Summary
- each chapter follows a different character:
- Kaivon: a Persian general who after attempting to kill Hulagu Khan, joins him and becomes a general in the Mongol army. He is secretly working to destroy the Mongol empire
- Hulagu Khan: leader of the Ilkhanate
- Kokochin: a Mongol girl whose whole tribe is killed by the Mongols, she then becomes Hulagu’s wife. She also joins an anti-Mongol resistance group and falls in love with fellow resistance leader Layla
- Temujin: Hulagu’s disappointment of a son. Later he finds out he is a Kozan. He has abilities magical abilities
- main plot points:
- Hulagu is going to war with his cousin Berke Khan, leader of the Golden Horde. Hulagu is accusing Berke of working with the Caliphate against the Mongol Empire
- The House of Grace is increasing the strength of the Persian resistance
- the Kozan are split into two groups
- the good side: Melchior, Behrouz, Maryam
- the bad side: Katarina, Eraj, Teague
- Kaivon:
- he falls in love with Esme, a nurse in Hulagu’s army who is also part of the Persian resistance. She is the sister of one of the leaders of the House of Grace
- he goes with Hulagu to fight the Golden Horde
- Behrouz, a Kozan, works for Hulagu and helps root out traitors. He identifies Kaivon as a traitor and “kills” him; Kaivon is actually transported to a Persian rebel/resistance camp.
- Kaivon and Esme reunite
- the rebellion is growing stronger, but Kaivon doesn’t want to be its leader. They now have to figure out who should lead them. This ends Kaivon’s storyline.
- Hulagu:
- goes to war against Berke. Loses the war and retreats
- Behrouz works for him (secretly, he’s undermining him though). Behrouz roots out traitors in Hulagu’s army. In reality, he’s getting rid of the competent people to weaken Hulagu.
- eventually Hulagu becomes paranoid and deranged.
- he is paralyzed when Temujin attacks. This ends Hulagu’s storyline.
- Kokochin:
- Kokochin and Layla are prisoners of Guyuk, Hulagu’s wife. Guyuk is forcing Kokochin to find Temujin otherwise she’ll kill Layla
- they eventually escape and join up with the House of Grace. They are assigned a new mission: travel around Persia and try to get the various Persian governors on the side of the resistance
- most of her story is just this.
- Kokochin seems to enjoy hurting people. By the end of the book, Layla leaves her. Kokochin is devastated. This ends Kokochin’s storyline.
- Temujin:
- he is training with the Kozan, who are revealed to be very old (they age slowly) and are extremely powerful
- there were 6 Kozan total, 3 on each side (they don’t like each other). Temujin was the seventh.
- the Kozan side that Temujin is with are working on helping an up and coming warlord, Timur Lane. They believe that Timur will grow powerful enough to take down the Ilkhanate
- the leader of the other side, Melchior, reveals the truth. He is on the side of good. The side that Temujin is on are the bad ones and have been lying to him.
- Temujin runs away and leaves them. He’s been lied to constantly. He goes on his own path.
- At the very end of the book, Temujin makes a surprise appearance at Hulagu’s court. He kills all the soldiers and his two brothers, Abaqa and Jumghur. He paralyzes Hulagu.
- Temujin sits on the throne and is declared as Temujin Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate by Guyuk. BOOK ENDS.
Reflections
Good book overall, enjoyable, great for night time reading.
The Kokochin storyline felt useless, what was the point of it all? We didn’t really see the fruits of her labor. Temujin randomly turning psycho felt out of the blue and ‘forced’.