle (or triangle, or whatever).
Other parts of the trilogy are left pretty much hanging though. The Binders, who are fairly heavily teased throughout the trilogy, are never fully explained. The sudden introduction of the diary that Raphael has been charged with keeping is then dropped again. And, while the two big end-of-the-book battles both end decisively there's a very definite left-over feeling where you know you're being set up to wonder about what happens next. As the winners leave the field, not all the losers are necessarily left for dead. What happens next is presumably a spin-off story (what the Foreworld universe is calling side-quests)? But if you're the kind of reader who likes all their loose ends neatly tied up, this is going to bug you.
As other readers have already written, these guys like writing about battles. Each sword thrust and every parry is described in detail. Possibly too much detail – there was a point as the story was wrapping up that I was concerned that they couldn't possibly fill the remaining pages with all that seemed to be left. But there's a lot of sword play in them there battles. Unfortunately, the only person who should have been on the fatal end of one of those thrusts, but wasn't, was whichever one of them came up with the title for chapter 38: "One of Our Khans is Missing" – purlease!
There is no fourth book planned, but instead there are side-quest short stories and novellas and some shared-world novels set in different times of history. While not the same authors necessarily, I'm going to give them a chance, even if it's only because I'm hoping that the Binders and the Ordo Militum Vindicis Intactae will be two threads running through all these different groups of novels. Alalazu!
As is de rigueur for these kind of things each chapter jumps from one scene to the next more of less rotating through each of the narrative threads we've been following so far: Gansukh and Lian are travelling across the steppe with the Khagan so he can visit his father's grave and his ancestral homelands; Cnân and Feronantus are not far behind, chasing them to try and kill the Khagan; Andreas and the rest of the Ordo Militum Vindicis Intactae stay behind to continue to fight in the Khan's gladiatorial circus; and finally, off in Rome, Father Rodrigo finds himself caught up in the, increasingly strained, election of the new Pontiff.
As the final part it should be expected to bring the various disparate stories together into some kind of cohesive narrative – but spread across three different locations in Rome and the Mongolian steppe the chances of them all meeting up was always going to be remote. The three storylines on the steppe feel somewhat connected. Feronantus's group has left the Khan's circus and is now trying to catch up with the Khagan's journey to re-find himself. But the story with Rodrigo and Ferenc in Rome feels completely disconnected from the other storylines. The only connection really is the presence of the Binders: Cnân with Feronantus and now a new Binder, Léna, is introduced as part of the retinue of the Emperor Frederick to provide a bit more background to the group and some balance to, the barely trained, Ocyrhoe. And while it's not a perfect novel (or even trilogy), in this respect, it does pretty much succeed as Feronantus completes his bridge from one story to the other completing the circle (or triangle, or whatever).
Other parts of the trilogy are left pretty much hanging though. The Binders, who are fairly heavily teased throughout the trilogy, are never fully explained. The sudden introduction of the diary that Raphael has been charged with keeping is then dropped again. And, while the two big end-of-the-book battles both end decisively there's a very definite left-over feeling where you know you're being set up to wonder about what happens next. As the winners leave the field, not all the losers are necessarily left for dead. What happens next is presumably a spin-off story (what the Foreworld universe is calling side-quests)? But if you're the kind of reader who likes all their loose ends neatly tied up, this is going to bug you.
As other readers have already written, these guys like writing about battles. Each sword thrust and every parry is described in detail. Possibly too much detail – there was a point as the story was wrapping up that I was concerned that they couldn't possibly fill the remaining pages with all that seemed to be left. But there's a lot of sword play in them there battles. Unfortunately, the only person who should have been on the fatal end of one of those thrusts, but wasn't, was whichever one of them came up with the title for chapter 38: "One of Our Khans is Missing" – purlease!
There is no fourth book planned, but instead there are side-quest short stories and novellas and some shared-world novels set in different times of history. While not the same authors necessarily, I'm going to give them a chance, even if it's only because I'm hoping that the Binders and the Ordo Militum Vindicis Intactae will be two threads running through all these different groups of novels. Alalazu!
February 6, 2014
Audiobook from Brilliance Audio
Narrated by Luke Daniels
Length: 22 hours, 11 minutes
Note: I received this audiobook as a complete package with a prequel, Seer: A Prequel to the Mongoliad, included. This review only covers The Mongoliad: Book Three, as I reviewed Seer: A Prequel to the Mongoliad separately.
Because the books in this trilogy (The Foreworld Saga) are not stand-alone, I strongly recommend reading the reviews for The Mongoliad: Book One and The Mongoliad: Book Two as well. Because it is one story divided--sometimes awkwardly--into three books, there isn't much to say about this one that wasn't said about the other two.
These books tell 3 separate stories in parallel, from various points of view. The three stories are:
1) Ogedai Kahn: follows the Rose Knights as they try to kill Ogedai Kahn (the son of Genghis Kahn and leader of the Mongol empire) but also follows Ogedai's camp (including some of his camp followers and Ogedai himself)
2) Onwei Kahn: follows a different group of Rose Knights as they try to kill Onwei Kahn (Ogedai's brother), but also follows some of the prisoners that Onwei has taken to play in his circus-like battle arena. The story also opens to the Levonian Knights in the third book.
3) The Pope in Rome: follows the College of Cardinals as they elect a new Pope, a deranged Priest named Father Rodrigo, as well as his protector
In the end, I was left mostly unsatisfied with the book and the trilogy. Throughout all three books, the narrative was split into a chapter per point of view. Typically, the viewpoint would cycle between the three main plot lines (so every third chapter, more or less, would tell part of the story in the Ogedai Kahn line), though it wouldn't always ben from the same perspective. This made it confusing, especially at first, to remember which character was which (the odd names, especially for the Mongols, didn't help this either), and what had last happened in their particular part of the story line, as well as where the story line was overall. It might have been better to read in print than it was to listen to, but listening got quite confusing, and difficult to flip back in the book to see what was missed/forgotten/where the story was last left. Since the three plot lines were mostly parallel and had only a small bit of commonality between the first 2 plot lines in the first book, it might have also been easier to follow along and understand if each book in the trilogy focused on a different plot line, instead of all three books having all three plot lines.
As was mentioned before, this trilogy and the other works in the series (such as the prequels and the "side quest" stories that I have either reviewed or will be reviewing soon) were the product of an experiment by Neal Stephenson and some of his colleagues. I suspect, having finished the main trilogy, that each author was responsible for one character/viewpoint in this world that was created, and then the stories were merged into one book. Unfortunately, as can often happen in this type of collaboration, this made the stories difficult to follow at times, and lead to sub-plots or aspects of the story that didn't seem to really matter in the context of the overall story and its ultimate conclusion...not that the conclusion was particularly satisfying in and of itself, either. There was an open acknowledgement that some of the plot lines were not tied up, and the reader is left wondering why so many pages of the trilogy were devoted to an aspect left unfinished. This was disappointing to me, and contributes to my overall low rating of this book and the trilogy as a whole. I felt like a lot of this book (and the other two in the Foreworld Saga) could have been left out with better editing, and the Saga itself would have been stronger, more cohesive, for it. This isn't the first time I've come across this with Neal Stephenson's works, and was probably exacerbated by the social media format that the world and series started with.
In the end, the story lines in the trilogy would probably have been better off as short stories in the world, or at least as separate (parallel) books in this saga. I quite enjoyed the two prequel books I've read so far (Sinner and Dreamer), and am excited to listen to the third prequel, Seer, as well as the side quest stories. I think this kind of world--the world we know, events that are real, but imagining characters within them--lends itself nicely to the short form writing that many of these authors do so well. Somehow, the collaboration into one large story managed to break that recipe for success. Instead of being drawn in, I was jarred from one story to the next, not always remembering what was going on or who the key players were for a given viewpoint. Some of the sub-plots introduced didn't make much sense in the context of the larger world, the larger work. They were introduced and the reader spent time with them, but in the end, their resolution (if it was provided) didn't matter to the overall story arc. Worse, some of the sub-plots didn't have any sort of resolution, but were left hanging...I wonder what will become of those, if they will be revisited in the smaller stories.
I normally like Luke Daniels' narration, but this time, it didn't work overly well for me. His normal voice usually doesn't add much to the book--which I like, as I find too much acting by the narrator can be distracting--but with this material, his normal voice actually lulled me to sleep...many times. I found I had better luck when I burned the CD's to audio files and sped up the playback. My problems with the narration, though, could be more a product of the content, not the narration itself.
In the end, I was disappointed by the Foreworld Saga. I like the idea of it, but I think it could have been better executed. That said, I did enjoy the two prequels that I have read, and am looking forward to jumping to the third prequel and the side quests. I think the short form of those stories will work better in this world, and I look forward to meeting characters that could have in fact been in our past.
Narrated by Luke Daniels
Length: 22 hours, 11 minutes
Note: I received this audiobook as a complete package with a prequel, Seer: A Prequel to the Mongoliad, included. This review only covers The Mongoliad: Book Three, as I reviewed Seer: A Prequel to the Mongoliad separately.
Because the books in this trilogy (The Foreworld Saga) are not stand-alone, I strongly recommend reading the reviews for The Mongoliad: Book One and The Mongoliad: Book Two as well. Because it is one story divided--sometimes awkwardly--into three books, there isn't much to say about this one that wasn't said about the other two.
These books tell 3 separate stories in parallel, from various points of view. The three stories are:
1) Ogedai Kahn: follows the Rose Knights as they try to kill Ogedai Kahn (the son of Genghis Kahn and leader of the Mongol empire) but also follows Ogedai's camp (including some of his camp followers and Ogedai himself)
2) Onwei Kahn: follows a different group of Rose Knights as they try to kill Onwei Kahn (Ogedai's brother), but also follows some of the prisoners that Onwei has taken to play in his circus-like battle arena. The story also opens to the Levonian Knights in the third book.
3) The Pope in Rome: follows the College of Cardinals as they elect a new Pope, a deranged Priest named Father Rodrigo, as well as his protector
In the end, I was left mostly unsatisfied with the book and the trilogy. Throughout all three books, the narrative was split into a chapter per point of view. Typically, the viewpoint would cycle between the three main plot lines (so every third chapter, more or less, would tell part of the story in the Ogedai Kahn line), though it wouldn't always ben from the same perspective. This made it confusing, especially at first, to remember which character was which (the odd names, especially for the Mongols, didn't help this either), and what had last happened in their particular part of the story line, as well as where the story line was overall. It might have been better to read in print than it was to listen to, but listening got quite confusing, and difficult to flip back in the book to see what was missed/forgotten/where the story was last left. Since the three plot lines were mostly parallel and had only a small bit of commonality between the first 2 plot lines in the first book, it might have also been easier to follow along and understand if each book in the trilogy focused on a different plot line, instead of all three books having all three plot lines.
As was mentioned before, this trilogy and the other works in the series (such as the prequels and the "side quest" stories that I have either reviewed or will be reviewing soon) were the product of an experiment by Neal Stephenson and some of his colleagues. I suspect, having finished the main trilogy, that each author was responsible for one character/viewpoint in this world that was created, and then the stories were merged into one book. Unfortunately, as can often happen in this type of collaboration, this made the stories difficult to follow at times, and lead to sub-plots or aspects of the story that didn't seem to really matter in the context of the overall story and its ultimate conclusion...not that the conclusion was particularly satisfying in and of itself, either. There was an open acknowledgement that some of the plot lines were not tied up, and the reader is left wondering why so many pages of the trilogy were devoted to an aspect left unfinished. This was disappointing to me, and contributes to my overall low rating of this book and the trilogy as a whole. I felt like a lot of this book (and the other two in the Foreworld Saga) could have been left out with better editing, and the Saga itself would have been stronger, more cohesive, for it. This isn't the first time I've come across this with Neal Stephenson's works, and was probably exacerbated by the social media format that the world and series started with.
In the end, the story lines in the trilogy would probably have been better off as short stories in the world, or at least as separate (parallel) books in this saga. I quite enjoyed the two prequel books I've read so far (Sinner and Dreamer), and am excited to listen to the third prequel, Seer, as well as the side quest stories. I think this kind of world--the world we know, events that are real, but imagining characters within them--lends itself nicely to the short form writing that many of these authors do so well. Somehow, the collaboration into one large story managed to break that recipe for success. Instead of being drawn in, I was jarred from one story to the next, not always remembering what was going on or who the key players were for a given viewpoint. Some of the sub-plots introduced didn't make much sense in the context of the larger world, the larger work. They were introduced and the reader spent time with them, but in the end, their resolution (if it was provided) didn't matter to the overall story arc. Worse, some of the sub-plots didn't have any sort of resolution, but were left hanging...I wonder what will become of those, if they will be revisited in the smaller stories.
I normally like Luke Daniels' narration, but this time, it didn't work overly well for me. His normal voice usually doesn't add much to the book--which I like, as I find too much acting by the narrator can be distracting--but with this material, his normal voice actually lulled me to sleep...many times. I found I had better luck when I burned the CD's to audio files and sped up the playback. My problems with the narration, though, could be more a product of the content, not the narration itself.
In the end, I was disappointed by the Foreworld Saga. I like the idea of it, but I think it could have been better executed. That said, I did enjoy the two prequels that I have read, and am looking forward to jumping to the third prequel and the side quests. I think the short form of those stories will work better in this world, and I look forward to meeting characters that could have in fact been in our past.
February 8, 2016
This is the concluding book of the Mongoliad trilogy, and it earned the 5 stars because the parts I enjoyed far outweighed the parts I did not. So you should know going forward that the book is not perfect. In particular, the ending left a lot on the table (hopefully for more books, but I'm not seeing much online to indicate that that will be the case). Part three continues the 5 main storylines, and now that the trilogy is over, one can really see how the manner these were initially released (in a serial format, chapters at a time I believe) affected the cohesion of the story as a whole. The Father Rodrigo story ended up being very strange and had little to nothing to do with the Shield Brethren story lines. The other perspectives, for the most part, end up intersecting in a Neal-ish type of way. Unfortunately, that intersection pits characters that the reader had probably grown to like against each other, leaving us in a bit of a bind.
Overall though, as I said, I loved these books. They were the sort of blend of historical fact with fiction that made the Assassin's Creed games so interesting (until the end of the last one), where the writers took gaps in history, due to time or otherwise, and filled it in with their own characters who move in and out of recorded events. I found myself, again, turning to wikipedia a couple times for more information on the Cardinals in Rome, Frederick II, or to look up the Mongol sacking or Kiev, or whatever. What really made these books for me were the Brethren. Most of them were just the sort of man that I would hope to be; courageous, devoted, and honorable, and even though they were not perfect they worked to be better and soldiered on. I realize that the Shield Brethren are a very idealized, romantic view of what a knight was during this time, but isn't that why we read books? To escape a bit to a world where knights stood up for their honor and for the defense of those who can't defend themselves?
That is not to say that everything ends up peachy at the end. Very much like reading the Game of Thrones, I found myself cursing the writers as another of my favorite characters was killed off. Don't fall in love as you read this book; it might not end well for you. And the ending was very similar to Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash, and Diamond Age, and.. in that it seemed rushed and very unconcerned with loose ends. In fact, they seem to go out of their way in the end to free up loose ends. But, as with Neal's other books, it is not enough to turn me off of the books, and perhaps it is true that it is the journey that matters, more so than the destination. Or maybe I'm waxing way too philosophical about it. Regardless, I'm excited to read the rest of the side quests, if only to see the Knights of the Virgin Defender live a bit more.
Overall though, as I said, I loved these books. They were the sort of blend of historical fact with fiction that made the Assassin's Creed games so interesting (until the end of the last one), where the writers took gaps in history, due to time or otherwise, and filled it in with their own characters who move in and out of recorded events. I found myself, again, turning to wikipedia a couple times for more information on the Cardinals in Rome, Frederick II, or to look up the Mongol sacking or Kiev, or whatever. What really made these books for me were the Brethren. Most of them were just the sort of man that I would hope to be; courageous, devoted, and honorable, and even though they were not perfect they worked to be better and soldiered on. I realize that the Shield Brethren are a very idealized, romantic view of what a knight was during this time, but isn't that why we read books? To escape a bit to a world where knights stood up for their honor and for the defense of those who can't defend themselves?
That is not to say that everything ends up peachy at the end. Very much like reading the Game of Thrones, I found myself cursing the writers as another of my favorite characters was killed off. Don't fall in love as you read this book; it might not end well for you. And the ending was very similar to Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash, and Diamond Age, and.. in that it seemed rushed and very unconcerned with loose ends. In fact, they seem to go out of their way in the end to free up loose ends. But, as with Neal's other books, it is not enough to turn me off of the books, and perhaps it is true that it is the journey that matters, more so than the destination. Or maybe I'm waxing way too philosophical about it. Regardless, I'm excited to read the rest of the side quests, if only to see the Knights of the Virgin Defender live a bit more.
March 19, 2013
I bought and read the first two books in this series as soon as they came out. And even though I thought the second book started to sag in the middle, the third one more than makes up for it.
Book One set the stage. Book Two moved all the pieces into position. Book Three is the payoff. Finally.
Basically there are three plotlines running through the book: (1) a simple priest is wounded during a defeat by the Mongols, and staggers home to Rome sick and feverish. There, he is miraculously cured. At the same time, due to the machinations of the various cardinals, he is named Pope. But he leaves Rome to spread the message of a new Crusade to defeat the Mongols.
(2) The Shield Brethren are in Hunern, the site of a major defeat inflicted on the West by the Mongols. Instead of moving forward, however, the Mongol Khan has erected an amphitheater and challenged all the best warriors in Christendom to fight the best warriors he's captured during his campaigns. The Shield Brethren (eventually) decide to fight back.
(3) A small group of Shield Brethren travels deep into Mongol territory, to hunt for and kill the Khan of Khans, Ogodei, the junior son of Genghis Khan.
All of the above is just an overview; the actual story and various plotlines are much more convoluted and involved than I can set out in a review. The story progresses in tiny steps, with small chapters giving a snippet of information before moving to another thread in another chapter. This technique wasn't very effective in Book Two, but in Book Three it works pretty well and keeps the action from being bogged down. Also, the small chapters ensure that the climaxes from the three plotlines occur more-or-less simultaneously, with two set-piece battles and one smaller conflict.
Not all the threads are fully resolved by the end. There's always the question of what happens next. But the book's ending is still satisfying -- if not exhausting.
Bottom line is, if you've made it through Books One and Two, then Book Three is well worth it. If you don't like historical/martial fantasy, none of these books are for you. I found them to be a lot of fun to read.
Book One set the stage. Book Two moved all the pieces into position. Book Three is the payoff. Finally.
Basically there are three plotlines running through the book: (1) a simple priest is wounded during a defeat by the Mongols, and staggers home to Rome sick and feverish. There, he is miraculously cured. At the same time, due to the machinations of the various cardinals, he is named Pope. But he leaves Rome to spread the message of a new Crusade to defeat the Mongols.
(2) The Shield Brethren are in Hunern, the site of a major defeat inflicted on the West by the Mongols. Instead of moving forward, however, the Mongol Khan has erected an amphitheater and challenged all the best warriors in Christendom to fight the best warriors he's captured during his campaigns. The Shield Brethren (eventually) decide to fight back.
(3) A small group of Shield Brethren travels deep into Mongol territory, to hunt for and kill the Khan of Khans, Ogodei, the junior son of Genghis Khan.
All of the above is just an overview; the actual story and various plotlines are much more convoluted and involved than I can set out in a review. The story progresses in tiny steps, with small chapters giving a snippet of information before moving to another thread in another chapter. This technique wasn't very effective in Book Two, but in Book Three it works pretty well and keeps the action from being bogged down. Also, the small chapters ensure that the climaxes from the three plotlines occur more-or-less simultaneously, with two set-piece battles and one smaller conflict.
Not all the threads are fully resolved by the end. There's always the question of what happens next. But the book's ending is still satisfying -- if not exhausting.
Bottom line is, if you've made it through Books One and Two, then Book Three is well worth it. If you don't like historical/martial fantasy, none of these books are for you. I found them to be a lot of fun to read.
January 12, 2013
Wooboy this is a long book! Don't read this one if you haven't read the rest, it's not stand alone. Okay, this is the third book in a complicated series in an alternate history universe during the Mongolian invasion of Eastern Europe. Filled with Christian Knights, Mongols, Popes (more than one) Kings, Khans, feral children, you name it.
Technically, I think this is a very good book, a testament to the computer age that so many writers could get together and write without entanglement and seemingly not let egos or anything get in the way. The characters were well written all the way around, the world building was wonderful, it was all good. In fact the continuation of the characters were why I finished the book as I felt involved in their lives and cared about them.
My only gripe is that it was just so long. By page 400 (half way) of my version, I was forcing myself to open the book because I actually wanted to finish it, not because I was interested... Book 2 was sort of like that without the length...I was interested in the characters but I felt like I was jogging in place. Okay Okay okay, get on with it! I really liked the description of the ShieldBrethren crossing the plains, it made it seem real, I understand the hugeness of it... still... wow... And then Poof! after about the 400th page the pace picked up and I knew that I was heading to the denouement. That was pretty much the only technical mistake of maybe two, it was a little obvious.
So then the pace picked up and I could barely put the book down... ZOOOM! I finished those last 400 pages in a blur. The the end... Okay, it was a little obvious. I liked some of the storyline conclusions and not others and jeez, do you need to make it more obvious that that MAY NOT BE THE END? Well, I don't think I have it in me to be more interested in the characters who are alive. This was a pleasant series, not perfect but pretty good and it should be done, leave us wanting more, don't leave us going "OKAY great, I'm done now!"
I recommend the series, not bad, and at least with this book, it's worth the price!
Technically, I think this is a very good book, a testament to the computer age that so many writers could get together and write without entanglement and seemingly not let egos or anything get in the way. The characters were well written all the way around, the world building was wonderful, it was all good. In fact the continuation of the characters were why I finished the book as I felt involved in their lives and cared about them.
My only gripe is that it was just so long. By page 400 (half way) of my version, I was forcing myself to open the book because I actually wanted to finish it, not because I was interested... Book 2 was sort of like that without the length...I was interested in the characters but I felt like I was jogging in place. Okay Okay okay, get on with it! I really liked the description of the ShieldBrethren crossing the plains, it made it seem real, I understand the hugeness of it... still... wow... And then Poof! after about the 400th page the pace picked up and I knew that I was heading to the denouement. That was pretty much the only technical mistake of maybe two, it was a little obvious.
So then the pace picked up and I could barely put the book down... ZOOOM! I finished those last 400 pages in a blur. The the end... Okay, it was a little obvious. I liked some of the storyline conclusions and not others and jeez, do you need to make it more obvious that that MAY NOT BE THE END? Well, I don't think I have it in me to be more interested in the characters who are alive. This was a pleasant series, not perfect but pretty good and it should be done, leave us wanting more, don't leave us going "OKAY great, I'm done now!"
I recommend the series, not bad, and at least with this book, it's worth the price!
September 3, 2020
This book was a great cap to the long trilogy (although - put together I think it's not longer than a Brandon Sanderson Stormlight Archive book). While the first third of the book continues to build things up, we've met just about everyone by the time we've arrived here and so the last 2/3 of the book is a wild ride. It feels like the tension just keeps building until you're on a giant roller coaster ride to the bottom once the climax proper begins. I can't really talk about too many specifics in the third book in a trilogy without getting into spoilres, so instead I'll talk about what I thought was best about this book.
- The book acknowledges that, even for the knights and mongol warriors, taking another human's life is not easy. There are often lingering effects, up to and including PTSD. It brings a much more grounded reality and complexity to the characters and I really loved that. This trilogy seemed to have the best of both worlds - incredible fight scenes followed by consequences.
- Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II is one of my favorite characters of all time. (Behind Hoid of The Cosmere) His realpolitik made any scene with him a real joy. I think he was used just the right amount because it left me wanting even more.
- The mystical elements of the trilogy were well-handled here. It's always fun to be in a world where most people don't believe in the mystical, but we readers know it's real.
- Realistic-ish consequences for our protagonists. They weren't all protected by plot armor and that made it more exciting to see who would live and who would die.
After writing this I'm going to do a little research into how much Stephenson, et al were playing with history here. From Hardcore History and other podcasts, I know the Mongols almost conquered Europe. Then Ogedai died and they never found a way to get back. And a HUGE shame that I NEVER learned this in world history. (More like European history! ugh!) It wasn't until my late 20s or maybe even early 30s that I learned about the vastness of the Mongol Empire. So we know that much is true, even if it's 99.99% certain some Militaristic Christian order didn't kill him. But was The Mongoliad real? If so, that's bananas. Did the Mongols really collect fighters from around Asia? Even if the details of Father Rodrigo were fabricated for this story - was there really a vede sacante? (Or whatever where they couldn't pick a pope) and was it really in part caused by Frederick's interventions? And finally, did something like The Binders really exist? It does make sense as a sort of Eurasian spy-for-hire network since most people in either continent wouldn't be likely to travel much. (Crusaders being an exception)
If you read the first two books and weren't sure about the pacing - it gets better. If you haven't read the first two and are somehow reading this review - if you like historical fiction and would like to see a part of the history in a part of the world that almost no one ever talks about - this trilogy from the Foreworld Saga is DEFINITELY highly recommended.
- The book acknowledges that, even for the knights and mongol warriors, taking another human's life is not easy. There are often lingering effects, up to and including PTSD. It brings a much more grounded reality and complexity to the characters and I really loved that. This trilogy seemed to have the best of both worlds - incredible fight scenes followed by consequences.
- Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II is one of my favorite characters of all time. (Behind Hoid of The Cosmere) His realpolitik made any scene with him a real joy. I think he was used just the right amount because it left me wanting even more.
- The mystical elements of the trilogy were well-handled here. It's always fun to be in a world where most people don't believe in the mystical, but we readers know it's real.
- Realistic-ish consequences for our protagonists. They weren't all protected by plot armor and that made it more exciting to see who would live and who would die.
After writing this I'm going to do a little research into how much Stephenson, et al were playing with history here. From Hardcore History and other podcasts, I know the Mongols almost conquered Europe. Then Ogedai died and they never found a way to get back. And a HUGE shame that I NEVER learned this in world history. (More like European history! ugh!) It wasn't until my late 20s or maybe even early 30s that I learned about the vastness of the Mongol Empire. So we know that much is true, even if it's 99.99% certain some Militaristic Christian order didn't kill him. But was The Mongoliad real? If so, that's bananas. Did the Mongols really collect fighters from around Asia? Even if the details of Father Rodrigo were fabricated for this story - was there really a vede sacante? (Or whatever where they couldn't pick a pope) and was it really in part caused by Frederick's interventions? And finally, did something like The Binders really exist? It does make sense as a sort of Eurasian spy-for-hire network since most people in either continent wouldn't be likely to travel much. (Crusaders being an exception)
If you read the first two books and weren't sure about the pacing - it gets better. If you haven't read the first two and are somehow reading this review - if you like historical fiction and would like to see a part of the history in a part of the world that almost no one ever talks about - this trilogy from the Foreworld Saga is DEFINITELY highly recommended.
July 23, 2013
Meh. The first book set me up with pretty high hopes for this series, which weren't sustained by the second book, but I held out hope that there would be some interesting plot twists and developments in the final book to sustain the story. It was not to be.
There are no real twists in the main plot, and it plods along to the inevitable final showdown between the Knights and the Khan. Lots of people die and the book ends. I found that story line annoying enough on its own, but my frustration was aggravated by the host of side plots that are nowhere near close to resolution (Gansukh & Lian, Haakon, The binders in Rome, The remainder of the company in Leginica, etc, etc), all of these stories are just left hanging in the middle of their plots.
I suspect some of this is that all these stories are carried on in the so called "Side Quests" that are sold alongside the main trilogy. Unfortunately given my tepid response to the main story-line I just can't bring myself to pay money for the side-quests, or waste the many months of time that it would take to borrow them from the Kindle library.
If you're going to do a main story-line with off-shoot books then the main story line needs to be interesting enough on it's own, and contain enough plot and resolution for the branching stories that they don't seem to be left hanging. This trilogy failed on both those counts. By comparison Diana Gabaldon's Cross Stitch/Outlander series and the associated Lord John books have walked this line very well.
Reading Time: 9 hours, 5 mins (longest of the three books, and probably didn't contribute favourable to my impressions, given the lack of story).
There are no real twists in the main plot, and it plods along to the inevitable final showdown between the Knights and the Khan. Lots of people die and the book ends. I found that story line annoying enough on its own, but my frustration was aggravated by the host of side plots that are nowhere near close to resolution (Gansukh & Lian, Haakon, The binders in Rome, The remainder of the company in Leginica, etc, etc), all of these stories are just left hanging in the middle of their plots.
I suspect some of this is that all these stories are carried on in the so called "Side Quests" that are sold alongside the main trilogy. Unfortunately given my tepid response to the main story-line I just can't bring myself to pay money for the side-quests, or waste the many months of time that it would take to borrow them from the Kindle library.
If you're going to do a main story-line with off-shoot books then the main story line needs to be interesting enough on it's own, and contain enough plot and resolution for the branching stories that they don't seem to be left hanging. This trilogy failed on both those counts. By comparison Diana Gabaldon's Cross Stitch/Outlander series and the associated Lord John books have walked this line very well.
Reading Time: 9 hours, 5 mins (longest of the three books, and probably didn't contribute favourable to my impressions, given the lack of story).
March 12, 2013
With so many strands and so many authors, it's incredible this is such an even read. Though inevitably there are a couple of bits I liked less, and some of the pope-choosing goes on a bit (just like real life, eh, readers????!!!!), the book hauled me through 800-odd pages impressively. Lots more fights - I want an edition with a button built in which plays a sample of clashing swords when you press it. A fun trilogy.
March 24, 2013
Well this series certainly picked up. I wonder which of the numerous listed authors actually pulled it together. Very satisfying endings to many threads, which causes consternation in my innermost modernist self, but makes my primitive story-listening self happy.
October 20, 2023
This tested me, really. I do want to believe the people involved enjoyed themselves, but they should have thought of the readers, as well, instead of aiding and abetting the bloat - and then rushing to the three dramatic finales in parallel. Plus, since there was so much writing, some shoddy lines sneaked through and nobody detected them in time. Now I need some rest before tackling volumes IV and V...
Read
December 12, 2018The speech of the King is the most hilarious attitude of a king I've read, so condescending, swearing, and funny. Also, the story and work is good, especially if you've made it to book 3
September 22, 2024
Conclusion of the great medieval adventure about the last days of the Mongol campaign in western Europe.
Read
February 11, 2025Reading this was quite a slog; I specially disliked the slowness of the parts where the authors goes deep into the introspective moods and feelings of characters, and the political stuff. I also didn't like when one of the main characters start acting in a totally counter-intuitive way, virtually out-of-(his own)-character.
The narrative starts picking up at about 80% of the book, and the last 90% are actually quite good. The ending is specially nice. These final 10% almost makes up for the slowness and boredom of the initial 80% -- but only almost.
The series could end here as a trilogy and not much would be lost -- but I see there's still two other massive books, and a number of shorter tales and even comic books (!). Of the latter, I already gave "Cimarronin" a look and it's not bad, so despite the mild disappointment that was the current book, I think I will keep going through that series and its associated works in due time -- just not right away.
My rating: 2.5/5, rounded up to 3 stars.
The narrative starts picking up at about 80% of the book, and the last 90% are actually quite good. The ending is specially nice. These final 10% almost makes up for the slowness and boredom of the initial 80% -- but only almost.
The series could end here as a trilogy and not much would be lost -- but I see there's still two other massive books, and a number of shorter tales and even comic books (!). Of the latter, I already gave "Cimarronin" a look and it's not bad, so despite the mild disappointment that was the current book, I think I will keep going through that series and its associated works in due time -- just not right away.
My rating: 2.5/5, rounded up to 3 stars.
March 11, 2017
Definitely my favorite of the three books.
July 7, 2017
I enjoyed the series. Although Book 2 & 3 were my favourite. Reading Book 1 familiarised you with the characters.
Quite different from the Neal Stephenson novels I have read before, but it's a collaborative series.
Set in the time of Genghas, the crusades and Rome being the center of the Christian faith.
Church politics, Frederick the Great, Binders ( witches according to the church), Gladiators and a underlying storyline of a group of Crusaders and their affiliates who set out to kill the Khan, expecting not to return.
A few skimmeshes with Mongoliad warriors... etc..
Quite different from the Neal Stephenson novels I have read before, but it's a collaborative series.
Set in the time of Genghas, the crusades and Rome being the center of the Christian faith.
Church politics, Frederick the Great, Binders ( witches according to the church), Gladiators and a underlying storyline of a group of Crusaders and their affiliates who set out to kill the Khan, expecting not to return.
A few skimmeshes with Mongoliad warriors... etc..
August 26, 2014
The best way to describe the plot overall is in the words of one grant reviewer for NSF (National Science Foundation) who was from Montana:
"It's like tracking a deer across the mountains and valleys and forests and in the end realizing that you've been following a cow."
This is especially true for the Roman story. It is not even clear why it is in the book. The whole writing of the book seems uneven, like a sequences of short stories from "Fantasy from Poland" collection from mid-1990s. The "grand plot" is like a computer game project that ran out of money about three quarters of the way into production, so there are a lot of "hidden doors" and valleys that lead to nothing.
The fight sequences are good. As well as the dying sequences. ("And then he saw the flashes of white light... and knew nothing more.") Characters are somewhat well developed, but less than one would like to, and at some point, commitment to them just peters out (Cnan, Istvan, Feronantus, Vera, Raphael -- there is a development of a story going on for a while, but at some point, they are there just for fighting sequences in the end, if at all; on the other hand, Andreas was developed rather well).
In general, it seems like this was a product of the writers who obviously had good talent, but didn't care enought to develop each path of their story and didn't have a good project manager supervising the grand plot.
"It's like tracking a deer across the mountains and valleys and forests and in the end realizing that you've been following a cow."
This is especially true for the Roman story. It is not even clear why it is in the book. The whole writing of the book seems uneven, like a sequences of short stories from "Fantasy from Poland" collection from mid-1990s. The "grand plot" is like a computer game project that ran out of money about three quarters of the way into production, so there are a lot of "hidden doors" and valleys that lead to nothing.
The fight sequences are good. As well as the dying sequences. ("And then he saw the flashes of white light... and knew nothing more.") Characters are somewhat well developed, but less than one would like to, and at some point, commitment to them just peters out (Cnan, Istvan, Feronantus, Vera, Raphael -- there is a development of a story going on for a while, but at some point, they are there just for fighting sequences in the end, if at all; on the other hand, Andreas was developed rather well).
In general, it seems like this was a product of the writers who obviously had good talent, but didn't care enought to develop each path of their story and didn't have a good project manager supervising the grand plot.
March 15, 2013
YAY! Damn, I like these books. You practically need a map of Europe and Asia to keep up (and I really hope an industrious geek out there is constructing a time-lapse map to help establish who is where when), but I like all of the groups involved. It's interesting and the fights are well-written and I've discovered that I'm attached enough to the characters that when one looks to be in danger I actually panic a bit. Because they will kill people. People you like, even.
But that's why I'm nervous! This is a Knights versus Mongols book, which means there are casualties. The Khan in the west is up against a plot shared by Andreas, Zug and Kim, while the Shield-Bretheren have finally found their way to the Khan in the East. And unexpectedly, Haakon's there as well, which is good because I like Haakon.
This series is going along at a good clip and I thoroughly enjoy it. I like the dialogue, I like the personalities, I like reading about scheming cardinals just as a new Pope is being named in real time. I am just thoroughly entertained.
But that's why I'm nervous! This is a Knights versus Mongols book, which means there are casualties. The Khan in the west is up against a plot shared by Andreas, Zug and Kim, while the Shield-Bretheren have finally found their way to the Khan in the East. And unexpectedly, Haakon's there as well, which is good because I like Haakon.
This series is going along at a good clip and I thoroughly enjoy it. I like the dialogue, I like the personalities, I like reading about scheming cardinals just as a new Pope is being named in real time. I am just thoroughly entertained.
June 28, 2013
I blame Cormack McCarthy for not finishing his novels as a sign that they are part of life. Now, this incredibly long trilogy that is team written ends with a whimper not a bang. Yes, we come to the end of some strands but we are left with few of the romantic strands connected or even a nod toward them. The authors take an incredible time in reviewing the swordcraft of the warriors in the book. That makes for intolerable pauses in writing and an absence of character or plot invention. OK, I paid for these, but I regretted much of it.
April 9, 2013
This book really dragged. They introduced a new storyline that was wholly irrelevant to the original mission of the first two books. I also do not understand why the supernatural was suddenly given immense importance when it was nearly absent in the previous books.
At halfway I was so ready to be doen with this book, but had already sunk so much time into the series that I could not jettison it.
At halfway I was so ready to be doen with this book, but had already sunk so much time into the series that I could not jettison it.
April 17, 2013
I should have quit while I was behind. If only this motley band of authors cared as much about characters or plot as they do about accurately choreographed melee combat. One of their goals was to encourage fanfic and other fan-created content for their world. At least the readers that pursue these won't have to endure a stark drop in quality.
May 24, 2013
I'm somewhat disappointed with how the story resolves in the end - where the authors trying to setup for a future book 4 or did the story get muddied by having too many cooks in the kitchen? I wanted something to happen with the grail cup and the spirit banner and they both fizzled out. I'm thinking book 4 is got to happen.
May 8, 2013
I didn't figure there was another 800 pages in this story. Some of it is boring read, the fight sequences improving it overall. Predictably unpredictable ending, maybe getting ready for Book 4?
June 13, 2020
What this book, and this series, really, really, really needed was an editor. What it felt like, and I'm pretty sure was, is a group of authors who storyboarded some general plot points, then each of them could do whatever they wanted with their own story line and just coordinated with someone else where their storylines met. Each storyline had about half a dozen main characters and multiple other characters, which means the reader is supposed to keep track of 50-ish "main" characters.
Because it was written as a web series and then collected and published as books, it's written as a continuous stream. But I read them as books, which meant years between book 1 and book 2 and several more years between book 2 and book 3. At no point is there any sort of recap or anything to help the readers reconnect with characters from one volume to the next, which is another useful thing an editor would have done.
There is a scene late in the book in which two captive warrior monks recognize each other, and I'm sure it was supposed to be a major, significant moment. If I could have remembered anything about either of them I'm sure it would have been. There's another warrior monk who hates the Shield Brethren and when someone asks him about it he shows some scars without any explanation, and later he encounters a Shield Brother who recognizes him but there's still no explanation. It was probably something important that happened 2000+ pages ago in the series, which was multple years and hundreds of books ago for me, so I don't remember and have no idea what the issue was.
I felt that several hundred fewer pages of detailed gladiator battles would not have harmed the plot. Some plotlines were much better than others, and many parts were really plodding. A good editor would probably have reduced the page numbers by a third and insisted that the authors give the readers more to grab onto and help with connections between the books.
Because it was written as a web series and then collected and published as books, it's written as a continuous stream. But I read them as books, which meant years between book 1 and book 2 and several more years between book 2 and book 3. At no point is there any sort of recap or anything to help the readers reconnect with characters from one volume to the next, which is another useful thing an editor would have done.
There is a scene late in the book in which two captive warrior monks recognize each other, and I'm sure it was supposed to be a major, significant moment. If I could have remembered anything about either of them I'm sure it would have been. There's another warrior monk who hates the Shield Brethren and when someone asks him about it he shows some scars without any explanation, and later he encounters a Shield Brother who recognizes him but there's still no explanation. It was probably something important that happened 2000+ pages ago in the series, which was multple years and hundreds of books ago for me, so I don't remember and have no idea what the issue was.
I felt that several hundred fewer pages of detailed gladiator battles would not have harmed the plot. Some plotlines were much better than others, and many parts were really plodding. A good editor would probably have reduced the page numbers by a third and insisted that the authors give the readers more to grab onto and help with connections between the books.
November 21, 2016
I really liked this series as a whole, but the end felt kind of blah. As it stands several weeks after finishing I can no longer remeber what happened to the characters in the very end, but their actions leading up to the end (and throughout the whole series) are still fresh. That's how much impact it made. I know they killed Ogedai, but that's about all I recall. The length of the series is about the only thing that bothered me overall. I know that's a product of having a book written by a team of writers who all write really long books on their own. You're just going to end up with a story that gets pretty bloated. It didn't ever drag or feel like parts were unnecessary, despite the length. One of my favorite plot threads of the book was one I thought I was going to have the hardest time getting through, but it ended up being fresh and interesting every time it came around to those characters; the parts with the College of Cardinals, the young binder and Father Roderigo were quite engaging. I especially liked the two cardinals Colona and Capacci. Their antics got me chuckling every time.
March 14, 2019
Lived up to Expectations
Sometimes, before you start reading a book, you just know that you are going to enjoy it. I had that feeling when I started to read The Mongoliad.
As I said previously, it is the characters that make this series so good. After a while reading, you develop a good understanding of each of them. You take a proprietary interest. You develop favorites..These characters drive this story. We see it through their eyes. We know their motivation. So we read on. To find out what happens to them.
Sometimes a great plot is not good enough. Although, this book has one. Without great characters to move it along. It will never get there. I have enjoyed traveling along with them and will miss them as this story has ended.
What a brilliant and suspenseful ending this book has. You never quite know how this will end. There is a sense that the villains will win out. It is that uncertainty that makes this such a page turner. I am so glad that my instincts about this trilogy, ended up being correct.
Sometimes, before you start reading a book, you just know that you are going to enjoy it. I had that feeling when I started to read The Mongoliad.
As I said previously, it is the characters that make this series so good. After a while reading, you develop a good understanding of each of them. You take a proprietary interest. You develop favorites..These characters drive this story. We see it through their eyes. We know their motivation. So we read on. To find out what happens to them.
Sometimes a great plot is not good enough. Although, this book has one. Without great characters to move it along. It will never get there. I have enjoyed traveling along with them and will miss them as this story has ended.
What a brilliant and suspenseful ending this book has. You never quite know how this will end. There is a sense that the villains will win out. It is that uncertainty that makes this such a page turner. I am so glad that my instincts about this trilogy, ended up being correct.
May 27, 2022
Three and a half stars: but the series is beguiling.
The bloody multi-pronged worldwide adventure continues with a new unfolding of deaths: of horses, warriors, cardinals, and prisoners. But this volume is less riveting in its plotting than the 2nd volume, less detailed, and poorly edited in places. The prolonged descriptions of hand-to-hand combat, though peppered with unfamiliar martial equipment and terms, become wearing.
Otherwise, the novel is an engrossing read about the clash of the Mongol Empire, replete with dissolute Khans, gladiatorial fights, willful slaves, and oftentimes noble warriors. Just a few decades prior to the halt of its western expansion, the unsuspecting Khans confront an alliance of Christian and pre-Christian Knights of various orders and a witch-like society of women, the action set against the backdrop of the Vatican's hostility to the Holy Roman Empire.
This volume concludes (usefully) with a brief epilog for each major thread of the storyline, and I look forward to the next two volumes.
The bloody multi-pronged worldwide adventure continues with a new unfolding of deaths: of horses, warriors, cardinals, and prisoners. But this volume is less riveting in its plotting than the 2nd volume, less detailed, and poorly edited in places. The prolonged descriptions of hand-to-hand combat, though peppered with unfamiliar martial equipment and terms, become wearing.
Otherwise, the novel is an engrossing read about the clash of the Mongol Empire, replete with dissolute Khans, gladiatorial fights, willful slaves, and oftentimes noble warriors. Just a few decades prior to the halt of its western expansion, the unsuspecting Khans confront an alliance of Christian and pre-Christian Knights of various orders and a witch-like society of women, the action set against the backdrop of the Vatican's hostility to the Holy Roman Empire.
This volume concludes (usefully) with a brief epilog for each major thread of the storyline, and I look forward to the next two volumes.
March 6, 2017
After reading the whole series of "Mongoliad" I have to admit that I decided to add one more star to it, totaling 5 altogether. As I said in my review of the first book it's incredibly entertaining. The span of the story is incredible. Probably thanks to Neal, who obviously don't favor a "short" story. Just that third book alone is more then 700 pages. Despite some flaws in geographical description it's very well researched and masterfully written. There's no way that wounded women-warriors can cross by swimming the Volga river, the greatest river of Russia, at the place described in novel (you merely can see the opposite shore there), but who cares! 99% of the English speaking readers wouldn't probably find that river on the map. It's entertaining and that's what it's all about.
The sword fighting is masterfully written. Sometimes too detailed, but... That's what this genre commands.
Overall, very well done!
The sword fighting is masterfully written. Sometimes too detailed, but... That's what this genre commands.
Overall, very well done!
May 17, 2022
#cookiereads The Mongoliad Book 3 by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Gallard, Eric Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo ⚔️
Continuing from book 2, this is a historical book about the Mongols invasion. Like the second there are multiple characters but since I read this after book 2 it was easier to understand. I liked how the gladiators fought for their freedom-an epic battle at the end. Ocyrhoe was an interesting character that is now tasked with the impossible. It would have been nice to know more about the binders. Gansuk and Lian’s romance story line was nice. But overall an ok book I would recommend reading the series all back to back so you can understand the story. It helped for me. ⚔️
Two out of four paws #nealstephensonbooks #markteppo #coopermoo #gregbear #ericbear #nicolegallard #historicalficton #bookstagram #bookaddict #corgiofinstagram #corgilife #bluemerlecorgi
Continuing from book 2, this is a historical book about the Mongols invasion. Like the second there are multiple characters but since I read this after book 2 it was easier to understand. I liked how the gladiators fought for their freedom-an epic battle at the end. Ocyrhoe was an interesting character that is now tasked with the impossible. It would have been nice to know more about the binders. Gansuk and Lian’s romance story line was nice. But overall an ok book I would recommend reading the series all back to back so you can understand the story. It helped for me. ⚔️
Two out of four paws #nealstephensonbooks #markteppo #coopermoo #gregbear #ericbear #nicolegallard #historicalficton #bookstagram #bookaddict #corgiofinstagram #corgilife #bluemerlecorgi
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