Ascent: The Rise of Chinggis Khan

Heaven's Favorite #1

by Tom Shanley

"If he sends me into fire or into the ocean, I will go. I’ll go for him."

So said his troops about Chinggis Khan, a man who rose from exile and slavery to conquer the world. This is his story.
In the same spirit as Shogun, James Clavell’s epic historical novel of feudal Japan, Heaven’s Favorite tells the tale of Temujin, the Mongol outcast who ultimately swept all before him to become Chinggis Khan (mistakenly referred to as Genghis Khan by the Persians), the founder of the largest empire in the history of the world, one almost six times larger than Rome’s. Book One, Ascent: The Rise of Chinggis Khan, relates the story of his rise to power and the foundation of the Mongol empire.
The year is 1167 A.D. and eastern Asia is dominated by three powerful empires. The Jurchen, invaders from the wind-swept plains of Manchuria, have controlled northern China for more than a century, while the Chinese Sung dynasty reigns in southern China. To the west, the Tibetan empire of Xi Xia has ruled the area south of the Gobi and west of the Yellow River for over a hundred years. The Mongolian nation does not yet exist and a fractious collection of Mongol tribes, their divisions constantly exacerbated by the manipulative Jurchens, occupies a small area southwest of Lake Baikal.
Born the son of a Mongol tribal chieftain and betrayed by self-serving relatives, Temujin finds himself banished into a life of exile and poverty at the age of ten. Foreswearing the traditional ties of blood and nobility, his loyalty and trustworthiness act as a lodestone for those disaffected with the current state of affairs. Borte, his childhood love, becomes his wife as well as his closest advisor as he assembles about himself a small band of men, many from undistinguished backgrounds, who, drawn to this charismatic young man, will remain with him for the rest of his life and go on to become the greatest generals the world has ever seen.
With the steppe finally unified under his rule, the story continues in the sequel, Book Two of Heaven’s Favorite, Dominion: Dawn of the Mongol Empire, as Temujin turns his attention to the world outside.
The product of three years of exhaustive research, Heaven’s Favorite paints a vivid portrait of the Asia of eight hundred years ago upon which Temujin’s story unfolds. In pursuit of the true story behind this saga, Shanley traveled over forty-five hundred kilometers throughout Mongolia in the company of Mongol scholars from Chinggis Khan University and visited China a number of times.

Genres: Historical Fiction

420 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2008

Reviews

[Tom Shanley]

Yeah, I marked it as READ (past tense) because, as the author, I read it 6000 times while writing and editing it.

[Lester F. Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read, The way they lived and how he became who his was in history done very well.
At times I felt present in the moment, Be warned there is a very steamy sex scene I was not prepared to read, excellent in it's writing though and did enjoy the read. If you want an idea of how they lived and Who he is I believe this is a great start in that direction. I have learned much and found myself researching him and his ideals

[John S. Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This historical book covers the period in the life of Temujin when it was necessary for him to conquer several enemies in order to unite the warring Mongol tribes into a unified empire with himself at its head. The description of the Mongol way of life is handled subtly without burdening the reader with too much detail. While sticking to historical facts, it identifies the specific enemies Temujin had to defeat on his way to becoming emperor, and makes each event exciting and entertaining.

[Ken302 · Rating 5 out of 5]

These two books (Ascent and Dominion) are well written. Of the two, I found the first more interesting as the characters develop and the Mongolian nation is reborn. The second book tended to be a repetition of one battle after the other with little relief. It was interesting to see the Mongols discover the Western world. I also feel that more time could have been spent on Ghengis Khan's discovery of Taoism.

Still, the story is absolutely fascinating. It is, of course, not just about the Mongols, but about all the peoples and polities they conquered. People and polities that my education pretty much ignored or denigrated: the Chinese, Mongols, Tatars, Rus, etc. Nice comparison of the political cultures especially the Eastern Mohammedans represented by the kingdom of Khwarism.

Clearly Ghengis was an unusual political and military leader. His story should be read along with those of Alexander, Caesar, or Napoleon. He destroyed the Mongolian aristocracy (doesn't that ring a European history bell?) and created a military and political meritocracy (although his family was favored). He understood the importance of intelligence - both military and political. He respected the diversity of the peoples he conquered. He was absolutely ruthless - which seems to be characteristic of his times.

One is left, in the end, wondering about whether he created anything durable. His empire is split among different parts of his family with one of his sons as the supreme khan. One is dubious about the future of the empire, but that is left for another time.

Some small flaws in the writing - as when material is unnecessarily repeated - did not detract from the overall high quality of these books. Shanley seems to have done a lot of research but I can't vouch for the historical accuracy of the books. Quick searches on the internet revealed minor differences in some of the details. I have no idea if the depiction of Ghengis' character is accurate.

I read the book on my Kindle and missed access to good historical and physical geography maps.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very exciting retelling of Chinggis Khan's,
Temujin's, life story. This first installation goes over his early life and ascent to power. It's very interesting to read as Temujin overcomes the obstacles set out before him. He's exiled, enslaved, befriended and betrayed.

I only have a few minor problems with the book. One is that there's a few points in the book where the writing is repetitive. It's like watching a tv show where someone has a flashback to something that happened two minutes ago and you go a little crazy thinking, didn't I just read this? Another is the overuse of the same adjectives. I think the author used the word sedentary to describe the Chinese of that era like 15 times. (Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little.) The only other problem is that there's a sexy scene somewhere in the book and while that's fine, it seems out of step with the rest of the book where sex is merely alluded to, and I'm not sure why the author chose this particular instance to go into sexy details- considering what happens later to these two people. Anyway other than those few detracting elements the book is a very fast and interesting read.

It's interesting, because if you've read The Art of War, then you can see the influence of That on this book. I'm the type of person who likes constant action an a forward moving plot so if you're like me in that regard I think you will enjoy this book.

[Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bland

Tom Shaley's writing is historically accurate but very dull. His novel reads more like a history text book- matter of factly accounting one event after another as if he was more interested in plot points rather than story telling. He lacks the richness of other historical fiction authors and somehow manages to spend large amounts of time writing about seemingly unimportant events and uninspiring characters and devotes little attention to the battles and tactics used by the mongols. Lastly, he portrays Chinggis in a banal and two dimensional manner, making the great khan more of a Clark Kent than the complex and rich figure that he was.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good retelling of the story of Chinngis Khan. If you have read Conn Iggulden's excellent series, don't worry about feelimg like you would be wasting your time rereading the same tale as this book focuses more on the events surrounding Temujin's anda, Jamukah and his "adopted father," Toghrul.

I didn't love this book as I did Iggulden's, but I believe that is more historically accurate and it is still great reading.

[Sara Södergren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps less flowing language than Iggulden, but more historically correct. And far more elaborate on Temunjin's relationship with his wife, which was a welcome change!

[Timothy Germann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent

Very good story! ! Very good story!! Very good story ! ! Very good story! ! Very good story!! End! !

[Diwakar Rana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good read

I have read the conn iggulden series and seen various movies but still found this enriching and interesting - recommended purchase