Empire: Enter the battlefields of Ancient Greece in the epic new novel from the multi-million copy bestseller (The Golden Age Book 2)

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I think this has the promise to become a great series, almost old school in terms of the style of writing, not overly brutal or dark and with some great battle scenes to boot. I look forward to discovering more. The story of the barbarian warlord who would later be known as Genghis Khan is a deeply fascinating one. It’s the tale of a man who went from being a chieftain’s son in a minor tribe to ruling the greatest empire the world had ever seen at the time. The first part of that tale is retold by Conn Iggulden in this book, and it’s an amazing journey to be brought along on. When I first saw that Conn Iggulden – an author famed for his historical fiction – had written a fantasy novel, I was immediately curious. Would the world-building feel credible? Would it be unreadably detailed and dense? Or would he go magic-and-dragon crazy and lose all sense of realism? The good news is that, as it turns out, great writers can work inside many genres and when they do, they bring their unique sensibilities with them.

A gripping read from the master historical storyteller . This swords-and-sandals epic brings the clash of empires between Greece and Persia to life' DAILY EXPRESS I truly think that Iggulden’s excelled as his characterizations of Temujin and his family in this book, especially for his brothers and parents; they are all so well-fleshed out characters with a personality that’s distinctive from each other. As I’ve mentioned before, Temujin’s natural instinct lies in his strength, charisma, and ruthlessness; he’s simply a natural-born leader following the footsteps of his father: Yesugei. Then there’s Kashar and Kachiun the loyal one, Temuge the fearful, Bekter the devious, and Hoelun the strong mother who protects them all as best as she could. With such well-realized characters, Iggulden tells a story revolving around the theme of survival of the fittest superbly. Mongolia was an unforgiving land, both in deadly tribal rivalries and nature. Reading Temujin and his family trying their utmost best to survive was compelling; it’s unimaginable for me to put myself in their position. Seriously, they were dealing with extreme starvation in weather that’s extremely cold (-20 up to -40 degree Celcius.) Death walks with them every step of their way, and it nurtured their courage, strength, and camaraderie; they became the death bringer instead of letting the weight of injustice bringing them down. I loved reading about all of these; there’s something immensely inspiring in the physical and mental prowess they unleashed to deal with the harsh realities of their world. The Author did a wonderful job of infusing the story with the practices, beliefs, prejudices and realities of the of the Mongol people during this period of history. From the warriors ability to live on mares milk and blood for extended periods, their social structure, their weapons and their customs, you are transported to the Mongolian plains and your home becomes a Mongolian ger while you enjoy the story. The Author not only consulted the ancient texts regarding Genghis Khan, but he spent time amongst the Mongolian people before writing the books. His effort and dedication was obvious. Darien: Empire of Salt uses his considerable writing skills and historical knowledge to venture into a genre he has always considered a personal favourite: Fantasy. The plot is driven around five main characters. A hunter, gunslinger, thief keeper, young man and a girl unaware of her abilities.Whilst Sparta is busy in the aftermath of this disaster, Pericles believes that this is a golden opportunity to take measures to protect Athens, he believes that defensive walls to protect both the city and access to the harbour and sea , will be crucial in future times of strife. Darien is clearly meant to be the first in a series and not a stand-alone. What this means is that the book introduces the reader to people and places that are going to develop over more than one book. The plan at present is for a trilogy. The first 95% of this book was no exception. It’s a gripping tale of the struggles which Pericles faced, how he became a leader in Athens and his city’s rivalry with Sparta - the most militarily superior state of its time. The story of Temujin and his rise to uniting the tribes against the Tartars is a powerful one. Temujin goes through a lot of hell from the age of twelve onward, from being abandoned on the steppe during winter, to being imprisoned in a pit and being urinated on, to having his wife kidnapped and raped by Tartars. Once he started uniting the tribes, even I felt like riding with the young khan. While he's not always likeable, he's definitely a charismatic character.

The best part about the whole thing was that I was dragged by the heels out of my terrible reading funk. It didn’t even take the whole book to do it, just this particular quote, which might just be the best historical fiction line I’ve encountered… Iggulden draws the Greek world convincingly and he is strongest writing battle scenes' THE TIMES on the Golden Age series

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Conn Iggulden is one of the greatest Historical Fiction authors of our times. Apparently he's damn good at Fantasy as well.

In my opinion, this is a perfect specimen of HF. I enjoyed it and it is easily the best book I have read this year and I anticipate it will make my top 10 at the end of the year. Overall, the story is compelling. While the average reader will have some idea of the sheer force that Genghis Kahn ultimately became, that knowledge is far more amazing when you consider his humble beginnings. A must read. The news from the north is rather grim. There is an army massing under the new king of Feal. They are heading toward Darien, the city of the Twelve families, and he demands either allegiance, or war. Tellius, who is the Speaker to the Council, knows that the divided city is never going to stand up against such a horrible enemy. But he does have a plan. We follow Elias, Tellius, Arthur, Daw, Nancy, and Deeds as they get wrapped up in the schemes of the Twelve Ruling Families of Darien, to catastrophic results. The magic in this world was quite an interesting aspect and allowed for a couple of interesting characters. A golem able to mimic actions he’s just witnessed, a woman who drains any magic within her vicinity to then use with flamethrower like skills, a man able to witness events a few moments ahead of time enabling him to avoid any threat. The problem is that these interesting characters were cast aside near the end for an epic battle which fell flat and didn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. I’d have rather have it been smaller in scope and concentrated on the interesting characters and their interactions like in the earlier part of the novel.There was no bond stronger than that between those who have risked their lives in each other’s company.”

My only complaint is that so many of these great leaders and names have sadly departed for the rewards of the Elysian Fiields, but I’m sure that other heroes will emerge. The story itself was intriguing from the beginning, and it was told from 5 different points of view. There were a lot of important sub-plots that played a vital role in the main story-line, and all of them were masterfully intertwined. All of the aforementioned aspects were fundamental attributes to Darien, but the most crucial one was the characters. Iggulden purred all of his talent into creating a bunch of well-sculptured and memorable characters that fell and felt for. Storytelling is once ore excellent, all figures come superbly to life in this wonderful Greek tragedy of war and death, while political intrigue, cultural and philosophical influences, and military machinations are greatly described within this amazing tale. After uniting the Mongol tribes Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Genghis later on targets and conquers the Chin Genghis: Lords of the Bow. I fully enjoyed the two books. Despite the difficulty of telling fiction from fact, it was still worthwhile. However, this is not a history book, and there's plenty of room for creativity. The book is a wonderful example of historical fiction where we get to know so much about the times of the foundation and growth of the Mongol empire and the birth of Genghis Khan. The narration creates a vivid and compelling insight into the characters that are inspirational, loyal and battle-hard, with a storyline that is breath-taking. The harshness of the environment and how they survived is exceptionally well portrayed. "We are the Silver people, the Mongols. When they ask tell them there are no tribes. Tell them I am khan of the sea of grass, and they will know me by my name, as Genghis." Many people's will come to know him and the fact that his story is still held as one of the greatest leadership and military examples in history is a testament to his achievements. What is probably more impressive is that he had a very clever strategy of building and maintaining an empire that would survive - and for long enough it did.

Then we have Nancy, a young thief who doesn't believe in magic and wants revenge for her dead father. She meets Daw Threefold who is always in search of a new opportunity to make money. They discover that Nancy has a powerful ability that might decide the future of Darien itself. The other part of the overall scene is the city of Darien where much of the book is set. I guess Darien is a fairly stereotypical city state with rulers who are seen as abusing power and authority. Those who are in authority are doing all they can to retain that authority. Sparta did not defeat Athens by baiting them out into one battle as Conn tells it. Athens lost a huge part of her army in a failed attempted invasion of Sicily - a venture in which they didn’t really need to embark, at a point when the war was going in their favour. So much hadn’t been covered yet that I was excited for the next instalment as I reached the end of this book. To my dismay Conn Iggulden suddenly just wraps up the story like a tv series that has had its funding for the next season cut! Character wise Mr. Iggulden writes believable protagonists and antagonists, when a new character is introduced, everything is revealed(or almost everything), then you start to like the said characters, only to find that, they were just part of the embellishment (Daw, I really liked him........dang........😵😵😵😵), I was really into his heroes(????) and villains (????......as I have said, you never know who is who and what is what).......