Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden

“Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation. They shall hold the bow and the lance; they are cruel and will not show mercy; their voice shall roar like the sea, and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle.”

- Jeremiah 50:41, 42

Paragraph above is quoted from the Old Testament; Book of Jeremiah and serves as the opening of this novel entitled: Lords of the Bow.

In this sequel to Wolf of the Plains, we're brought face-to-face again with one of the greatest conqueror in the world; Genghis Khan. The opening of this novel depicts the brutal inter-clan war afflicted on Mongols who refused to join the alliance. Virtually the whole clan is decimated; which proves the point that Genghis will stop at nothing to achieve his goal; which further shows that he is indeed a very determined, enigmatic and persistent leader.

It is also during this point of time that he was brought face-to-face with a soothsayer who apple-polished his way up the rank to become one of the close aides to the Great Khan. However, The Great Khan is not a person who pushes ahead without careful planning and is indeed a master strategist.

In fact, in this book, we were introduced to the fact that Genghis made careful and calculated planning befitting his stature and daunting his enemies into submission such as the usage of coloured tent (ancient "war traffic light" system consisting of red, white and black tents) to daunt the enemies into submission.

He is also not afraid to utilize more advanced war technologies available at that time; deception and even flooding the whole plain just to starve the inhabitant of Xi Xia into submission.
This novel ended with Genghis Khan taking over the empire of ancient China; thus fulfilling his desire to overcome the power that divided his people.

The post notes are helpful in shedding some lights on inner workings of the tribes on the plain and historical notes which wasn’t mentioned in most of the historical books.

Two events which had me thinking on the ultimate brutality of wars are:

1. The skeletons of the combatants in battle of the Badger’s Mouth littered the ground around that place for thirty miles.

2. Up to sixty thousand young girls threw themselves to death from the walls of Yenking rather than see it fall to the invader.

Personal rating: 7 out of 10

Cons:
1) None that I can think of.

Pros:
1) True-like description of Temujin/Genghis Khan and the people around him.
2) Learnt that it takes a whole lot of sacrifices to achieve such greatness as Genghis.
3) Another lesson in life. War is never a great thing. Both the winner and the vanquished suffer the same amount of torture in their claim to victory.