Lords of the Bow

Iggulden, Conn. Genghis: lords of the bow. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. Print.

Summary:

For as long as anyone can remember the native tribes of modern-day Mongolia have been fighting amongst each other. Now, they have come together and joined as one nation under a man known as Genghis Khan. A man who thrives on blood and battles. These tribes have united to remove the Chin from their rightful lands. Genghis will first attack the allies of the Chin, the Xi Xia. They are thwarted by a towering wall. However, a clever trick manages for the Mongols to have the door opened for them. The capital, however, is more of a challenge. After a brutal battle the Xi Xia general falls with many of his people. The Mongol army surrounds the capital and deprives it of food and water by cutting of the water channels. This last move is, however, a mistake because it causes a flood in the battlegrounds. As the Xi Xia people starve, the emperor decides to attempt a negotiation. The two parties eventually agree on a large wealth tribute given to the Mongols by the Xi Xia every year. They also add a Xi Xia princess and a merchant speaking native Mongol tongue as well as Chin tongue. Two of Genghis’s brothers, Temuge and Khasar, are sent with this merchant, Ho Sa to sketch the structure of the walls of a Chin city. In the city they meet a master smuggler and criminal gang leader of the Blue Tong called Chen Yi. He introduces them to a master mason with conditions that his city is spared and left to be ruled by him. With their information they return home. This master mason then teaches Genghis about a weapon able to crumble the walls of the Chin. The Mongols commence building there army of catapults and trebuchets. Meanwhile, the reputation of the con of a shaman, Kokchu, grows and grows. He is now the leading shaman of the Mongol nation. As the Mongol army heads towards the city of Yenking they crumple Chin cities in their wake. When they arrive at the road to Yenking they must wage a fierce mountain battle with a large army of the Chin. The Mongols eventually victor thanks to their crude strategies. The chin army falters. However, the Chin general escapes. Returning to Yenking, he kills the emperor and names himself emperor until the emperor’s son is old enough. The general hires an assassin to kill Genghis. Can Genghis defeat the Chin capital and survive an assassination attempt?

0% SIMILARITY

Vocabulary:

Grudgingly: Reluctantly or Resentfully. P. 14.

Shaman: A person regarded as having influence in the world of spirits. P. 565

Jade: A hard stone that is typically green. P. 570

Inevitable: Unavoidable. P. 570

Dwindling: Depleting. P. 481

Reflection: I enjoyed this book very much. I would rate this book a 9.25 out of 10. I would recommend this book to every one who likes large wars, blood, and violence. When I was reading this book I really felt with the Mongols who died during the wars. I enjoyed the strategies and the battles. However, I also enjoyed how the minor character, Tsubodai, grew into a skilled general by the end of the book. I liked how this book had so much from reality but was changed in many ways to make the book much more interesting than a boring old biography.

Theme:

I think the two main themes in this book are war and unity. For unity, this story tells how many tribes were united to make one nations. Many of these tribes had bad blood in between them but they forgot their past differences and just made it work. If everyone had such an attitude the world would be  a much better place. Unity is shown everywhere but there is one specific chapter in the book I would like to highlight.

Unity P.68-75 Iggulden, Conn. "Chapter 3." Genghis: lords of the bow. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. 68-75. Print.

As for war the whole book centers around war between the Mongols and the Xi Xia and between the Mongols and the Chin empire. An example of a major battle in the book was the Battle of Badgers Pass. I will use this as an example of war.

War P. 431-461 Chapter 24-25 Iggulden, Conn. "Chapter 225-5." Genghis: lords of the bow. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. 431-461. Print.

Point of View:

This story is told from third person omniscient point of view. The narrator can see what multiple people are doing and thinking and narrates between large distances. This doesn’t change the main character in any way. A sentence that shows third person omniscient is: “He could see no more than ten thousand of them, at most.” And “It was too early, Kachiun thought.” These sentences were both found on P. 431 during the battle of badger pass.

Historical Setting:

The historical setting of this novel is during the time Genghis Khan conquered China as the leader of the Mongol nation. This book is different from reality but close. History was just changed to make the story more interesting and thrilling. The character of Kokchu was added by Conn Iggulden to show how a clever man could deceive a whole nation into thinking he could talk to spirits. There was also the addition of the spy who came into the Mongolian camp at the same time as the assassin. In the book, this spy completely changed the ending (but I will not say how). In reality there was no spy.

I got this information from a few pages at the end of the book that tell what the author changed and what he kept the same.

Iggulden, Conn. "Historical Note." Genghis: lords of the bow. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. 603-614. Print.

The effect of the setting:

Because of what I have said above this section is confusing to fill in for me. The characters are the authors interpretation of the character’s role in history. The plot is mostly true with interesting tweaks. The theme is the principles of people and rulers at that era of history. This results in the whole book being an example of the effect of the historical setting.

Iggulden, Conn. Genghis: lords of the bow. New York: Delacorte Press, 2008. Print.

The major characters:

There are many characters in this book. The main character is quite obviously Genghis Khan. He is a successful man who at the young age of twenty began uniting the tribes that live on the plains of Mongolia. He is brutal, as he thrives on war and blood. When he took out his first enemy he got bored and quickly made new enemies to conquer. As for the other major characters, I would say Kokchu is one of them. He managed to deceive a whole nation into thinking he can communicate with spirits. However, he is really nothing but a conniving conman. He is machiavellian and deceiving. I would also say that General Zhing Zhong is a major character. He is betraying as he killed his own emperor to make himself Lord Regent. However, he was an honorable man. He was a man of the former emperor but this new emperor was not honorable. The general was just looking for an honorable way to retire when his so mad with fury at the emperor and the Mongols that he wasn’t really thinking. I liked how the author developed characters. My favorite example of this was General Tsubodai. Starting of as any ordinary person in the Mongol Army he quickly rose to being a general of 10,000 men. He started this growth by helping one of Khasar during a fight. He was rewarded by Genghis. When he went to Genghis to claim his reward they were discussing strategies and Tsubodai pitched in the strategy that won the battle. In this battle he was granted his first battle as a general. He rose upward constantly from there.