Favourite Quotes

“Every mortal will taste death. But only some will taste life.” - Rumi (Part One title page)

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
    • Temujin: Hulagu’s disappointment of a son. Later he finds out he is a Kozan. He has abilities like creating fire from his hands
  • Temujin:
    • he wanted nothing more than to please his father.
    • as the story progresses and he learns more about his Kozan abilities, he realizes the Mongol Empire should not have access to this kind of power. He betrays his father
  • Kokochin:
    • after becoming Hulagu’s wife, she joins a resistance group of women. They are all trained killers/assassins
    • Kokochin gets caught by the Empress Guyuk. Guyuk has Layla, Kokochin’s lover, captured. So Kokochin must comply with whoever Guyuk wants her to kill.
    • her first assignment: kill Temujin. The book ends at this part.
  • Hulagu Khan:
    • his story line is mainly about his battles to conquer Iraq, Syria, and eventually Jerusalem
    • his story then evolves to include the civil war that is brewing between his brothers fighting for leadership of the Mongol Empire

Reflections

As a fantasy book it was much better than The Stardust Thief, mainly due it being a historical fiction work… honestly that’s the only reason why I liked this book. I really like historical fiction (I’m looking at your Samarkand).

The elements of ‘fantasy’ were not that strong (at least in this book, seems like book 2 will have more magic), so it almost didn’t feel like fantasy.