Genghis is not a book that I would typically read. I’ll grab a historical fiction book every once in awhile, but for the most part, fictional books based around history are not usually my books of choice. History was hardly my favorite subject in school. But every once in awhile I come across one that completely makes me change my mind. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet was one. The Help, if you can count that, is one of my favorite books of all time. Genghis is, to my surprise, a good one as well.
Before I started this book (and even now that I’ve finished it) I couldn’t even pretend to know anything about Ghengis Kahn, so I’m going to give you as much background on this book as I had: basically nothing. A quick Wikipedia search on the subject explains that he was an emperor, who came to power by uniting several wandering tribes in Asia.
So, given that amount of information, you’d think that since I know nothing about the subject matter, I wouldn’t like the book right? But my friend’s husband insisted it was a good one, and I’m not one to turn down a recommendation. And good job, Patrick. This was so much better than I expected. I want to read up and find out what really happened and what was embellished, it’s all so crazy that I can hardly believe any of it’s true. I’m sure I’ll read the rest of the series and probably Caesar as well. It’s very well written, very engaging, and unbelievably interesting.
I think the only thing I didn’t like was the flip flopping of perspectives within chapters or paragraphs. Occasionally that would throw me off and bring me out of the story, but that’s really about it. Well, you know, other than the obvious and fairly alarming violence that you’d expect in a book about the early life of a brutal emperor who came to power by uniting tribes that already had leaders. So there was that. But overall, such a good book.
4- I think I want to learn some more about Genghis Kahn and then re-read it to figure out what was real.
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