The Mongoliad: The Foreworld Saga, Book 1

By: Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, Nicole Galland, Cooper Moo, Mark Teppo

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

In the late 19th century, a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados provided Sir Richard F. Burton, well-known expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, a collection of long-lost manuscripts to translate. Burton’s work was subsequently misplaced, only to be discovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Treiste.

From Burton's translations and the original source material, the epic tale of The Mongoliad was recreated. The story chronicles the journey of a small band of warriors and mystics as they fight to save Europe from the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century. It also exposes the secret workings of powerful clandestine societies that have been driving world events for millennia.

This fascinating and enthralling first novel in The Mongoliad trilogy fuses historical events with a gripping fictional narrative. Co-written by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, E. D. deBirmingham, Mark Teppo, Joseph Brassey, Erik Bear, and Cooper Moo, The Mongoliad: Book One is an unforgettable epic.

©2012 Greg Bear, Neal Stephenson, E. D. deBirmingham, Mark Teppo, Joseph Brassey, Erik Bear, and Cooper Moo (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Great story, well delivered.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Mongoliad to be better than the print version?

Yes.

What other book might you compare The Mongoliad to and why?

Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. A circle of friends on an impossible mission.

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

Great character voices.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Probably not - too long.

Wanted More

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I like a series but this book could have done more than just paint the foundation for the rest. Felt hollow, like looking a tubes of paint and a blank canvas.

What could the authors have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Put more story in it.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

Narrator was good.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

A Great Story About A Little Known Period

What did you like best about this story?

Deals with a period of history that I knew little about - when the mogols were overrunning western Asia and even parts of Europe. From various points of view including the mongol as well as a small group of christian warriors.

Book By Committee

Is there anything you would change about this book?

See my remarks below. I expected much more from this book -- or should it be "project"?

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The dialogue was much too 21st century colloquial in far too many places. While I hate deliberately archaic dialogue, I really don't think anyone in the 13th century in Russia would be saying "OK".

The ending of the book seemed to be simply "we've run out of ideas for the moment, we'll publish the next one when we think of more things to write".

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narrator was adequate but not inspired. His flat, rather nasal Midwestern twang sorted oddly with the nationalities of the characters. He also mispronounced a number of fairly basic words

Was The Mongoliad worth the listening time?

I guess it is if you are a youngish, male, computer gamer who likes stories which are mainly full of gore and dead people. Fights/battles rehearsed in excruciating detail; most characters fairly cardboard. Not up to Neal Stevenson's standard if compared to Cryptonomicon or the Baroque Cycle.

Any additional comments?

Books written by a committee rarely if ever seem to jell. Raised on Harold Lamb's "March of the Barbarians", which not only told the saga of the Mongolian invasions but caught the atmosphere and flavor of both the Middle Ages and the Far East, this seemed to lack purpose and direction. Could see it marketed as a "dungeons and dragons" computer game in future.

Stevenson is on record as saying that this sort of "interactive" project is the way he thinks books are going to go in the internet age. I disagree, sadly. He's better on his own [sometimes; of late he seems to just churn stuff out, alas.]

slow start to a good story

Would you consider the audio edition of The Mongoliad to be better than the print version?

especially while driving or walking the dog!

What other book might you compare The Mongoliad to and why?

Lian Hearn's "Across the Nightingale Floor", or Tom Reiss's "The Black Count"

What does Luke Daniels bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

easy to listen to .good character definetion,,,you forget there is narration going on and get to be absorbed by the story.

If you could take any character from The Mongoliad out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Leeann.. is my obvious choice....but Gonsook would be very enterteining if dinner were done in the field with food gathered by us...

Felt a little haphazard

Always love Stephenson's stories. I realize this book was an experiment, but it felt like it needed a bit more editing and some stronger breaks between storylines.

Heavy and dull

The collection of writers of this book attracted me. I have generally avoided books by committee but thought, with these writers, this might be interesting and I was attracted by the sale price. I would have been better off not bothering.

The central idea, that a group of warriors might ride off to try to stop the Molgol invasion by assassinating Ogedei Kahn, seemed like a reasonable plot, but I personally found the writing stuffy, boring and reeking of too much of a fantasy novel. It might have been the underlying assumption of a great world-wide conspiracy in a time when getting a message from one part of Europe to another took months, or it might have been the secret society names without any explanation as to what they were, or it might just have been that this book was not for me. I don't know, but I ended up abandoning the effort about half way through the first part.

While I thought the plot was plodding and uninteresting I have to say that the performance was first class. Luke Daniels did such a wonderful job of narrating that I could tell one character from another just by the voice. It did not make the characters any more interesting for me, but he did a first class job and that should be mentioned.

It was not a total loss. I did learn one thing - that I need to stop buying Audible books just because they are on sale at a terrific price.

Such a Disappointment

Being Hungarian in heritage, I always try historical books that incorporate that heritage.I don't know much about the Mongolian invasion and was hoping this first novel might touch on that. It doesn't. That's OK. The actual storyline, as written, is very confusing.

There is no clear individual to get to know and like. Nor is there a real villian to dislike. Too many undeveloped characters with seemingly disconnected plots. It seems like each author was assigned a character and tried to develop action scenes for that character. Then the editor smashed the storylines together like mashed potatoes. Thus, the story wanders across this book like the Mongols did across the steppes.

Yet there is enough to keep me going. I have Book 2 and will continue there hoping things get better.

Luke Daniels as a narrator is just as effective as the book is written. Just meh.

Not horrible but not great. Just average.

Without the authors' pedigrees...

As a first book in a series, The Mongoliad packs in quite a lot, while still just hinting at the story ahead. Multiple plot lines probably suited the multiple authors and, luckily, makes for some good reading. The plot, however, isn't very inventive or even creative so far. The whole enterprise feels like a rehash of so many historical or fantasy novels already on the bookstore shelves. If not for the amazing talents of the authors in their other pursuits I probably would never have picked this up, but may very well continue listening to each book in the series. I would say the one creative and somewhat unique twist this book has is to tell the story from both the "good guys'" and the "bad guys'" points of view, which also makes those labels rather relative.

Good story - but

This is a really good story with interesting characters. It gives an insight into what people must have felt when faced with the news that the Mongols were coming. I have to take two stars off for the way the story just stops in the middle. It's not really even a cliff hanger, no one climbed a cliff, they were just telling the story and stopped. I think marketing is getting in the way of art here. I'll by the second book because I have faith in the writers and like the production but it's not a strong faith. I'll let you know.