Khan: Empire of Silver: A Novel of the Khan Empire

Although this is the fourth book in the series of Genghis Khan this book could actually stand alone because this is the next generation afte Ghengis has died. On the other hand if you did hear this book as the first book then you'd most likely want to go through the first three books to get the full rich story of the rise of the Khan empire.

The author starts with the actual history, but then creates a fiction to fill in the blanks. As you listen to the books you get a feeling that you understand the way certain warriors thought. You develope an understanding of how the society functioned, and how certain individuals either excelled or were basically expendable. It's a harsh life with hard decisions on a daily basis, but that was what made them so damn tough.

I really like all four books and I'm pretty sure the story will continue with another book in a year or so...

This series fascinates me and I am collecting all of them. However, this was my least favorite, but all in all, I was satisfied. I am looking forward to the next one.

Iggulden is a great story teller and Ferrone does a super job reading. The characters flow seamlessly through the series. Great book(s) for a relaxing evening away from the turmoil of the day.

This is book 4 of 5 in the series. A truly great story and the reader is great, but it is not a series for the faint of heart. I have long been curious about the phenomenon of Mongolian horsemen conquering most of Asia and eastern Europe. This series brings it all to life and makes it all credibal. The names of the characters are a bit difficult to grasp, and an effort is needed to remember the names in order to follow the chacters as they weave in and out of the story, and across the volumes. Each volume can stand alone, but are better taken from start to end. I found each volume to be better than the previous, but maybe it was because I was getting so wrapped up in the story.

A second warning - the Mongols were bloodthirsty destroyers, and it is often hard to be sympathetic to them. The descriptive writing is graphic, but probably very authentic. In fact one often feels more sympathetic to their victims, who were trapped in their situation and had little ability to alter their fate.

Others in the series.

Kublai Khan

I was appalled by the butality of the age.

A long listen, but an education about the times.

This book was mostly about Ogedai’s rise to power and the struggle to keep the power and the nation held together. Since Genghis did not name his first born son as heir, there is a struggle amongst his sons, each believing they would be better suited to rule the nation.

The Mongols battle against several different types of armies and they all had different tactics to try and use to defeat the Mongol warriors, so there were still plenty of battle scenes in this story. The reach of the Mongolian army was almost from sea to sea and still mostly mobile. Ogedai’s vision of settling the nation made him build decide to build Karakorum, a great city that would serve as the capital city for the Mongol nation.

Ogedai has health issues and at times he makes things worse for himself with drinking and generally not taking care with himself. He knows he is in ill health and decides he will just wait to die. It takes Sorhatani’s firm hand and sharp tongue to draw him out and set him on the path to living and ruling the nation again.

This fourth book in the Conqueror series covers a time period that I wasn’t even aware of. Silly me, I thought that the line went from Genghis directly to Kublai. Once again Conn Iggulden’s story captured me with vivid details and made this historic time period very interesting and memorable.

The Narration Review
This audiobook was narrated by Richard Ferrone and once again he doesn’t disappoint. He has a great voice and I find myself captivated by his storytelling. I think this historical fiction is a good fit for him.

I really can't rate each book of this series seperately because really all six books make up a single story, and the story is great. All stories ebb and flow and some of the books are a little better than the others, but all in all the six books make up one five star story. Think about it. A bunch of nomadic goat herders decide to conquer the world and nearly succeed. This is one of the greatest stories of history and Iggeldon's fictionalized recounting is masterful.

top five among my books.

The rest of the series is just as great, I would sujest any of Iggulden's other books as well as Bernard Cornwell's.

Was glad to see that book 3 was just a tiny blip - this one's back up to outstanding!