Conqueror

By: Conn Iggulden

Narrated by: Richard E Grant

Length: 17 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The one and only Conn Iggulden takes on the story of the mighty Kublai Khan. An epic tale of a great and heroic mind; his action-packed rule; and how in conquering one-fifth of the world’s inhabited land, he changed the course of history forever. A scholar who conquered an empire larger than those of Alexander or Caesar. A warrior who would rule a fifth of the world with strength and wisdom.A man who betrayed a brother to protect a nation.

From a young scholar to one of history’s most powerful warriors, Conqueror tells the story of Kublai Khan – an extraordinary man who should be remembered alongside Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte as one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known.It should have been a golden age, with an empire to dwarf the lands won by the mighty Genghis Khan. Instead, the vast Mongol nation is slowly losing ground, swallowed whole by their most ancient enemy. A new generation has arisen, yet the long shadow of the Great Khan still hangs over them all …Kublai dreams of an empire stretching from sea to sea. But to see it built, this scholar must first learn the art of war. He must take his nation’s warriors to the ends of the known world. And when he is weary, when he is wounded, he must face his own brothers in bloody civil war.

©2011 Conn Iggulden (P)2011 HarperCollins

Excellent

I loved it. The narrator was brilliant. Story was gripping as always with Conn Iggulden

historical fiction

although the entire series was good and really gripping there were a
a few too many inaccuracies to be called history.
the first book had a chapter about these inaccuracies but this is missing from the later ones.

Bit repetitive

As this was the fifth book in the series that I had listened to within a year, I found that certain phrases ( e.g.' the cold face'', 'showed his teeth' 'do you understand'), not to mention the descriptions of the battle scenes had gone beyond stale. This was definitely the weakest in the series and it wasn't helped by the narrator who made all the older characters sound like effete British aristocrats. His pronunciation of Hangzou was so off ( he called it "Hang zoo" that I winced every time I heard it. Overall though he had a very pleasant voice bar some overacting in the angry scenes.

If you have read the other books in the series, this one rounds them off well, but it is definitely not a great stand-alone novel.

Not bad

the story chopped about a little which detracts from the listing experience but overall enjoyable.

Good story, as you would expect

Another good story by Iggulden. Don't expect to be 'enlightened' but it is very entertaining. RE Grant was too present as RE Grant, in my opinion.

Another Great Story, An Epic Really

Yet again Conn Iggulden conjures up another fabulous historical fiction story centred around the Gengis Khan dynasty. For me this was one of those audiobooks where you don't mind getting stuck in a traffic jam, it just gives you more time to enjoy the story. I felt the narration by Richard was a little weak and didn't do the story the justice it deserved. That said would I recommend, yes.

This is part of a series!

WHY does it not say anywhere that this book is number five out of a series? Furthermore I can't GET the other four on Audible as unabridged. My interest in a series rather hinges on whether I can actually get the entire series and I am as a rule never interested in abridged versions. If I had known this was part of a series, I definitely wouldn't have wasted a credit on it. I would at least have started wtih book 1!

I'm entering a star rating because Audible is forcing me to. I picked three because that's average and therefore in my mind should make the smallest possible impact, when you take into account that I can't really judge a book I haven't listened to. On account of it being part five of a series where I didn't know there even were parts one to four...

I am posting because I thought maybe others who also prefer to start at the beginning might find it helpful to know that this isn't the beginning, but rather the end.

A battle to the end

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

There are only so many battles you can have in one book. After a while they almost merged with virtually no storyline in between. This may be one to try in the abridged version as it might be more enjoyable.

Would you ever listen to anything by Conn Iggulden again?

Yes I would, he does excellent research for his books, perhaps his editor should have been more ruthless with this one.

Would you be willing to try another one of Richard E Grant’s performances?

I wasn't very impressed with him, would try to avoid

Great follow on but spoiled by narrator

Another good novel in the series, in keeping with the previous ones. The narration is dreadful though - his voice really grates and his choice of character voices is cringeworthy

Sad to leave this series behind

Loved it and totally engrossed in almost completely unknown story. Richard reads brilliantly though at first I fear for the croakiness of his voice!

I do wish someone would rid Mr Iggulden of the tick of
constantly writing 'smiled', 'murmured', 'frowned' etc 'to himself'. So irritating and unnecessary. He even has horses 'snickering' to themselves...! Grr

Otherwise, exemplary series.

Great Book

Brilliant descriptions of places and battles. I re-read this and enjoyed it both times. It is well written and well narrated.

What an amazing story!

Great book… exhausting though! The detail he describes is amazing, so much so that I lost the plot a little in the details towards the end…

Great book - good narrator

Great story but Richard E Grant is a little over the top at times, especially at the beginning and this can grate as you progress through.

Great story well narrated

Final conclusion of this epic set of books is really well narrated. Takes a wee while to get used to the different style from the other books but the narration adds to the drama of the book. A brilliant finish to a brilliant series.

History Comes Alive

When writers play with historical figures like this, a version of them comes alive and gives wonderful possibilities to their nature. What were they like? How did he become Emperor of CHINA!?! I love these type of books. Espescially when so well read.

Brilliant narration and story

Richard E Grant really brings it to life - more so than the other 4 of the 5 series which had different narrators.