The fifth and final volume in Iggulden's epic series about Genghis Khan and his successors, and the vast Mongol Nation that came thundering down out of the high plateau of Central Asia in the 13th century to overrun China, the Moslem Empire, the Russian steppes and eastern Europe. A vast empire of khanates tenuously linked together by the bloodline of Genghis and their allegiance to the Great Khan at Karakorum, the Mongol Empire lasted less than 200 years but did indeed change the world.
Previous volumes in the series are: Genghis: Birth of an Empire; Genghis: Lords of the Bow; Genghis: Bones of the Hills; and Genghis: Empire of Silver.
In this final book, Iggulden focuses on the slow rise to power of Kublai, the unregarded third son of Genghis' fourth son Tolui and his clever wife Sorhatani. After the death of Genghis, the power he accumulated as the man who welded the Mongol tribes into one Nation and forged an army to conquer the world, slowly faded as his sons and grandsons fought over the succession. Only with Kublai did the Mongol Empire briefly regain its dominance.
Fast paced and filled with vivid descriptions that bring the people and events roaring to life from a period too often glossed over in a paragraph or two in the history books.
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