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Most of the second half of the book is about the antagonist leading an army into Darien. In any other book I'd get bored with military actions that take up so much space, but Iggulden does it really well. There's actual fighting for the fight lovers, there are tactics for the tactics lovers, and lots of character development still going on the whole time. I read the last 25% of the book in one sitting, despite being really tired and having that itchy-eyes-I've-been-reading-too-much thing. Haven't done that in a while. You will revenge my father's death and we will be one tribe across the face of the plains, one people. As it should always have been. LET THE TARTARS FEAR US THEN! LET THE CHIN FEAR US!”
In Darien we follow multiple characters. We have the hunter Elias who lives with his family in a small town that is haunted by a devastating disease. He is forced to take action when they begin to fall ill and only his mysterious talent to see glimpses of the future can save them. Little does he know that this very talent will make him a pawn in a plan to overthrow the king himself. Shiang” is the second novel in the “Empire of Salt” series and was released in the year 2018. If these stones were able to speak, they would yell for war. O samom djetinjstvu Temuđina, koji se kasnije prozvao Džingis-kan malo se zna, pa je pisac imao dosta prostora za razvijanje zanimljive priče o odrastanju u surovim uvjetima. Uspio je od njega stvoriti zanimljivog i kompleksnog lika do kojeg ti bude stalo i za kojeg navijaš. Povremeno prebacuje point of view na druge likove, a već nakon par rečenica su ti jasne njegove motivacije i priču doživiš iz drugog kuta. The best part about the whole thing was that I was dragged by the heels out of my terrible reading funk. It didn’t even take the whole book to do it, just this particular quote, which might just be the best historical fiction line I’ve encountered…This book follows on from book one, The Lion. Pericles is the lion of Athens, the leader of this great state, and he will do anything to protect his home and reputation.
This was a very enjoyable read and I sincerely hope that this series will continue as I’m definitely a fan! The moral of the story is lost by not including key events such as these. The story of the Peloponnesian war is a typically Greek one, it’s one of hubris and the overconfidence of the Athenians eventually leading to their own destruction - not simply the mistake of annoying the Spartans by building walls. I struggled with the narrative style employed in this novel. Like its setting and magic elements that riff off A Song of Ice and Fire, so does the narrative style. While Darien isn’t as strictly structured as Martin’s epic, with chapters clearly delineated as being from a specific character’s point of view, the revolving third person narration is still there. Unfortunately, Iggulden doesn’t manage to pull it off. For the most part, it reads like third person limited, but it constantly switches whose head the reader is in. It is confusing and incoherent to the point where I wondered what the author was actually going for – were they trying to do omniscient that just felt limited/focused or were they trying to do limited pov but failing?Unsurprisingly the majority of the story is set in the city of Darien. Darien is a huge city, it has a monarch but he’s little more than a figurehead, the real rulers of the city being the 12 noble families who keep peace with the threat of their own collection of magical artefacts that are rolled out during troubled times. Not to mention obscene amounts of money that can buy their own personal armies. Conn does a great job of establishing a wonderful world with its own mythos and history, and gives you glimpses of the past, exploring and expanding upon it at a steady pace. His magic system is well thought out and balanced, and it plays a significant role in the story. The many important subplots play a crucial role in the main story and each one of them are masterfully intertwined. For some, the second part is where everything comes together, and the characters start connecting with each other affecting one another. It is an old school Fantasy novel, which is strong on character and in which readers are able to immerse themselves in. Džingis-kan je postao sinonim za pljačku i uništenje. U jednom interviju se Iggulden našalio da nije bio dobar čak ni prema svojim psima.
I enjoyed reading Iggulden’s version of life in the China of that time, how the Mongol and Chinese mixed and related to each to each other. Moreover, reading this book started me into a new interest in reading military fiction that extends into today. Iggulden has not lost his touch. This is a pacy read, with speeches galore and plenty of gore. These though are the hallmarks of ancient Athenian history. Be prepared to meet most of the characters from Lion like Aeschylus, Zeno, and also some new ones. He weaves his tale between the different Greek nations capturing the tensions in their relations with each other and also among themselves. Conn has an inate ability of managing the pace of this book so that you are drawn along with the story and never get bogged down with the indepth descriptions you sometimes get with other fantasy authors and would definitely recommend it to someone new to fantasy. Their arrival inside of the walls while the sun sets is going to set off a series of explosive events. Before the sun rises again, five destinies are going to have been made, and lost, in the city of Darien. Even though the sun goes down, the city is going to know no slumber. For long slumbering passions have awoken. Fortunes are going to be lost and won, and lives are going to be claimed and staked. And one story long waiting to be told are going to catch fire in their telling.I loved the way that the author discusses in detail, how catastrophic natural disasters can impact and devastate great nations and allow significant unpredicted changes to take place.. Reread excluded, Genghis: Birth of an Empire ended up becoming my first full 5-stars rating in two months. Conqueror is often hailed as Iggulden’s best work, and although I’ve read only the first book, I can certainly understand why this has become a common consensus. Genghis: Birth of an Empire is a stunning piece of historical fiction that tells a gripping story about survival and a legendary figure’s rise to power. This book was about Temujin’s coming-of-age and his struggle in uniting Mongol; it seems like the next installment, Genghis: Lords of the Bow, will start telling Genghis’s spreading conquest as one of the most terrifying rulers of our history, and you bet I will be jumping into it immediately.
This was such a cool book! A fun read, with an interesting way of pulling together multiple viewpoints. Iggulden has done a great job on his first fantasy novel. He established a wonderful world with its own history and mythos, giving you glimpses of the past, expanding and exploring it with a steady pace. His magic system was well-thought-out and balanced, playing a significant role in the story but leaving enough space for other aspects to work. The series is set in Darien and Shiang, two cities in a crumbling empire. The first novel’s events take place in and around Darien, while book two focuses more on the city of Shiang. The final novel brings the characters from these two cities and concludes their stories. When I first saw that Conn Iggulden – an author famed for his historical fiction – had written a fantasy novel, I was immediately curious. Would the world-building feel credible? Would it be unreadably detailed and dense? Or would he go magic-and-dragon crazy and lose all sense of realism? The good news is that, as it turns out, great writers can work inside many genres and when they do, they bring their unique sensibilities with them. The story of Temujin and his rise to uniting the tribes against the Tartars is a powerful one. Temujin goes through a lot of hell from the age of twelve onward, from being abandoned on the steppe during winter, to being imprisoned in a pit and being urinated on, to having his wife kidnapped and raped by Tartars. Once he started uniting the tribes, even I felt like riding with the young khan. While he's not always likeable, he's definitely a charismatic character.
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
To make his own name he must prove himself in the liar's den of Athenian politics: pitting wits against friends, sceptics, enemies. Deeds sighed suddenly, so tired then that he could barely stand. Perhaps it was time to stop struggling. He recalled there had been some ancient fellow forced to carry his own cross to where they crucified him. The thought was in his mind from before, when he'd felt like an apostle. Deeds though he might resemble the man with the cross then."
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