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Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden

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Alaric
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Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden

Post by Alaric » Thu September 11th, 2008, 3:08 pm

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“Wolf of the Plains,” by Conn Iggulden

Wolf of the Plains (Genghis: Birth of an Empire in the US) is the first part of a planned six-part series by British author Conn Iggulden depicting the rise and fall of the Mongol Empire. This first instalment deals with the childhood of Temüjin, better known as Genghis Khan, before he became the infamous Great Khan of the Mongol peoples. Wolf of the Plains is also the first of the trilogy solely about Genghis, the remaining three in the series will focus on his descendents.

Temüjin and his four brothers – Bekhter (who is actually his half-brother), Khasar, Kaichun and Temüge – embark on a quest to retrieve two eagle hatchlings high on a hill as a gift for their father, the khan Yesegui. Temüjin’s childhood rivalry with his brother Bekhter is thoroughly explained by Iggulden in these opening passages, as his primary reason for capturing the eagle was to annoy Bekhter. Temüjin is soon disappointed when, after he had risked his life to capture the eagles, his father gives one of them to his bondsman Eeluk. He had been hoping to receive one himself. From there, Yesegui further disappoints his wayward second son by taking him to the camp of his mothers people, the Olkhun’ut, where he is to spend the next year of his life.

Temüjin’s fortunes then take a turn for the severe worse. His father is murdered by Tartar raiders on his way back to his own camp. Upon hearing of the news Temüjin races back to camp and prepares to assume the role of khan, despite only being about twelve at the time of Yesegui’s death. But someone else had plans of becoming khan and Temüjin and his family are betrayed by Eeluk and banished from the camp, left to fend for themselves in the deadly climate of the Mongolian steppe.

Thus begins the second part of Wolf of the Plains. Eeluk assumed Temüjin and his family would die in the first winter alone on the steppe, the freezing weather alone would be enough to see them off let alone the sparse food. But Temüjin and his brothers, with their mother helping, manage to make it through that winter. They then make it through five more and etch out a living as tribeless wanderers, but still they constantly live in fear of Eeluk returning to finish them off for once and all.

From there, the story heads towards its conclusion. Temüjin begins to morph into Genghis Khan as he tries to unite the Mongol tribes against their common enemies, the Tartars and the Chinese. Through force he takes the Olkun’ut, through political cunning he takes the Kerait from Togrul Khan and through his own thirst for revenge over Eeluk he takes his own tribe back. Wolf of the Plains ends with Temüjin proclaiming himself to be Genghis, Khan of Khans and the leader of all Mongols.

By no means is Wolf of the Plains faultless. Iggulden explains where he had taken liberties in the authors note at the end – for instance, in the novel Temüjin only spends a few days when captured by Eeluk but in reality it was several months – but mostly that is for the sake of the story and unless you are well read on Genghis Khan it goes unnoticed. Other historical inaccuracies are minor, although the exclusion of Jamuka, Temüjin’s childhood rival, is noticeable but his role is done by Bekhter.

It is not serious fiction either and should not be taken as such. It is simple, fun and entertaining. Iggulden’s style is similar to that of an action movie – Diehard will not win an Oscar, but it will keep you entertained the whole way through at any rate. Wolf of the Plains is the same. It is a very entertaining read and I flew through it. If you are after a good story with an interesting historical figure as the lead, and don’t mind a bit of blood and gore from time-to-time, then I heartily recommend this.

Recommendation: Very good. ****1/4 or 8.5/10.
Last edited by Alaric on Thu September 11th, 2008, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by diamondlil » Thu September 11th, 2008, 8:40 pm

I had this out from the library but had to take it back unread. I have been meaning to borrow it again to read it. Thanks for the review.
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Post by Telynor » Sun September 21st, 2008, 1:50 am

I just picked this one up on my latest bit of book-trolling. Looking very much forward to reading it.

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Post by Kailana » Sun September 21st, 2008, 4:54 am

I loved this book... I have the second and the third book, but I still haven't got to them yet!

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Post by EC2 » Sun September 21st, 2008, 9:50 am

Here's my review transferred over from the former forum.

This is the first in a series about Ghenghis Khan, known as Temujin in his youth.
Temujin is one of the sons of Yesugai, Khan of the Wolves, a tribe of Mongol warriors. It's a hard nomadic existence for these peoples of a warlike nomadic society, dependent upon the horse and flocks of sheep and goats for their livelihood. Temujin's father takes him to spend a year amongst another tribe, one of who's daughters Temujin will eventually marry, but he has not been there long when rivalries in his own tribe and an attack by the enemies of the Mongols - the Tartars, leads to a drastic change in Temujin's circumstances. Suddenly he finds himself outcast from home and tribe, except for his mother and brothers. But Temujin, born with a blood clot in his hand - symbol of someone who will always walk with death, is a survivor and swears vengeance on those who have caused his family's downfall. He sets about rebuilding his fortunes and finally he is ready to take take on all comers.
This is a wonderful, pacy page-turner with the ability to put the reader right in the moment. One can clearly imagine the hard life of these people of the Steppes and their struggle to survive and win. Temujin is a well drawn and engaging character and most of the other characters are well drawn too. The action is exciting and the pace is nicely judged, neither too frenetic, nor too slow. There were a couple of moments when my belief in this world did slip. There's a particular small moment that really jarred with me. Temujin has raided and destroyed a Tartar camp and one of his warriors finds one of the Tartar women hiding from the raid. She has witnessed all of her people being murdered and there has been rape as well.
So for her to giggle at the sight of the warrior Arslan and be ready to frolic with him, made me grimace. It's a total misunderstanding of the psychology of the moment. There are one or two incidents like this. I wonder if it comes from writing at speed and not stopping to think.
However, all in all, I thoroughly reccommend this one. I'd give it a flying 9 out of 10 and I look forward to the next installment.
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Les proz e les vassals
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Post by Telynor » Sun October 5th, 2008, 5:32 am

Here's my take on this one:

The Mongol empire is one of those fascinating twists in history. How in the world did a band of nomads, without much in the way of culture or sophistication, manage to conquer most of Asia, and even pressed into Europe within fifty years?

Popular author Conn Iggulden attempts to tell the story in his novel <I>Genghis: Birth of an Empire</I> (published as <I>Wolf of the Plains</I> in the UK). We see the daily life of the Wolf tribe, a band of nomads, wandering from place to place, with their herds and families, raiding their enemies for women and booty. They?re not much more beyond the level of hunters/gatherers, and iron is a rare commodity for them, with swords made of iron considered to be nearly magical and highly prized. The rest of the world is unknown to them, and frankly, they don?t care ? life is hard enough on the steppes.

We see Temujin (Genghis Khan?s actual name) as a young boy in his family of numerous brothers, and an infant sister. His father is Yusegei, the Khan of the Wolves, and his mother Hoelun. There?s an elder brother, Bekter, who?s a bit of a bully, and views Temujin as his rival as the future leader of the tribe. At the start of the novel, Temujin is scaling a mountain to steal an eagle chick, a valuable prize in their community. He?s rewarded with two chicks, both of which he gives to his father, but the Khan gives the other eagle to his bondsman Eeluk. Temujin is bitterly disappointed, as he had hoped that he would get the bird. The sting of that loss will stay with him throughout the story.

As is the custom, Temujin goes when he is twelve to another tribe, the Olkhun?ut, to learn to be an adult, and to find a wife. However, this isn?t an easy thing ? he?s taught, as are most children, that life is hard and full of work, and his foster-father Sholoi is relentless in bullying, and beating him. But to ease that, Sholoi has a daughter, Borte, who not is only clever, but pretty as well, and as tough as any boy in the tribe. But soon word comes that the Tartars have killed Yusegei and Temujin returns home.

He expects that his older brother Bekter is going to become Khan, but instead, it is Eeluk who seizes power. In an act of mercilessness, he has Hoelun and her children abandoned on the steppe, without horses, weapons or even a <I>ger</I>, the felted tents that the Mongols use. Very quickly, Temujin and his brothers have to grow up, and they flee for the mountains in the north, hoping to survive as clan less wanderers, without protection or name. Everyone expects them to starve to death and not survive through the winter.

But Temujin learns fast, and is quick-witted enough to forge his brothers into a tight little band of hunters, holding on as they can. He learns to force his will into survival, giving the world his ?cold face,? and having the will to dispose of one brother who is keeping extra food back for himself. In time, he starts to gather other wanderers, bringing them in as members of his own family, and training them up to be just as ruthless as he is. Among them is Arslan, a swordsmith, and his son, Jelme, who have the secret of making weapons. Temujin however, still has Eeluk vowing to see him dead along with all of his family, and there is still Borte to be claimed from her people?

Is it a great book? No. Is it a good one? Yes. While Iggulden?s writing style tends towards the simplistic, and at times, very repetitious, I did find it to be an action packed read. At times, I found myself wishing that the author would just hurry up and get the story moving, but also the descriptive passages help to set the stage and give some vital insights into the world of the Mongols and how they viewed things. Iggulden relied heavily on the one contemporary account of Genghis Khan, <I>The Secret History of the Mongols</I> and spent time in Mongolia. The research shows, and I enjoyed that aspect of the book.

However, in terms of character development, everyone is pretty much in a simple state. Temujin is like a Timex watch, always taking a beating and still ticking. The author dwells in a nearly loving fashion on injuries and fights, and at times goes into great detail. This, I could have lived without; I have an already active enough imagination without adding on new and creative ways to die. The writing style is also pretty simple, without much poetry ? a character does this or that, then moves on to the next task. Most of the novel is given over to surviving from day to day, fighting with foes, and Temujin putting on his ?cold face.?

As far as novels about the Mongols go, this one is decent, but I enjoyed Cecilia Holland?s <I>Until the Sun Falls</I> and Pamela Sargent?s <I>Ruler of the Sky</I> far more, with characters that were a bit more human, and better plotting and motivations to keep the stories moving.

Overall, I give this one four stars, and recommend it to those who like plenty of warfare and adventure in their fiction.

The Genghis Khan series:
<B>Birth of an Empire</b>
<I>Lords of the Bow</I>
<I>Bones of the Hills</I>

<I>Genghis: Birth of an Empire</I>
Conn Iggulden
2007; Bantamdell Books
ISBN 978-0-440-24390-8

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Post by Telynor » Sun October 5th, 2008, 5:35 am

[quote=""EC2""]Here's my review transferred over from the former forum.

There were a couple of moments when my belief in this world did slip. There's a particular small moment that really jarred with me. Temujin has raided and destroyed a Tartar camp and one of his warriors finds one of the Tartar women hiding from the raid. She has witnessed all of her people being murdered and there has been rape as well.
So for her to giggle at the sight of the warrior Arslan and be ready to frolic with him, made me grimace. It's a total misunderstanding of the psychology of the moment.
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EC, this scene bothered the hell out of me too. I kept thinking WTF? and nearly threw the book at the wall at that point. I saw something like this, I'd be pretty freaked out myself.

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Post by EC2 » Sun October 5th, 2008, 10:10 am

[quote=""Telynor""]EC, this scene bothered the hell out of me too. I kept thinking WTF? and nearly threw the book at the wall at that point. I saw something like this, I'd be pretty freaked out myself.[/quote]

I think this is definitely one of the moments when the book slips over into 'boys' own adventure' mode and loses its integrity and its grip on reality. Bad things happened - they always have, but they should be portrayed in a believable manner. That scene would never have happened in reality and it was one of those moments when I was dragged out of the story and unable to suspend my disbelief. To get the best out of the novel I had to tap into the 'boys' own' facet of my own character and read the book at surface level - and mostly I enjoyed it for what it was. You are right about Cecelia Holland's Until The Sun Falls. A fabulous book. I haven't read the other one you mention but I'll look out for it.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

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Post by Alaric » Sun October 5th, 2008, 11:32 am

At the same time, though, these were people that lived their lives constantly expecting attack from some other enemy. Witnessing a raid wouldn't have been that unusual and shocking for them. I think that's what Iggulden was getting at in that passage, even if it was a bit off and unrealistic.

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Post by EC2 » Sun October 5th, 2008, 11:43 am

[quote=""Alaric""]At the same time, though, these were people that lived their lives constantly expecting attack from some other enemy. Witnessing a raid wouldn't have been that unusual and shocking for them. I think that's what Iggulden was getting at in that passage, even if it was a bit off and unrealistic.[/quote]

I think he just didn't think about it. He was writing fast and that was how it came to him - very much in swash buckler mode as I think has been said in earlier discussions. I suppose it's like car chase action films when you see a car drive at high speed through a plate glass shop window and carry on going. In reality ummm..... how about absolutely not! But in the medium of film it works. I think there's an element of this in that scene. You're not supposed to stop and think 'Hang on a minute, would she really giggle like that?' My take is that I honestly don't think it would have ocurred to the author at the time of writing. It's like Bernard Cornwell in The Last Kingdom where he has twelve slaves working to keep the fire stoked. It's a throwaway line that obviously hasn't been thought about but just galloped over in the writing. Twelve? How big was the fireplace???? I see this in my own stuff too, I'm not being holier than thou. I sometimes have a 'duh' moment after publication. As a reader though, I quite often have 'eh?' moments in terms of scraps of detail, behaviour and motivation that don't quite fit.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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