The Mongoliad (The Mongoliad Series Book 1)

enjoyed the book, have ordered the second book. not in the same regard as the Game of Thrones even though the last book of Thornes was not nearly as good as the first books, seems he got borded as i did

I must point out that I am a huge Neal Stephenson fan so I'm likely biased. This book is an amazing historical fiction of something I had never been really interested in before. It has caused me to research the Mongolian conquest to gain some insight. I always like attempts that try to present both sides to a conflict - the only way to walk in someone else's moccasins, as Atticus Finch would say. Read the book (online version as well) and get lost in it. It's truly amazing.

Fascinating story that takes you direct into the past !
The events that take place in the book, are true from history, and it's fascinating how the authors have managed to bring life into this long gone past.

Given the stellar list of authors, one expects a really knock-your-socks-off alternate history. Most of this, however, feels pretty cliched and ordinary, with a tremendous amount of internalizing by characters we are essentially forced to like if we are to finish the book at all, rather than actually wanting to like them. In fact, (and this is my problem with most medieval fiction), almost everyone in the novel is filthy, smelly, prejudiced, superstitious, and bloodthirsty. As a science fiction fan, I like reading about futures where we have escaped at least 3 of those 5 characteristics, if not more.

I'm really not sure why I should care whether the Horde of Genghis Khan conquered Christendom, or vice-versa, and I'm not going to shell out the money to buy the next installment to find out. I guess I am not cut out for the alternate history genre when the "what if ..." premise of the plot just doesn't really interest me.

I guess this is a series, but still don't know what this book is about. Cliffhanger, no questions answered, barely any questions themselves. These guys are on a quest, this guy over here is dealing with politics, the end. It is well written but it seems like it must have been one book broken up into a series. Who is the big bad? Most characters and events seem inconsequential.

Although I'm a fan of Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear, rarely I bought books from more than one writer. I'm not trust very much in colaborations, and in this case, I bought Mongoliad - One, because I love those authors by separate, and wanted to make the experiment. So many authors, wow.

I knew about the Mongoliad experiment in the net, and read some excerpts here and there. Well, bought it and started reading. I thought it could work. And it was. Yes, I can see more from Stephenson that from other authors in this novel, but this can be perhaps because I've read more from him than from the other authors. And yes, this is not Criptonomicon, but it's good, and it's fun, and its characters are very well shaped. I can see them, as well as I can see clearly the palace of the Khan or the forests. I found some marvelous scenes where the action caught me and I couldn't give away my eyes from the reading. Those scenes are why it's worth reading it.

Historical information well written and researched. Blends fact with just the right amount of fiction. Look forward to reading the rest of the series. The research on weapons, armour, clothing, location of actual cities makes this a must read for avid history buffs and afficianados of good "story telling".

The concept is great, a party of knights going east to assassinate the Khan of the Mongols invading eastern Europe is quite original. However, the reader can definitely tell where each author picks up and the pacing of the book is a bit off. I also feel like I need a map of 13th century Europe as few of the countries we know today are to be found. The ending of the book leaves something to be wanted, namely that it just cuts off mid scene, not a cliff hanger, just chopped off; probably publisher meddling but that doesn't make the reader feel any more closure.

See my review of Book Two. Everything I wrote still holds true for this one. Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear did not write this trash. Maybe they endorsed it, threw out some ideas,but the style and method of writing belong to neither. If you did write it, Neal and Greg, fire your freaking editor, dudes! WTF?

Great read. Fantastic character development and plot. Cannot wait for the other books in the series to come out. If you like learning about history while reading a well thought out book then this book is for you.

Great time period to write about, well researched, but turned into a terrible story reminiscent more of 80's fantasy movies but without anyone as awesome as Arnold Schwarzenegger. The characters are cliche' "individuals," the hansom knight, the alchemist, the seductress etc. I felt like the writer was more of a Dungeon Master then actually interested in recreating an awesome part of history. Seemed like the authors were simply showing everyone their own fantasies involving sharp weapons and asian women.

Fulfils the promise of the second book - what began as an enjoyable piece of fantasy writing in Book #1 descends into commercial triteness. Feels like a committee effort without much soul. Just about worth reading to finish the trilogy, but I won't be coming back for more.

I read all but the last 90 pages but I couldn't persuade myself to continue reading. What a boring book! The characterizations are cardboard and the story almost doesn't exist. There are too many characters and not enough story. There are no editing issues, which is a plus since so many writers don't bother with editors. I really think I have wasted time and money. I will not read further into the series, particularly since the books are ending without any kind of conflict resolution, according to other reviewers.

This book is well written and moves right along. I had a little difficulty keeping track of all the characters but they finally all fall into place. I read book two and am looking forward to the next one.

i would highly recommed this book to anybody,they must have reseached this thoughly.I've cried ,laughed and gottened really involved in this trilogy.It would make an ingreable trilogy of movies. I'd love to meet the writers they minds must be fantastic.

Bought this sight unseen because Neal Stephenson's name was on it. Hard to believe that he had a hand in it as I've enjoyed every book he's written so far. Very poor character development and the story just seem to jump from scene to scene. In a word, boring. Very disappointed. Paid good money and can't even sell it as a used book. Won't be buying an eBook without a sample chapter.

The time is 1241 and the Mongol Empire is ruled by Ogedei, one of Ghengis' four sons. Twelve knights from an ancient order known as the Shield Brethren and Cnan, a young girl acting as guide plan to trek across Europe to the heart of the Empire and assassinate Ogedei Khagan, Khan of Khans.
I didn't know what to expect of a book written by seven authors but it works, on so many levels and works well. Rich in detail, it's obvious there has been a great deal of research done and many readings to make sure that the story flows, the descriptions are crisp, the characters three dimensional, fully formed and the world in which they live feels all to threateningly real.
The second book is due to be released in September, I'm looking forward to the next installlment.

It would be so much better if a fantasy book depicting well-known historic events was set in a totally differnt world. People, their actions and their surroundings clash too much with everything that we know about Europe and Asia in 13th century.

I expected more from a project which includes Neal Stephenson. Unfortunately, this reads like a multi-author mish-mash in which the least talented are given free reign. Sorry, I couldn't read more than a few pages - some selected at random after a poor start.

If you want to read a fantasy novel that occurs in this particular era, this book might be the one for you. For my part, after having read this novel, I'm still not sure if I will buy and read the next two.

One has most probably to read 5 books of the series to get somewhere. I finished the first and I am not sure whether the story has started yet. It seems to be an endless, meaningless medieval soap opera ... I admit is written well, but the very least the authors could do is start the plot in the first book.

Killing the Great Khan of the mongols, what a joke!!!

What a heck of a novel this is. If you have never before read a "Historical Fiction" story, make this one your first. While it took a crew of writers to pull this one off, it was a great crew to begin with and the results do not disappoint. Just the opposite, in fact. I've got 2 other books in this series already on my the store Wish List. I've written novels with a co-author before, and I'm working on another now. the results are mixed, but the folks who put "The Mongoliad" together are words beyond anything I could ever hope to achieve.

My hat is off to you all!

After a slow start, the book picks up steam and I can start to hear Stephenson's voice. Enjoyed it, but not as much as The Baroque Cycle(another slow starter) or Cryptonomicon. Books written by committee can be chancy. Proceed with caution.

I enjoyed the book because of my interest in historic fiction and the Mongols in particular. What I didn't like was the ending. How do you end a book with the bad guys pursuing some of the good guys in a tunnel, the rest of the good guys trying to find them in same tunnel after fending off more bad guys? By September I will have to start over!!

There was a bloody fight to the death on every other page it seemed to me! I really enjoyed the parts about Rome and the struggles to elect a pope, but the rest of the book was just fighting and more fighting.

I love fantasy and I love the medieval period of history, so I thought I would love this series. The structure of all the books has been a distraction from the plot and sometimes the modern idioms used break the spell of the moment, so that the reader loses touch with the period setting. The underlying concepts kept me reading, but sometimes it was a struggle.

I'm not one to usually write reviews, but I really enjoyed this book and read it entirely over one weekend (and two plane rides.)

I will say that this read to me like a more fleshed out and enjoyable version of Eaters of the Dead, which I also enjoyed. If you have any historical interest in the middle ages, eastern European history, or the Golden Horde, you will most likely not be able to put this book down. Unless I had seen it on the cover, I would not have known that it was written by several authors. Clearly, a good amount of historical research went into the book, yet they take obvious liberties that do not detract from the story. The combat was visceral, and reminded me somewhat of the writing in the First Law series.

I recommend this book and cannot wait for the second (and hopefully an entire series!)

These two sites may help in reading this book :-)

[...]

[...] -- See also External Links at the bottom of this page.

Please post any other "background" type info as I would very much like to increase my enjoyment of this world.

Peace!

Bill. (:-{)}

Not something I would normally read since my experience with multiple authors has been bad. Also, the first book I have given 5 stars. You will feel like you are there. When will the next one be released?

The beginning promised to be a great novel and I loved the main (female) character. But then it ended without conclusion! No "look for part two", nothing. Later I read it was a "group" wrting exercise and I commend the fellows for the start - but finish it, please!

I was attracted to this book because it was a collaboration of several accomplished authors and the suggested subject matter. (The only other book by multiple...more than two...writers I have read was in a different genre...and not very good!!)

It turned out to be two distinct books (with suggestion of a third). The shift between these distinct stories, chapter by chapter, seemed meaningless and somewhat difficult to follow. Both stories are well written and well edited (important to Kindle readers) and would be worth reading as two individual books.

I suppose the authors will one day...in a future volume...bring these stories together in some meaningful way. Sorry, but I will not bother to find out!!

Overall, an interesting experiment by talented folks but, unfortunatly, a waste of time by them and the person who reads this work.

There is nothing particularly wrong with this book, I guess, but the world is not compelling, the characters are not complex, the fights are not unique, and the relationships are stereotypical. I finished this one, barely, but I doubt I will pick up the sequel, and I've never had that feeling after a book from Stephenson or Bear.

While there are seven authors, the voice of Neal Stephenson is unmistakeable at times. His narrative is often more along the lines of Cryptonomicon than Snow Crash, which depending on your taste may or may not be to your liking (I definitely preferred the latter to the former). I say this because there is considerable "situational dialog", for lack of a better description, where characters have discussions and the reader is slowly brought up to speed. While I found his presence obvious, there are times when it vanishes so I believe this was a good collaborative effort.

The story begins in 1241. Ogedei has succeed Genghis as Khan of the Mongol Empire and his hordes are ravaging Eastern Europe while the new Khan is seduced into court life and overindulgence. The Mongol horde is loose and ravaging Eastern Europe as the population descends into terror. A band of heroes decide a military victory is impossible and there is only one solution; so they set out on an impossible quest.

One character I found interesting was Istvan, who they refer to as a "Madjar", which I assumed to be a nomadic Magyar since he is a highly skilled horse archer. One reviewer was put off by the suggestion of the Mongols being depicted as too brutal. I disagree. Having read all the English-written historical source material on this subject I personally think not a single fiction author has come close to depicting it.

The Golden Horde which devastated north and west led by Jochi & Batu left very little living in their wake. It was a war of extermination and in 1241, the beginning of The Mongoliad, Batu was about to overtake Vienna. The devastation he left behind tells of mountains of human skulls and remains, a vast desolate wasteland; the results of Nazi style cleansing-efficiency. Consider during Genghis' time his empire contained 110 million people with a global population of 400 million and it is estimated 40 million died as a result of his aggression. Compare that to the 60 million who died in WWII out of a global population of 2.3 billion. I applaud the authors for capturing some of the Mongol brutality.

The Mongoliad is set in exotic locations and no commonality of language, much like a viking adventure, which adds to the authenticity. The book is fairly well researched and the diverse team of authors all lend a quality to this complex tale. The first 50 pages take a while to get going, but once the stage is set the reward is a very unique and original adventure that ultimately spans the centuries as the trilogy progresses. I enjoyed the book immensely and look forward to the next installment, due out September 25. I highly recommend!

A good read, if you like alternative history. Co-authored books often work better as a collection of short stories, but here they have succeeded in creating a coherent story, which very quickly grips you.

This review contains plot spoilers.

I picked this up on the store Prime figuring it would be fun, well-researched historical fiction along the lines of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Well I was totally wrong about that. I'll go through it piece by piece:

Characters: Way too many POV characters, makes it hard to care about any of them. The heroes are all noble, selfless boy scouts and the villains are so cartoonishly evil it's a wonder they never twirl their mustaches while yelling "Curses! Foiled again!". None of them really evolve or develop over the course of the story, except maybe Ocyrhoe who no one cares about anyway.

Plot: Conflicts are introduced in the first 100 pages of the trilogy, and get resolved (kind of) in the final 200 pages. The middle 80% of the trilogy is just people hanging out, sending messages back and forth, traveling from point A to B, fighting a few low-stakes skirmishes, and holding staff meetings. I'll grant that the Epic Journey can be done well, but The Odyssey this ain't. Also, the entire Rome subplot was dull, overlong, and totally superfluous to the rest of the story. This book is advertised as an adventure about Christian knights facing off against Mongol invaders, so don't bait-and-switch me some side story about random useless teenagers getting mixed up with a bunch of squabbling Catholic Church bureaucrats. Lastly, the ending was a huge letdown; major questions are left unanswered and there's no resolution of the characters' fates. What's the deal with the Spirit Banner? Will Gansukh and Lian wind up together? Will the knights make it back to Europe alive? If you felt entitled to have these questions resolved as a reward for grinding through the whole trilogy, well the authors beg to differ.

Style: The prose is uniformly bland and workmanlike. I've read most of Stephenson's books and had no clue which parts of this were written by him. There's little in the way of skillful metaphor, vivid description, or humor to bring the story to life, just flat "this happened, then that, and then this other thing". Apparently writing this series was really just an excuse for the authors to geek out about sword fighting, but even the fight scenes are dry and academic without clearly describing what is actually happening: "Bob stepped into Jim's guard and flicked the tip of his blade in an arc, closing the line and sweeping his opponent's hilt to starboard. Jim found his blade trapped between his right arm and left leg, and was forced to go to half-sword to avoid a pommel strike to the back of his head. Pain jolted through his hands as the flukes of his ricasso jammed against Bob's quillons." This nonsense goes on for page after page until you just skip ahead to see who wins.

Between all of the above and the fact that you don't even wind up learning much about this historical period (obvious questions like why the Mongols armies were so effective against Western infantry are never raised or answered), I award this trilogy one star for its overall mediocrity and tiresomeness, and one bonus star for finally giving Father Rodrigo the violent, gruesome death I was wishing upon him from the moment he was introduced.

In this third book of the series the 5 or 6 story arcs all come to conclusion. The first two books were mostly concerned with setting up the situations and describing 13th century life in middle Europe. In this book all conflicts are more or less resolved, with much action. Action meaning fighting.

The attention to detail for a period which which most of us are totally unfamiliar is impressive. The multiple characters are clearly defined and my attention was held at all times, even when little or no action was occurring. I did a bit of checking of the real history of this period and the book has it right. I can thoroughly recommend the series, and urge any one considering it to start at Book 1.

Despite this I agonized over whether to assign five or only four stars. In a couple of the story lines I felt the endings did not proceed logically/sensibly. I felt a bit let down. (Won't spell this out because I don't want to create a spoiler.)

At the conclusion the text reads "End of Book 3". Can there be another? Quite a few of the characters are left alive with personal matters to attend to, so it's possible. But the story would have to go off on a whole new tack. If there is a Book 4 I will sign up for it.

Generally I try to avoid books that list a multitude of writers since they often come across as having been edited by committee and you have several voices trying to make their portions of the work stand out rather than a single voice that tries to make the entire book stand out. At least The Mongoliad manages to avoid those particular sins, though it manages to find others that are almost as egregious.

Take, for example, the idea of exposition. It's not one of the seven deadly sins, so it's OK to use it on occasion. It's one thing for an author (or authors, in this case) to drop you in the middle of the action on the opening pages; but to plop you in the middle of the action without even the tiniest hint of whenever and wherever the heck you are only serves to confuse and frustrate readers who aren't scholars of Medieval history and/or never heard of the on-line version of Mongoliad before reading about it in some of the reviews.

Likewise, it was difficult to figure out where the action takes place since there were no modern place names used in the book. I was beginning to think the story took place in some fantasy alternate universe until I figured out that Rus meant Russia. I can't entirely blame the authors for this. Even if it had been published with maps (as apparently the "deluxe" version will be) reading maps on a Kindle is nearly impossible.

There are some interesting passages in The Mongoliad, but they ended up being sandwiched between sections that lean toward the tedious. For example, in one portion of the book there is a description of one-on-one combat between two contestants in the Khan's Circus of Swords. I appreciate the level of realism with which this is depicted, but the battle continues over three friggin' chapters! Since the chapters alternate between those set in the Khan's empire and the travels of the dozen knights and others who are undertaking a quest, so every one of those three chapters has another chapter separating it from its continuation. That brings up another problem with how the book is structured: there's no way to tell whether the alternating chapters are occurring at the same time or if time has elapsed between the chapters.

Frankly, I was beginning to wonder if the book would make better sense if I read all the even-number chapters and then all the odd-numbered chapters ... or maybe even just read chapters at random. There are portions of a good book in The Mongoliad, but they are not well-served by the rigid, back-and-forth structure of the novel.

There are several problems with this book, most of which have been mentioned before.

The point of view shifts between at least 5 characters, never allowing the reader to become emotionally invested in any of them to any great degree. There is a prologue unrelated to the rest of the story that leaves the reader hanging. The writing styles in the various sections are noticeably different; and the book ends without any conclusion. It is simply a "To be continued". The ending isn't even a chapter conclusion. It just drops off and expects to continue in the next book as though the reader had merely turned a page.

Plot development is truly slow as well. It is fully three quarters of the way through the book before it becomes clear that any of the different groups are fated to meet. The whole thing reads like an omnibus of vignettes.

That is way too slow for me. Amazingly, the 5th book of the series, using some of the same characters found here, is much more tightly plotted and interesting. It also takes pains to draw the reader into the world of the characters. Here one is merely watching accounts of battles and travelogues of people moving across the countryside.

I definitely had to force myself to finish reading this, just to see if it finally got a little better; and all that did is convince me not to waste my time with the rest of the series.

I am so glad that this was just a borrowed book and I did not waste any money on it.

A while back I was listening to a podcast (I wish I could remember which one) where they were interviewing Neal Stephenson. Neal’s been one of my favorite authors since I read Snow Crash almost twenty years ago. The main material in the podcast was over his then most recent work Anathem, but what stuck out to me at the time was his interest in ancient weapons and fighting techniques. He later got together with several (many, if truth be told) authors with a similar fascination. They decided to work on a collaborative effort which involved a realistic world where many of these forgotten martial arts could be put on display in word form. Thus was birthed the first book in the Foreworld Saga: The Mongoliad.

I’ll list all the authors since I’m sure they all want credit: Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, E. D. deBirmingham, Cooper Moo, Neal Stephenson, and Mark Teppo. They combine to tell the fairly straightforward tale in 13th century Europe and Asia. There are dual storylines in play – one in Asia where a young warrior is trying to save the Mongolian Empire from courtly corruption and one in Europe following a band of knights on their quest to kill the Khan of Khans. The tales thread back and forth throughout the book with zero overlap and without much thought to pacing. There is however quite a bit of – I’m sure fairly historical – fighting and war-making. Unfortunately all the martial prowess cannot make up for the lack of actual plot.

The book started off slow, but picked up with some early character development. This however played out into a story that went nowhere. Half of this book is supposed to be a knightly quest, yet the heroes never went anywhere significant. The other half is supposed to deal with courtly machinations and intrigue, but only got as far as some thin innuendo. This book did have some interesting characters and seemed to set up some clever plot ideas, but ultimately the story just stops without anything coming to fruition. I’m not sure if this had to do with the multiplicity of authors or the foreknowledge of sequels to come, but typically there is some payoff at the end of a volume that makes you want to follow up. This book provided none. I have some curiosity to see what becomes of some of the characters, but probably not enough to take the time to find out.

I have looked at the Foreworld website, and in the past couple of years, they have put out many sequels and “side-quest” stories. There must be some depth to the series, I just wish this talented group of authors could have done a better job of introducing the world to the reader. Read this only if you have time to spare.

3.5 stars out of 10

Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. I read some lead-in pieces on this, and was looking forward to a technically-correct, heavily-researched novel of the Mongolian attack on Europe. What I got instead was a screenplay for a 1940's movie with Rosalind Russell, Burt Lancaster, and Cary Grant. While the fight scenes may well have been more "technically accurate" than most, all other offerings to reality are lost in a fantasyland of mis-apprehended characters. Let it suffice as an example that the 'romantic' protagonist is a suave, debonair, intelligent, well-educated, well-dressed mongol tribesman fresh off the battlefields, who has a way with the ladies, but would intimidate Dwayne Johnson, smells good (even though Mongols were forbidden by their religion to bathe), and, to top it all off, actually gives a crap about what some woman thinks!!! Yeah, I'm feelin' all the scholarly research here... Seriously, you can do worse than this triad of novels, but I wouldn't want to try. Just wait for the serious version of these, like where the female lead is gang-raped and sold to slavers by the Christians in the first chapter, or the entire Christian raiding party is taken down by 3 Mongols with with bows and arrows, and the 'romantic' Mongol is gang-raped and sold to slavers in the 3rd chapter by real Mongols.

Sadly, this is being sold largely on Neal Stephenson's name -- but it's a long way from that author's brilliant best, let alone the fine works of Greg Bear. Cardboard characters, childish plot, plodding descriptive passages ... the biggest disappointment I can remember.

This book started out well - the characters were all intriguing and we got viewpoints on both sides of the conflict, which is always fun. I got lost a few times with the various Mongolian Khans, as a few of them had very similar names, but as this is based in history, I figure that's not the fault of the authors.

The quest that the non-Mongolian's were setting off on seemed fun - cross and entire continent to assassinate a ruler. The story from the other side of the conflict was much smaller, dealing more with the personal conflicts of the characters instead of the state conflicts. It was a nice balancing point.

However, the pacing was off, mostly when dealing with battle scenes. The amount of description that went into the fight between the knight and the Mongolian champion was excruciating, especially as we jumped back and forth between the minds of the two fighters so we sometimes saw the same thing from both viewpoints. My interest in the book was already starting to wane we that fight started and when we left the fight for a completely different scene and then came back to it I decided I was done.

Someone with more interest or patience for detailed fights would find this a highly enjoyable book. For those like me that need faster pacing to keep your interest you might want to look for a different book.

The Mongoliad is a historical fiction epic, taking place in an alternate reality, where a band of Western Christian knights, in an effort to save Europe and slow the Mongol invasion, travel across Asia to assassinate the Empire's Great Khan. It's a collaborative effort led by Neal Stephenson and a host of other authors. It consists of three books, weighing in at approximately 1500 pages. As it is all one story, I'll just post this review for all three.

It's actually a fantastic tale, and you can tell that every effort has gone into every loving detail to make it as realistic as possible. Some caveats on why I didn't give it five stars:

#3: Those details sometimes got in the way. While the epic clash between a Western knight and a Japanese samurai may be the epitome of every fanboy's nerdgasm, several times the writing of such encounters became bogged down and confused because the writer insisted on accurately describing EACH and EVERY twist and turn of the weapon/limb/bit of armor. It as as if they feared some anal-retentive troll was going to proof each melee to confirm they got it EXACTLY RIGHT.

#2: There was a side story introduced in book 2 and continued in book 3 regarding the religio/politio machinations of the Cardinals of Rome as they struggled to elect a new Pope. It's all very interesting, and frankly could stand alone as a book of its own, but ultimately, it had NOTHING to do with the main story of the knights. Part of me suspects it was a pet project of one of the contributing authors. Or maybe it was added because Stephenson seems to have a requirement that none of his books can ever come in at under 500 pages.

#1: IT DOESN'T HAVE AN ENDING. After nearly 2000 pages, you'd expect an ending. Sure, the knights and the Mongols have their epic showdown, but you need a little more than that. These books are bloated with characters, each carefully crafted with detailed back stories. Each of them deserved some kind of resolution. (Well, I suppose the ones that get killed got theirs, but the living ones didn't.) Their stories were definitely left hanging. All of them. It would require a fourth book, and another 500 pages, to tie up all the loose strings.

Caveat 1.a: It's quite possible that a fourth book is planned. I have no idea. the store seems to suggest there may be, as their seeded search values include a 4th book, but doing the results don't yield anything. Maybe that's because people like me think a fourth book is needed, so they keep searching for one.

Caveat 1.b: These books are part of something called the "Foreworld Saga", and the store is filled with several "Foreworld Sidequests". These appear to be novellas and short stories written by non-contributing authors. Maybe the characters get their loose strings tied up in those, but I'm not going to pay the store to find out.

The Mongoliad is a historical fiction epic, taking place in an alternate reality, where a band of Western Christian knights, in an effort to save Europe and slow the Mongol invasion, travel across Asia to assassinate the Empire's Great Khan. It's a collaborative effort led by Neal Stephenson and a host of other authors. It consists of three books, weighing in at approximately 1500 pages. As it is all one story, I'll just post this review for all three.

It's actually a fantastic tale, and you can tell that every effort has gone into every loving detail to make it as realistic as possible. Some caveats on why I didn't give it five stars:

#3: Those details sometimes got in the way. While the epic clash between a Western knight and a Japanese samurai may be the epitome of every fanboy's nerdgasm, several times the writing of such encounters became bogged down and confused because the writer insisted on accurately describing EACH and EVERY twist and turn of the weapon/limb/bit of armor. It as as if they feared some anal-retentive troll was going to proof each melee to confirm they got it EXACTLY RIGHT.

#2: There was a side story introduced in book 2 and continued in book 3 regarding the religio/politio machinations of the Cardinals of Rome as they struggled to elect a new Pope. It's all very interesting, and frankly could stand alone as a book of its own, but ultimately, it had NOTHING to do with the main story of the knights. Part of me suspects it was a pet project of one of the contributing authors. Or maybe it was added because Stephenson seems to have a requirement that none of his books can ever come in at under 500 pages.

#1: IT DOESN'T HAVE AN ENDING. After nearly 2000 pages, you'd expect an ending. Sure, the knights and the Mongols have their epic showdown, but you need a little more than that. These books are bloated with characters, each carefully crafted with detailed back stories. Each of them deserved some kind of resolution. (Well, I suppose the ones that get killed got theirs, but the living ones didn't.) Their stories were definitely left hanging. All of them. It would require a fourth book, and another 500 pages, to tie up all the loose strings.

Caveat 1.a: It's quite possible that a fourth book is planned. I have no idea. the store seems to suggest there may be, as their seeded search values include a 4th book, but doing the results don't yield anything. Maybe that's because people like me think a fourth book is needed, so they keep searching for one.

Caveat 1.b: These books are part of something called the "Foreworld Saga", and the store is filled with several "Foreworld Sidequests". These appear to be novellas and short stories written by non-contributing authors. Maybe the characters get their loose strings tied up in those, but I'm not going to pay the store to find out.

Apologies for any misspelled names in this review – after all, I did listen to the book.

Set in 13th century Europe, the place is being over run by Mongols. A small band of warriors and mystics think they can save much, if not all, of Europe from the expanding Mongol horde. Of course, the Mongols have a different viewpoint. Cagnan, a capable hunter and tracker who knows Mongol ways, joins a band of mixed and overly optimistic warriors: Illyrian, Eleazar, Ishtvan, Roger, Percival, Teran, Rafael, Hakoun, and others. they have all witnessed the absolute slaughter and desolation left by the Mongols, brought down upon those who defy them. Meanwhile, the remaining sons of Genghis Khan vie for power, grabbing for more and more lands. Ghansook, a Mongol warrior, is sent to keep an eye on Ogedei (one of the Great Khan’s sons), as he tends to sink deep in his cups nightly.

First, this novel is a spin off of something much larger – a multimedia telling of a saga, the Foreworld Saga. I am not too sure what happened to that original intention, but I can tell you that this book is freaking amazing. I kind of expected each chapter to be written by one or two authors. However, the entire novel flows smoothly, moving from character to character, scene to scene, with no stuttering as one might expect from a book that involves so many unique authors. There is more info HERE in the Wikipedia article.

This book is rich in history and character detail. While there are a plethora of characters, they are each introduced in unique and memorable ways, making it easy to keep them straight in one’s head. Cagnan was fascinating to me because she really doesn’t have any higher calling to stop the Mongols. Her people have ordered her to assist the heroic band in safely crossing some Mongol territory and that is what she is there to do. Along the way, she learns a grudging respect for this mismatched band of suicidal, and homicidal, fools (or heroes if they turn out to be successful).

On the other side of the coin we see some of the leaders of the Mongols, such as Ogedei, and a few of the people who serve him. We glimpse his wives, and we spend some quality time with the warrior Ghansook who was ordered to try to modify his drinking habits. Lian, a learned Chinese woman, is tasked with teaching the brutish warrior some palace manners. In turn, he gives her archery lessons. You can imagine that I got rather attached to some of these Mongols – they weren’t simply part of a devilish horde intent on over running brilliant Christian Europe.

There’s plenty of quick wit humor and well choreographed fight scenes (some masses, some one-on-one). Brilliant characters are drawn from a variety of cultures: Russian, Hungarian, Norman, Irish, Mongol, Chinese, Japanese, among others. While there are few female characters in this character rich book, I can forgive the oversight because this book was simply a pleasure to listen to.

Narration: Luke Daniels was superb as usual. There were a ton of accents and he nailed them all, making each character distinct. He was able to switch quickly between sexes, accents, and ages as people bantered swiftly back and forth in the story line.

With a background studying medieval literature and a liking for such epic adventures in modern guise, I figured this might entertain. I didn't read any of the hundreds of reviews, preferring to judge for myself. The results after part one on my Kindle? I'll check out part two.

It's difficult to evaluate the impact of what's a third of a saga. This may cause impatience, but it's akin to the start of a long multi-season series on cable. So, I'm flexible and forgiving, knowing it takes a while to warm up and get the action rolling. There's action, don't worry, but there's also lots of exposition and cultural contexts that must be integrated.

Similar to a first panel of a triptych, or the first installment of a wartime saga, I find that the characters of Cnan the Binder, Zug the Japanese warrior, Percival the inspired knight, Lian the Chinese slave-girl, and Gansukh the restive Mongolian all add depth to the telling. But, it's challenging to weigh in on the impact of this as it's obviously a third (or less with the subplots and spinoffs of the Foreworld Saga in the making). You won't know a lot about them and their comrades so far, but that adds to the interest of the plot, as it lures you deeper ca. 1250 CE.

There's some tonal difference as this is written by committee, but no more than a series directed and written by different hands that you may watch on a network. No real poetry ("Sinner" had a lovely lunar metaphor one eerie early night, but the efficiently told, no-nonsense if sometimes effusively brawling and blustering main text never pauses for much elegance), but lots of martial play. You can tell that experts contribute to these portions. They provide blow-by-blow commentary. Zug and Haakon grapple for pages at the Circus of Swords, and you can follow every parry and thrust. Gansukh's fight a few pages on, by comparison, feels rushed and anticlimactic. Showdowns may wear down one's patience, even if the norm for a 500 pp. medieval epic.

Sufficient mystery awaits, as in Cnan's mindset and Percival's mysticism, for suspense. These people gradually emerge, but true to a medieval setting, they tend not to gush or emote. They hold back their feelings as they do their conversations: to remain watchful, wary, and cautious in an era when too much worn on one's sleeve results in that arm being severed, or one's helmeted head.

I find it intriguing this comprises a corporate-owned "secret history transmedia franchise"; certainly the Kindle version with a prequel, "Sinner," about the Shield-Brethren amidst the German arm of the Inquisition, and the map, cast of characters appended, and handsome line drawings all enhance the text on my Touch. It's a model likely to prove more common as people read on Kindles, smartphones, and PCs, and one to which fans can add content and comment on a story's creation. Let's hope quality control--as Neal Stephenson's editing skills were needed--continues.

Yea, so this was awful. I loved Stephenson's "The Diamond Age", I loved "Snow Crash". But along with "Anathem" this makes two, one star books in a row so I'm not sure I'm going back.

It's pretty rare for me not to finish books (like maybe 10 in my life). It's even more rare for me not to finish something when it's on audio (like maybe 2 in my life). This was boring. By the time I got to disc 9 of 11 I realized this was just the intro to something REALLY long (and by default REALLY boring). I didn't care about any of he characters. It was just soooooo dry. Also too many characters going on. I guess that's where the long part comes in. All of these characters were going to take time to get their stuff done.

Unless you love long, dry, epics, I would suggest avoiding this. If you haven't read "Diamond Age" or "Snow Crash" please do so immediately. Then you can give Mr. Stephenson some love, because I think I'm all out.

In 1241, the Mongol Empire horde continues their feral assault from the east on the European Christian countries. Only the Shield-Brethren company of warrior priests seems to offer any resistance to the Khagan Onghwe Khan and his invading army as the Holy Roman Church remains divided with Cardinals split into rival camps each claiming Jesus supports their quest for power. The resolute Shield-Brethren have doubts as they bury with honor fallen comrades like Finn.

From within the Mongol Empire, the desperate few surviving Shield Brethren holy knights (Raphael and Percival the initiates, Yasper the alchemist companion and exiled Old Man of the Rock knight master Feronantus) deploy a drastic dangerous plan to get to the Khagan. While each expects to die on the mission in the middle of the enemy's ever expanding empire; in the Holy City of Rome the angrily splintered Cardinals turn to Father Rodrigo Bendrito who insists he has found the savior. In Hunern, the Shield Brethren led by Rutger the Quartermaster of the Rock Knight Master prepare for the war to come to them.

The Mongoliad: Book Three is an action-packed climax to an entertaining alternate historical saga. The storyline never slows down whether it occurs in the East, Rome or Hunern; yet also provides insight into thirteenth century beliefs as the forces of Christ are divided while the Mongols appear more monolithically in support of the Khan of Khans. Ironically, the myriad of subplots mostly are tied up in the 700 plus pages, but also several seem short-shifted. Still this entry and its Foreworld predecessors provide fans with a great epic.

Harriet Klausner

Europe is being overrun, looted, and burned by Mongol hordes. The Mongols stop, erect an arena, and challenge the champions of the West to meet theirs in single combat. The price of failure is immediate death. The prize for success is the false promise of leniency for the people the knights have sworn to defend.

While their comrades fight and die to distract the Mongols, a small band of travelers works its way secretly eastward toward the Court of the Great Khan. If they can kill him the Mongol advance will halt while the lesser khans contend for the throne. The Great Khan's brother has sent his son to the Court to save the Great Khan's life, not from assassins, but from his drinking and slow dissolution. This young nephew is tutored in court manners and politics by a young Chinese slave with an agenda of her own.

One thing I don't like about this book is that it is the first in a series of at least five. (The next is The Mongoliad, Book 2.) Things develop slowly. We learn about the characters slowly, the questing company travels across Europe slowly, and the young Mongol learns about politics ever so slowly. There are hints of things to come in later books, including ancient secret societies and hidden technology. The tension of conflicting goals between the two groups of protagonists is increased by how likeable some of the characters become. The (slowly!) emerging romance between the young warrior and his Chinese tutor is well-written, exhibiting the familiar pains of young relationships.

If you like historical fiction, give this one a try. If you are more of a science fiction fan, this aspect does not really emerge in the series' first book.

The Mongoliad, a (so far) trilogy by a talented stable of authors, is a wide-ranging epic. And I do mean wide-ranging, taking the reader from the city of Rome to Karakorum in Mongolia. I like this series. I know others have complained about uneven writing but I disagree. This is one of those epics, like Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, that follows many threads, but unlike Erikson's series, the Mongoliad takes place (more or less) in a historical setting in the thirteenth century, after the 1241CE Battle of Liegnitz. In that battle, the Mongols crushed a Western army composed of Czechs, Poles, an Germans, as well as military orders. With the Battle of Mohi, two days later over a Hungarian army, the Mongols stood poised to sweep over Europe.

I love this series. The characters are varied and fascinating and well-fleshed out, from Cnán the Binder (a messenger belonging to a mysterious organization) and her immediate companions (Percival, Feronantus, Roger, Finn, Istvan, Raphael and others) who belong to another mysterious organization, a Pagan holy order called the Shield-Brethren, or Ordo Militum Vindicis Intactae (whose antecedents apparently extend back to at least Pagan Viking days), to a group of characters in Rome (Ferenc, Father Rodrigo, Ocyrhoe the Binder, and others) to a group of characters in Mongolia (Gansukh, Lian, Chucai, Ögedei the Khagan, or Khan of Khans, who is the chosen successor of Genghis Khan, and others), the story arcs are as fascinating and complex as the characters who drive them. Not all of the characters are in each of the books. The Rome group first appears in Book 3, for example, but there are enough characters from Book One to Book Three to keep your attention riveted on the central story line, which is finding a way to stop the Mongols from overwhelming Europe.

The action is very well done, as you would expect from a bunch of writers who are interested in swordplay. You can visualize the various movements and blows and parries and they are not at all the stuff of fantasy. These men (and women) sweat, hurt, bleed, and die as they pound on one another. Death is sudden and violent and not at all heroic. This is not a historical Conan-fantasy but a variant of earth grounded in reality and the laws of physics, with a little mystery thrown in. It is all very well done and now that I've finished the third book I look forward to going back and re-reading all three of them without any wait in between, to see what I may have missed. The Foreworld, as the authors call it, is a very fascinating place and there is no reason to suspect that events will unfold as they do in our history books. Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Eric Bear, Joseph Brassey, and Cooper Mao, have done an outstanding job and I hope to see something more from them soon, though soon will never be soon enough.

I reviewed Part One in March and Part Two last week, so you can tell I raced through this. It sustains the authors' characteristic love for choreographed, blow-by-blow marathon fight scenes, adding lethal archery showdowns in the rocky ravines of Mongolia and continuing--as two of the four subplots finally begin to converge--equestrian chases across the steppes. It also incorporates real-life figures into the sprawling plot, which prefers combat to talk.

The tale of the Shield-Brethren venturing into the Mongolian heartlands to exact revenge--while stars Cnán and Percival from Part One are barely heard from, and newcomers from Part Two Raphael and Benjamin (of Tudela, a real-life figure I expected they'd make more use of) hunker down too low-profile--still has enough suspense with Vera and comrades outrunning Mongol hordes to continue the story as expected. The climactic showdown among rival archers remains vivid and well-staged. The authors late on excel at a couple of death scenes, and make them into truly moving moments.

A feature I liked was that you get a fair hearing for the Mongols, represented by Gansukh as always, and the power struggles based on true chronicles resonate, even if as I suppose in history they take their good time to come to fruition. This can bog down the pace, but it's necessary for verisimilitude. A compromise between action that dominates much of the book and background?

As for the Hünern struggle, it too is well-staged. Zug, Kim, and their Malaysian ally Lakshaman rally the valiant underdogs, and the conflicts between Livonian and other knights play out in the way one expects for an epic of intrigue. The long battle at the Mongolian fortress occupies much of the middle of the book, and it allows the tellers to expand their scope beyond the Circus of Skulls hand-to-hand combat of the earlier chapters and installments. Again, alternating between fighters makes for a more engaging way to see into the strategies and mindsets employed by rivals.

Finally, the plot based on the ascension and short reign of Pope Celestine V (before Pope Benedict XVI the only pontiff to resign--as opposed to one who abdicated) as the cardinals break the impasse to elect a successor to Gregory IX amidst the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick's Roman threat makes for another long depiction of intrigue under diplomatic rather than martial cover. Fr. Rodrigo's visions get worse, the Grail may make a cameo, and the Binders show how they deliver their messages. All this skullduggery does drag, but the wonderful performance of foul-mouthed (he sounds like a rags-to-riches street-smart "reality-t.v. CEO") Frederick as "stupor mundi" makes him the "wonder of the world" indeed to those who deal with him. A bonus: the authors have imagined a wonderful scene to show how a man who's told he's now pope appears to take on a confident aura and a rhetorical skill that dazzles those who try to foil him.

As one patient character reflects as she leaves Rome, she takes the "unknown road forward." I wonder if another installment will appear? A few are left standing on the "enemy's" side at the conclusion, so plenty of ambiguity remains--as in the side-story appended to the Kindle version, "Seer" with Andreas in the French Pyrenees as the Albigensian heretics are hemmed in--also shows.

I just finished the Mongoliad trilogy with this book, and I'm glad I made it through. The first book took a bit to get rolling, and the second book journeyed off into some strange places from which I feared it never would return, but this book focuses mainly on my favorite storylines - Cnan and the Shield Brethren travelling across the continent, and Gansukh and Lian's story with the Khan of Khans. It also succeeded in piquing my interest in the events in the arena, as well as somewhat more in the cardinals.

Overall, the story of the cardinals never sucked me in much and I felt that the entire section about the binder girl, Ferenc, and Father Rodriguez was a complete distraction. It never connected to the other parts of the book, and I was disappointed by that. I expected somehow for Ocyroe and Cnan to end up in a story together, both being the lost and lonely gals that they are.

there isn't much of an aftermath of this book. It's not clear what happens to the individual characters, or indeed, the entire world, after the events of this book. The most satisfying ending for me was that the people in Hunern, and the Shield-Brethren there, do satisfy that part of the story. Again, it's hard to write about this without spoiling the story.

I think I was going to have a hard time choosing between the Mongols, who I ended up liking, and the Shield Brethren, by the end. It would be a spoiler to discuss what happens here, but I will say - there is the inevitable conflict that the three books led up to. The Shield-Brethren do complete their journey.

I liked that there was much further character development. However, some things were left unresolved. Percival's quest for example.

Overall, if you enjoy alternate history or fantasy, you would enjoy this book - and series - but a lot could have been done to make this a better story. Sometimes it felt like alot of disconnected stories happening in the same world. The space allotted to the book didn't make it possible to complete them all. I just realized - although I enjoyed reading the books, I really can't give this one more than three stars for failing to pull the disparate plotlines together. I guess that happens when you have a lot of authors writing a book by committee.

In a way, the Mongoliad series reminds me of the movie Blade Runner because there have been so many versions. Some better than others. This is the supposedly final version. It probably is. I can't imagine this large a body of work being revisited and redone, except maybe for writing screenplays.

I first got involved with the Mongoliad when I downloaded the app onto a tablet. I tried to get into the evolving and collaborative aspects, but ended up deciding it was a lot more fun for the authors than for the readers. So, I put it down and eventually (years later?) picked up these final versions.

This book is the third and allegedly final book of a trilogy. Allegedly the last but maybe not because there are some abandoned story arcs. It isn't like game of thrones where character arcs are so often truncated by battle, murder, execution, etc. This is to be expected when there are so very many authors.

What is really great is that the authors really got into the history, beliefs and martial arts that the books cover. Not that they are entirely historical, but they are certainly tied to that time when the Mongols were heading towards Europe. More than that, the Authors really got into it. They actually sparred with each other and that knowledge made it into the fight scenes. I'm not sure about the archery, but wouldn't be surprised if they tested some archery battle theories too.

Geez, this is hard to review. The Mongoliad was an interesting project to track as it evolved. With the release of the books, all of that is gone. It is static now. I think I prefer it this way because it's seems to make more sense to just write more books to cover yet more aspects of the milieu. An example here is the Star Wars franchise. More books expand and explain the mythos.

Anyways, the summary is that the project is done, the books are static, and they are good. The third book is pretty much you'd expect from the third book of a trilogy. Things get resolved. Watch out though, this is a lot of reading. Sometimes things really drag, but it picks up nicely and makes it all worthwhile.

I did like this book but there are some downsides, which I will get out of the way first. For all the hype I have read about the effort the authors put into the fight scenes, they are actually the worst part of the story, written in such detail that they seem to be in slow motion and what should be fast paced action is tedious, they really should have consulted R. A. Salvatore to write the scenes in a more interesting way, his Drizzt stories may not have been as realistic as the authors wanted, but they were certainly more interesting to read. Also, the book description is distracting mentioning something in the modern day that would be thought to be relevant to the plot but actually isn't and is merely a ploy for the literary equivalent of found footage. Finally, the last and biggest problem is that there is no explanation of the Binders despite one of the main characters being one, through the entire book you have no idea what this character is.

Having said all that, I gave the book five stars because it's still a good story when it's not confusing with irrelevant details, which thankfully is most of the time. It is very clear that multiple authors were involved as they tell different stories that are all intertwined with the mixed fates of the characters. The timeframe of the story is based on the Mongol invasion of Europe under Ogedei Khan who, according to real world history, died from drinking too much alcohol. Half of the story follows Gansukh, the historically anonymous Mongol hired to monitor Ogedei Khan's drinking and attempt to prevent what we in the future know will be his ultimate fate. However, lest you think that is a spoiler, bear in mind this is a work of fiction and the other half of the story follows a fictional group that attempts to assassinate Ogedei Khan, leaving the reader to wonder which method of death will befall him in this particular version of history. The Ordo Militia Vindicis Intactae or Shield Brethren seem to be like the Knights Templar with a touch of Shaolin monks and comprise the protagonists, a dozen go on a mission to kill the Khan while a handful, including the young squire Hakon, engage in a fighting tournament held by the Mongols. The fighting tournament is the least relevant part of the story and yet intriguing because it involves the barely plausible yet fascinating story of a Kim, a Korean Flower Knight and Zug, a Japanese Samurai who are both transplanted to Poland to fight against Europeans. It is borderline unbelievable, and yet it's exciting to see such legendary warriors fighting against western knights. The more relevant story features a rather likable cast including Yasper, an alchemist who provides some extra flavor to an otherwise mundane story. The leader Feronantus fills his role well, Percival is a likable hero, and the others all have there own unique flavor, from a berserker to a swordsman.

I came to this because of Kindle Worlds Fan Fiction and intend to write my own, whether you do the same or not, I still recommend this to any fans of medieval historical fiction.

I really enjoyed this book and the fully developed characters. I am only giving it 4 stars because I don't whether I would have stuck with it if it had not been narrated by my favorite narrator of all times, Luke Daniels. I actually search out books narrated by Luke Daniels because he has such an amazing gift of bringing the story alive and truly making the characters impressionable.

However, I will also say - that having finished the first book, I IMMEDIATELY started the second, am now nearly finished with the third and looking forward to the fourth. If you can stick with this cycle, you will really come to enjoy the epic story and you will most certainly develop a deep bond and relationship with the characters - whether you want to kill them yourself or weep upon their passing. Understand, I am no history book and could not tell you if anything in these books has any historical basis or how accurate that basis may be. I read this cycle solely for entertainment value. I know, I know, a little shallow of me, but I read for the distraction. If you are looking for a great escape - then pick up the book or plug in some head phones and enjoy!!!!

AGAIN - I listened to the narrated version of this book available through Audible and I cannot recommend enough that you do the same. I have no doubt that Luke Daniels will become your favorite narrator as well.

This is a fun book. THE MONGOLIAD BOOK ONE combines fairly accurate history with a complex and fast-paced story ranging all over Europe and Asia as warriors and mystics battle for the preservation of their cultures and the expansion of their empires. Not a small ambition, and it took a team of authors to collaborate on the series, of which this is the first installment.

I like historical fantasy (such as Tom Powers' novels) and it seems that the writers all brought something to the table in terms of areas of particular interest/expertise. This is no simple conflict between saintly knights and rapacious barbarians. Life was tough in the 13th Century; it was worse in times of war, famine and abject fear. The characters all have their personal challenges, and the writing team fleshes them all out fairly decently.

The book ends with a cliff-hanger, and I'm ready to start the next installment.

There were a few elements I wish had been included:

1. There's a website that carried the original story, and that's a novel (get it?) idea for a book: to use electronic media and explore its capabilities. But the website is too basic for users who don't want to pay the enrollment fee.

2. I was hoping for this on the website, because it wasn't in the book, but it would have been really helpful to have a list of terms, dates, characters (both fictional and non-fictional). I was especially interested in learning about the ancient cities/regions that were the scenes of action--did some of them become extinct or did they evolve into areas with more familiar names? (Some are the same.)

3. Similarly, a list of recommended reading for people who want to learn more about the era would have been nice.

The only other quibble I have with the book is that so many interesting subplots were introduced and then dropped, which is not the same as introducing them and then teasing the reader into wanting to read the next adventures. I assume all these issues will be resolved before the end of the series, but sometimes the cut off was a little too abrupt.

Likewise, because there are so many characters, some of them don't have the depth I'd like. I know they can't all be MAIN characters, but some of them were really interesting, initially, and then their development halted. I have to make another assumption: this too will be resolved in the coming installments.

In any case, this is an entertaining book, and it may pique some readers' interest in a fascinating chapter of history. Right now, the Field Museum is hosting an exhibit on Genghis Khan and his impact, which I had already planned on seeing. Having read this book will only improve that experience, I am sure.

Thanks, Mongoliad Writing Team!

I really wanted to like this book, after all, a historical fiction set in Europe during the mongol invasion, who wouldn't want to read something like that?

Sadly, the book is plagued by a very uninteresting story arc that dominates the novel with most of the characters proving to be faceless and one-dimensional with only a few outstanding characteristics.

The Mongoliad has two primary story arcs with a minor third developing in between them. Sadly the third one manages to be the most interesting arc and of course, it gets the least time to develop.

The first of the primary story arcs is a group of questing knights who are accompanied by a female "binder." What being a binder means in this story never gets fully explained or even much time to develop. I can understand the need to put more material in the other books in the series, but without an interesting pull, the reader just won't care to know more.

Each knight in this party has a name, but barely anything more than that. One of them causes some trouble by being a mushroom addicted, bloodthirsy madman, but that more or less proves to be the only interesting characteristic for this band of Knights. At times I found myself wishing to just skip over chapters in the middle of a chapter to get back to the more interesting of the two story arcs.

In the second arc, a young mongol warrior, Gansukh, travels to the capital on an impossible mission to curb the drinking of an alcoholic Khan. Right off the bat, its established that this young warrior will have a hard time fitting into a life of court vs the "simpler" life of being out in the open sky fighting to expand the empire. Accompanying this young warrior is a chinese slave named Lian who is tasked with teaching Gansukh the ways of court.

Long story short without spoiling anything, everyone in this arc except Gansukh is boring, flat of character, and uninteresting. I found one of the few enjoyable parts of the read from Gansukh's point-of-view.

However, one redeeming quality of this book is the fact that toward the last third, the story does get far more interesting and I found it easier to keep my interest and to keep reading. The real problem though is that The Mongoliad takes far too long to get started and I found myself needed to force myself to read further. While the last parts are a lot more interesting and exciting, it wasn't enough to make me wish to read the next book of the series.

It had potential, dare I say ambition, but it failed to deliver.

The concept of The Mongoliad seems fun, with lots of cool scifi writers collaborating on a big book. But it's not. I just finished listening to the first volume on audio in the car, and won't be bothering with the second. They arbitrarily hacked what was apparently a big online project in half and published the first half last month and the second half will come out in September. It's not even a particularly good break point. I'd hoped it would actually be fantasyish, but thus far it seems to be pretty straightforward historical fiction set during the rule of Ghenghis Khan's son, and boring at that. There are big medieval battles and chases and blah blah blah, but they're all overly detailed, and I didn't find myself caring about any of the characters. I was bored by halfway through this first volume, but I had a road trip, so I kept listening in the hopes it would pick up, but it never did. It's apparent that the two main storylines will come together at some point, but I don't see where they'll go with it then, and I just can't bring myself to care about either the additional few hundred pages of journey it'll take to get there or what'll happen after. At least they did a good job keeping a relatively consistent "voice", so it's not so obvious who wrote what as it was in Interface, one of Stephenson's collaborations with J. Frederick George.

For what it's worth, the audio book presentation is relatively well done; the tracking is good, the reader is good, and the quality is good. My only complaint with the audio book was the music used when transitioning discs can be a bit startling while driving - it comes in with a string line that can be easily mistaken for something vaguely alarming going on in surrounding traffic, and I had a panicked moment on more than one of those.

I've had this book for ages! Ever so often I pick it up and try to finish it. I just can't do it. This bothers me greatly because I pride myself in finishing books I've begun. This is the second time in recent memory that this has happened to me.

I always try to read books without reading reviews. I read the brief synopses on the backs of them and if it sounds interesting I buy/borrow/rent it. Reviews often contain spoilers and (in spite of best efforts) colour opinions. In this case, I read the blurb offered by the store for the vine programme and ordered the book.

Owing to this idiosyncrasy, I did not realise that this book had a variety of authors. It was on my fifth or sixth (ninth?) attempt at reading it that I finally gave in and came back to the store to read what others were saying about it. It was then that I finally understood why it felt like a different book every chapter that I read. Why the characters weren't staying with me. Why I felt so un-invested in the created world and anything they were doing. Why I was bored and why it was/is so painful to read.

Not that I am saying that *all* collaborative works share these characteristics. They don't. Stephen King/Peter Straub come to mind as a good collaborators. But this one is not successful. It feels disjointed. I don't care about or care to know any character past the first three chapters.

I cannot recommend this book.

Stephenson plus friends is nearly as entertaining as Stephenson writing solo - which suggests his friends are also remarkable story-tellers.

I know more - much more now - about the Mongols and about eastern-Europe in the 13th century. It turns out that the Mongoliad takes considerable creative license with history. Probably more accurate to call this "alternative history" rather than historical fiction. A gripping read in spite of the pedestrian plot thread set in Rome. I rationalize my 5-star review by according 6-stars each for the story-lines in Hunern, Karakorum and the Knights on their quest. They balance the 2-star rating I give to the Papal-intrigue. Unclear why any of the Rome bits were necessary. Even if the authors were collectively determined to tweak the nose of the Catholic Church, they could have used local clergy to make similar points.

I can't resist criticizing the repeated use of the word "widdershins" - which is an old Germanic expression meaning to walk in a counter-clockwise circle. I suppose it seemed medieval to the authors. Trouble is the word tracks back only to the 16th century, while the action in the Mongoliad is set entirely in the 13th century. When I must resort to being a pedant to find something to criticize - grin - no option but to raise both thumbs up high for this very fun 3-volume epic. Five Stars for sure!

I have such mixed feelings about The Mongoliad. I wanted to like it more than I did. I think the problem may lie in the corporate authorship. Neal Stephenson is one of my favorites, but he does tend to tell some long stories (see his 3 volume, 2,688 page Baroque Cycle). But The Mongoliad author list stretches on to eight names. It's like one of those variety shows, where the individual acts are good, but there are just too many, or an all-star game, where the talent on the court is great, but it turns out to be a boring game.

All of that said, I didn't dislike The Mongoliad. There is plenty to like. The plot by Western soldiers to assassinate the Khan. The political maneuvering to replace the pope. The vivid descriptions of hand-to-hand combat. The rich feel of the historical and geographical setting. But the end result seemed over long and bloated. A great effort, an interesting literary project, but the sum did not end up greater than the parts.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book. The first book in the series was fantastic... a great story with compelling characters. I was slightly disappointed in the second book. It was a bit hard to keep up with all the characters as the scene shifted back and forth from Europe to the East and back. Book three (this one) was very satisfying, a great story and you'd really never know it was written by a series of authors. The editing really gave the entire book "one voice". I was a bit disappointed in the ending. It seemed a bit abrupt and left a lot of questions unanswered. They advertise it as the last book in the series, but it almost ended like a cliffhanger. While I didn't like the ending, I loved the book and didn't let it detract from my 5 star rating. If you can, read all three books in a row. It makes a lot more sense to follow the storyline if you do.

This book completes the major story arch's launched in the first book with few major surprises rewarding those who have waded through the prior two books and more than 1500 pages. The prose, pace, characters etc are all well done making this an very readable book. Stephenson, Bear and the team have done a good job keeping three major story lines moving in a clear and concise fashion. People who have read the first two books will find this a solid 'conclusion' to these story lines.

I have read the first book and listened to the second book as an audio book. I recommend reading as the best way to experience this book, despite the books heft as its is a superior experience in this context.

Overall, this is a good but not a great book as it completes the story lines with little extension to the characters, storyline or situation. It seems like this book concludes these story lines in order to position the saga for a new set of stories. In that way, this is not the conclusion of a trilogy, but a continuation of an ongoing saga and story.

The Mongoliad Book 3 takes off where the characters left off at the end of Book 2. There are 4 main storylines which I'll label "In Rome", "In Hunern", "Travelers", "Mongols". All four are quite interesting and I think the book does a good job of making you feel how life was in 1241. Now I will give brief descriptions (avoiding spoilers) of each of the storylines:

1) "In Rome": This storyline deals with the election of a Pope in 1241. At the end of the Book 2, Cardinal Fieschi (a scheming cardinal who wants to place a puppet for Pope) murdered Cardinal Somercotes, an English cardinal who wanted a Pope that could work well with the Holy Roman Emperor. In this book the cardinals are moved to a new place to elect a new Pope. The outcome is surprising and it leads to several interesting directions. Father Rodrigo seems to recover his sanity, Ference and Rodrigo are reunited and meet the Holy Roman Emperor (the scenes with the Emperor were my favorites in this book). Overall, this storyline was quite good an it was essentially independent from the rest of the book. The events at Hunern or in Mongolia have almost nothing to do with this part of the book, except in the sense of providing context.

2) "In Hunern": This part of the book deals with a group of Christian warriors that come to fight in an arena to appease a local Khan to stall the Mongols from going further West. At the end of Book 2 we had Andreas (an honorable knight) make a secret deal with Kim (a Korean knight that is now a gladiator slave of the Mongols) to try to get rid of the local Khan in the fighting pits. In this book we see how they try to overcome the Khan, what happens to the plan and we get to experience a great battle (the battle of Hunern). The storyline is also independent from the others and it was more about battle and honor. I enjoyed reading about Hans, the kid who wants to be a knight and Rutger, the old knight ready for his last battle. Overall, this storyline includes great battle scenes.

3) "Travelers": This part of the story deals with a small group of Western warriors who travel East to kill the Great Khan. At the end of Book 2, the traveling pack led by Feronantus whose goal is to murder the Great Khan, had just survived a battle with a group of Mongols. At the beginning of this book they mourn the loss of Finn, the great hunter. The book follows the trail of the travelers as they move towards murdering the Great Khan. What I enjoyed most about this story is the deep connection the characters form with each other after traveling for several months together. It was very interesting. I should also point out that this storyline connects with the "Mongols" storyline for obvious reasons.

4) "Mongols": The Great Khan, Ogedei decided to do a pilgrimage to try to raise the spirits of his people. It is also partly done to be able to drink less (he is a drunk). At the end of Book 2, the traveling host of the great Khan was attacked by a group of Chinese fighters. At the end of Book 2 they managed to kidnap Gansukh and Lian, the two main characters in this storyline. This storyline was the most interesting to me because it is the one where we get to see other storylines meet. Haakon, a Western warrior that fought in Hunern, is a gladiator slave of the Great Khan, we meet Alchiq an old Mongol warrior that fought Feronantus in the West. We have the schemes of Lian to try to flee the Mongols and her love for Gansukh. We have the path of Ogedei to recover his greatness and we have many intricacies (such as the hate between Gansukh and Munokhoi). This storylines also provides the climax, where we find out whether the Westerners are able to murder Ogedei or not.

Overall, this long book (about twice as long as Book 1 or Book 2) was entertaining, interesting and well worth the read. It also got me to learn a bit more about the Mongol empire and the Papacy in the years surrounding 1241.

Overall:
Book three of the Mongoliad picks up exactly where Book two left off (aka - they could have been one book that had the spine break on a chapter boundary). The writing style, tone and character development techniques are consistent with the first two books in the series. So, if you enjoyed the first books, then you will definitely enjoy this book.

The book is about 750 pages long. It is a long, slow read. I found that the chapters regarding the papal intrigue a bit much for my taste. The papal intrigue was just slow in development and more of a side note than anything else. As an editor, I would make the following suggestions to the authors:
1) The first 250 pages could be editted down quite a bit -- cut it down and keep the pace moving.

2) Move the papal intrigure into a separate book/story -- it does not add anything to the overall story, just takes up pages and makes the reader work to stay interested in book

3) The ending is not as satisfying as it should be. There are some interesting hooks put in place for the next book / series.

4) The main characters deserved a bit more "screen time" (take screen time from the papal intrigue and develop the cage fighters a bit more...). I really like the Zug character. I would have liked more of his backstory worked into the book to help give him a better motivation other than revenge. He seemed more multi-faceted than simple revenge.

If you liked the first two books, then you really should take the time to finish the story. But, I do warn you that the ending may leave you a bit flat (some type of positive development would be nice to help make it less of bummer as the characters meet their fates).

The Mongoliad: Book One, written by seven authors altogether, depicts an adventure set in the 13th century about war and the devastation laid to the world by the Mongolians. A band of orderly knights and monks set out on a quest to rid the evil that has brought so much destruction to so many people. Their journey is sure to be labeled as foolish since the odds are clearly against them but it seems that they have no choice. I admit that I know absolutely nothing about Genghis Khan as a brutal conqueror and so I was surprised to see that this book actually talks about him, or rather, his sons. I thought it was made believe but upon a little searching on Wikipedia, it turns out that these characters actually did exist during that time. This was fairly interesting to me since I love to read about history but as for the story itself, The Mongoliad could have been more interesting. While the first book does make for a pretty decent introduction of characters and whatnot, it doesn't do much to make me want to read the next book in the series.

The Mongoliad has several story arcs that tie in altogether and so you'll be presented with a dozen or so characters. Some of them are fairly interesting but many of them just aren't that fun to read about. When this happens, you tend to not care about the characters overall and whether they live or die in the story. One major group consists of Cnan, Percival, Feronanthus, Roger, Finn, Istvan and a whole bunch of other characters that could be considered the main characters in the group, especially with Cnan. The authors do a pretty poor job of describing the physical traits of these characters and so throughout the book, you'll have a hard time painting a face to the name in your head. Cnan is known as a Binder but just exactly what a Binder is isn't described enough. I got away that a Binder is a messenger of some sort. The other characters seem to be either knights, monks or of a physician type. The problem is that not much back history is told for these other characters and so again, you can't really relate to them too much. In the second group, you have what I term the Karakorum group of Gansukh, Lian, Chucai, and Ogedei. The authors seem to have put more effort and time into building these characters, especially with Gansukh.

With a total of seven different writers contributing to the project, you would think the book would be one jumble pile of mess. Surprisingly, the authors did a very good job of writing the book so that you don't really notice the fact that so many authors were in on the project. The bad news is that the authors sometimes write in a way that they assume you already know all the historical jargons of the past. Remember, this book takes place in the 13th century and so you wouldn't know what exactly a "ger" is or who the god/goddess called the "Blue Wolf" is. Luckily, some jargon does get explained further along but I wouldn't be holding my breath. As far as location details go, this area isn't exactly clear as well. We get hints here and there but it can get quite puzzling sometimes. Luckily, these pieces of information aren't really necessary to enjoy the overall story of the The Mongoliad which is pretty simple overall. I just wish some these things would be corrected in the second book of the series. I will admit that the book flowed pretty nicely from chapter to chapter, although there were times when I felt dreaded to read about Cnan's group (each chapter alternates between different character groups/set).

As far as action goes, there are a couple of these set pieces throughout the book. However, I sort of expected more grand scale battles. There is one fight scene that literally spans a couple of chapter and seemed to me dragging and majorly overdone. I will also say that I sometimes had a hard time picturing the fight choreography in my head. Its not that the authors were being complicated but for some odd reason, I had a hard time concentrating on some fight scenes.

The ending to The Mongoliad: Book One was the most disappointing. Being how this is the first book in the series, I expect the author to at least leave a decent cliffhanger ending so that readers can't wait for the next one. However, things just abruptly ends! Many questions were not answered and if this is what the authors idea to be of a "cliffhanger" to hold readers over until the next book releases, then I do not agree with them at all. I will conclude that this series has potential for me to see it to the end and although the first book in the series have some flaws, I believe it deserves a second chance and so I will judge the series more accordingly once I've read the second book.

I have now read all three "books" of this trilogy, but wanted to write this review where a prospective new reader would see it. Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are among my favorite writers, and that was the hook that got me to start reading this series. The good news -- it is well-plotted, with interesting sequences providing a sense of inevitability -- and the characters are interesting, well-developed and three-dimensional. These positive results may have come from Stephenson and Bear the elder, but I hope the "committee of young authors" also had something to do with it. If it had been well-written, I would have given it four or five stars.

The bad news? Greg and Neal obviously wrote little, if any, of the text. They are both fine authors, and the writing in this trilogy is so bad that it became a constant distraction from the positive aspects of the story. Pretentious; repetitious (describing the stench of mass death four or five times constitutes emphasis; repeating it fifty times is "overkill"); full of solecisms (maybe they thought it was cute to split every infinitive they used, or maybe they don't even know what a split infinitive is -- either way, it's something to not do any more); and lots of "thusly" and "muchly" do not make the book more interesting. And the battle descriptions, while ok, could have benefited from some simplification.

These young authors might have a bright future if they will pay as much attention to the details of execution as they have paid to the story line. I am an the store Prime member, so I got to read the trilogy for free. Otherwise, I would not have gotten past Book 1.

TWO VERY IMPORTANT WARNINGS!!! First, regarding the whole Mongoliad series; the second related to the AUDIOBOOK rendition. First, the series as a whole. When I say, "as a whole," i'm talking about the fact that there are two other books in the series besides the trilogy - five books in all. The WARNING regards that Neal Stephenson heads a group who write the first three books and then he and one or two others are no longer involved in the fourth book (Katabasis), and the fifth, and final installment (Siege Perilous), is authored by one remaining member of the group. As the authors lesson so too does the quality of writing. Katabasis is acceptable; Siege Perilous is amateurish in comparison to the other four, to the point of near dismissal. It is choppy and lacks the ingenuity and descriptiveness of the trilogy. I'm anal enough to force myself to finish the story, but with half of Siege Perilous to go, I'm really, really having to work hard to accomplish that. And that might be because of my SECOND WARNING: I have listened, rather than read, all of the books. The WARNING is if you are going to start this series and continue it listening rather than reading, be prepared for the fifth book being read by a different person than the first four - which may be normal in such series (never listened to a series like this before). However, it absolutely does not work with this one. Not only is the reader of Siege Perilious not the same reader as the rest of the Mongoliad Cycle, but whereas the reader of the first four books was male, this reader is female. Not being sexist here, just saying that that makes the characters a whole lot different, to the point of unfamiliarity. The range of voice and differentiation of voices for this Siege Perilous reader is highly, highly limited to the point that it is distractingly difficult to tell the difference between characters often. And when not in character, her "normal" voice is one of the most annoying and unique I've heard; her inflections in sentences and statements often seem incorrect, oddly placed, and outright inappropriate. Sorry to be so harsh, but having invested so much time in listening to this series and enjoying it and the storyline . . . to come to such a poor finale - not only with the audio narration but the writing, it's frustrating, painful, and maddening. I give the series three stars, - the triology 4 1/2, but the fourth book would be a three star and the final one 1/2 star. Sorry.

The trilogy concludes but the Foreworld Saga continues onward.

In Rome Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II tries to get a Pope elected who will be more compliant to his wishes and Father Rodrigo finds himself and his companions caught up in political intrigues, murder, and Holy Visions.

In Legnica, the slaves and the sword brothers plot against the Khan but other dangers lurk among their own European 'allies'.

In Mongolia, Gansukh is torn between his love for Lian and his duty to the Khan as Lian plots her escape from slavery.

Ogedai Khan continues on his vision quest unaware of the approaching danger of the Hunting Party moving steadily eastwards on their suicide mission to save Europe.

I really enjoyed this collaboration by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, et al. It was a rousing and exciting conclusion which leaves you wanting more and based on rumors this will not be the last we see of the gang at Foreworld and the Subutai Corporation.

Summary - 3 stars:
The Mongoliad, Book One, is clearly the first book of many books to come in the series. The book has two primary story arcs that never cross and seem to be years away from ever getting to the point of crossing: 1) Khan of Khans cousin is sent to monitor / control the Kahs's drinking for the stability of the empire and 2) A group of knights are sent out to assassinate the Khan of Khans. The world setting is very well executed but there is where the quality execution stops. The authors do a great job of showing their technical knowledge and historical knowledge of Mongol invasion of eastern Europe.

The characters in the story are not well developed for the most part; there is very little if any connections to any of the characters. Personally, the court story was interesting from a mileu information gathering but the story part was dull to say the least. The group of knights sent to assassinate the Khan of Khans are an interesting mix of fighters, crusaders, horse archers and an alchemist. The group effort seems to be nigh impossible given the number of Mongols in the area, the Mongols scorched earth policy and large area the group must cover while being undetected. The group seems more like the seven samurai than the 12 knights of Christendom picked to save Europe.

The first part of the book is a slow read. Luckily, the book does pick up as you get further into it. However, do not expect anything extraordinary. The book concept has great potential but it really needs another round of editting to make it flow better and move the plot arcs along at a reasonable pace.

If you like alternate historical novels and are interested in the middle-ages / steppes culture, then you should read this book. Otherwise, I think you will have to get to book 4 or 5 before any of the main story arcs get much in the way of resolution.

The ending of the book is terrible; it seems like the editor just cut the manuscript of book 1 and 2 in two parts at a chapter boundary. Frankly, the "cliffhanger" is weak and really assumes that you have invested in the characters and/or the plot so you would read the next book. The plot was improving but I think the books will just keep rambling along over hundreds if not thousands of pages before a major item is resolved (especially since realistically the knights should be hunted down and destroyed long before they get anywhere near the Khan of Khans).

As a fan of historical fiction and fantasy,I had high hopes for this book. It had every opportunity to succeed and failed on every level. it was VERY evident it written by multiple people, the story/stories drug on and with chapters alternating between characters at an alarming pace the reader has no chance of connecting with their stories. Also, you would expect that these tales would come together, but they dont. At all. Some drop off completely while others drag on. I really wanted it to redeem itself and what angers me the most is that I actually read this to the end.

To the authors: You people aren't George R. R. Martin, stop trying.

Another installment in the series, more plot twists than you can shake a pike at, and interesting characters that get themselves into and out of jams on almost every page--whew! What's not to like?

Well, there are some sections that could be edited down a bit. And although this is a good peek into the 13th Century, this story does not limit itself to facts. It's like one of those movies that's "based on" an actual event, meaning a lot of artistic liberty was taken.

But it is well worth reading if you've read the first two books in this series, and it does answer some questions about the characters.

It's not a classic, but it's fun. And if you read for entertainment, it's a pretty good option. Enjoy.

An interesting period in history, and I have not found that there are not many fictional accounts of this period in which the Mongol hordes are on the brink of over running Europe. There are many solid characters but not one stand out character to make this a five star novel. But overall, it is an entertaining and action packed historical adventure that will appeal to fans of historical fiction as well as fans of epic fantasy. There are numerous well written fight scenes. The violence is graphic and, from what I have read about this period, accurate.

The story centers on a band of warriors that are trying to save Europe from the Mongols. The novel progresses in episodic fashion and suffers a little because of it. Otherwise, it flows well and the story bounces between the European warriors and the Khan's Court. The way it was written makes me think of an illustrated or graphic version of this novel. Overall, it was entertaining and worthwhile. I will be looking for book two in the near future.

A book about the making of The Mongoliad, with its seven authors working together, would probably be a better read than the book itself, which is the story of an order of of 13th Century warrior-monks representing the best of European martial arts fighting in gladiator combat with the Mongolian Empire's picked Eastern champions (and, while the Mongols are distracted by this circus in Europe, sending a fellowship of twelve across Eurasia to assassinate the Khan). Or rather, this is half that story at most, abruptly truncated in the middle of the action, and Mongoliad Book 2 is supposed to continue the story.

Neal Stephenson is a better collaborator than most (witness his successful work with his uncle as Stephen Bury in Interface and his decent but less enjoyable The Cobweb), but Mongoliad still has the feel of having been written by committee. The narrative is disjointed, a plethora of colorful characters (each of whom was obviously someone's favorite) overstay their welcome, and point of view flips between so many of those characters that we end up losing focus and identifying with no one (third-person omniscient would have been a wiser pick, but again, it seems as though each author wanted to get into the head of his favorite characters). Also, as at least one astute reader earlier than me has noted, the switching between characters and locations is ham-handed and disorienting to say the least -- a single battle in the ring between a European swordsman and a Japanese naginata expert stretches across three or more non-contiguous chapters.

But if the broth itself is spoiled by too many cooks, individual chunks of meat and potatoes in the soup remain nourishing and filling. The fight scenes that are the obvious point of the book are written with verve and authentic-sounding detail, the setting is well-researched, and the characters, while they are clearly chosen to represent types, are engaging enough company that I wanted to string along with them. (Particularly pleasant was the knight Percival, whose remarkable trait is that he really is smart, handsome, strong, brave, good, devout, honorable, and decent, without revisionism or irony.) So yes, I had fun, and yes, I'm going to buy the second book to see how the story turns out. But this isn't going to be one of those books I run around telling my friends they have to read, the way I did when I finished Snow Crash and Reamde.

Like other reviewers, I found the plot very intriguing, even compelling, and well-researched. I have no familiarity with the original workshop that produced the series, however, and I cannot give Book One a high rating outside of that context as it should be able to stand on its own. The expository style is very generic; I've read fine prose from several of the authors, but here I found absolutely nothing in the writing style to draw me in; the narrative might receive praise if it emerged from an amateur workshop, but does not reflect professionals who know and love their craft. The main reason I'm not likely to buy Book Two, however, is that -- of all the threads, character developments and leitmotifs that weave through the 400-odd pages -- not a single one achieves any kind of resolution. The book itself is therefore unsatisfying, merely a prelude to Book Two, and left me wondering why I'd invested the time. Even the "hidden manuscript" theme, played up so heavily in the the store blurb -- a device well-used over the years and dangerously close to trite -- doesn't even enter into the story. The whole package has the feel of a slick marketing idea that a bunch of junior executives decided to "run up the flagpole" before it was fully developed.

The authors of this collaborative writing project spun many narrative threads over the course of the series, and they had a lot of work to bring them together again. As we've come to expect, not everyone gets out alive, the good guys don't always win, and some of the heroes aren't exactly good guys. The book feels like a collaborative project, with different owners for different story lines and equal time given to all. The result is uneven, with some stories receiving more attention than they probably deserve and the overall tale getting bogged down at times due to too much jumping around. It leads to a satisfying conclusion, though, with room for future stories. If, like the heroes, you made it this far in the journey, don't stop now: see it through to the end.

I saw that the book was an alternate history novel written by the ensemble of: Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear, Joseph Brassey, E.D. deBirmingham, Cooper Moo, and Mark Teppo.

I wanted to read it immediately.

The bottom line up-front is that I liked the book and recommend it for fans of fantasy and alternate histories, but it did not live up to my expectations.

The writing is very good, but the story never manages to rise to the level of some of the individual authors' works.

It is not going to be a hit with everyone.

First, the number of characters, locations, plots, and subplots are dizzying. Second, the voices vary from chapter to chapter. I found that I had to go back and re-read chapters several times to figure out enough of what was going on to understand subsequent events.

The premise of a mystical class operating behind the scenes in a faux Middle Ages is an interesting one.

The authors did a nice job of understating the mysteries underlying the world and allowing the characters to find out for themselves while keeping the reader in tow.

All in all, it is worth a read, but keep a pad of paper handy to keep track of all of the key characters, what their motivations are, and where they are geographically during the story.

In service,

Rich
The Original Dr. Games since 1993

I bought this book primarily because of Neal Stephenson's name, and it certainly lived up to his previous books with the fantastical feel to a historical universe. However, the touch of other writers tempered his usual tendencies to go off on long technical tangents, and the book was actually even more enjoyable thanks to the influences of all the writers on each other. You didn't get the sense that different writers took up each chapter - it definitely felt like a single person wrote it, which means good editing was done. Now, the only place I will take measure is that the main female character - and there is really only one - doesn't come across as a fully realized person, as if the writers couldn't really get inside the head of a woman. One gets the sense that she could have been replaced with a male. I could be wrong but I think all the writers were male. I wonder how the book would be different if a woman had joined the writing group. Nonetheless, I like strong female characters like Cnan and that was more of a musing than a critique.

The book didn't come to a satisfying conclusion. Clearly the next book needs to come out soon, as the reader is left hanging.

I enjoyed following both storylines, of the warriors from the West, and of Gansukh. I am looking forward to the next book to see how their stories come together.

read the whole series....Great adventure story!! I took short notes on characters as they showed up so could keep them straight. Really a great series of books. If you loved James Clavell's stories you will love this series!

With such an all star cast of writers, I was expecting something sensational. Perhaps I was expecting too much. It is good, certainly. The action sequences are exciting, the historical detail is fascinating, the characters well developed, and the central premise (stop the Mongol invasion by killing the Khan) intriguing.

Yet somehow, it doesn't come together as well as it might. The combat scenes are good, but the POV jumps around so much that they appear disjointed. The characters are detailed, but there are a lot of them. The multiple plot strands are well woven, but it is difficult at times to keep track of them all. Moreover, though its supposed to be an alternative history, you'd have to be an expert to spot the alternative bits. According to the synopsis, there's supposed to be a strand of the story that links it to the present, but that disappointingly fails to appear.

So, though on the whole I enjoyed it, it was hard work at times, and to me failed to add that magical touch of inspiration, that sense of wonder, which I was looking for. This volume ends with a cliffhanger - actually, given the several plot strands, multiple cliffhangers! - which is frustrating, but acceptable given that there's another volume. The trouble is, I'm not sure that it's captured my attention sufficiently to bother with another volume. We'll see.

I had seen this book in several places and expected good things. The book starts well with two separate story lines. It is obvious the two stories are meant to come together at a pinnacle. As the book progresses one story line nearly stops its progression while the other becomes so distracted in side plots the main story becomes irrelevant. The book end without ever reaching any climax or event. You simply reach the end of a chapter and there is no more book. The only reason it got the three stars is the writing flows very smoothly. I did however think the use of curse words were often forced out at awkward times. I am not planning on finishing the series.

Okay, writers of this kind of quality should do better than stopping a book in the middle of a battle scene. Truly aggravating. Don't believe I'll bother to buy the next installment for just that reason.

Other than that, the writing is well done & the characters are developed, but the number of authors is apparent as well in the disjointed action.

As an `experimental' kind of 3 part mega-story, the multi-author approach developed an interesting set of characters. The plot evolution ... from the beginning was predictable. The story is character centric. There's great action, arduous asymptotic journeys and excellent historical research here.

The three books do not stand independently. I would imagine they must be read in sequence to make any sense. It's not one of those gripping all-nighter reads from my perspective but still worth the time.

The Mongoliad, of which Book One has just been published, is any number of things. It's the first book in something its seven creators call The Foreworld Saga--more on that later. It's also a cooperative effort with seven, count them, seven authors--but it isn't a collection of short stories. It's a novel, at least as published.

It started out as an experiment. A serial novel, published online at mongoliad.com, then the result edited down and published as a novel.

About that serial story, and the origins of the novel, and the effect it has on the book that I read. In other words, why did I go hunting for the website?

The Mongoliad, Book One, felt like it dropped me into the middle of the story. Or two stories.

The book takes place in 1241. In history, that was when Ögedei Khan, son of the famous Genghis Khan, controlled most of Asia, and had stretched his vast empire into Eastern Europe.

Not part of history was the "Circus of Swords" that draws the great Western champions to Legnica in Western Poland. There was a battle there during the Mongol invasion of Europe. But not a tournament.

The authors of The Mongoliad invented the tournament as part of their alternate history, The Foreworld Saga. They wanted to create a story-vehicle for fighters of as many different schools of Western Martial Arts as possible to get a chance to use those arts. (This idea isn't new, Tolkien initially wrote the Lord of the Rings because he invented Elvish first and wanted to create a world where it was spoken)

So, we have the "Circus of Swords". We have a group of champion fighters. What's the story? The tournament is not the story.

One part of the story turns out to be leaving the tournament on a quest to assassinate the Great Khan and save Western Europe from invasion.

The second part of the story takes place at the Great Khan (Ögedei's) court. One of Ogedei's brothers sends a young warrior, Gansukh, to court to try to convince the Khan not to drink quite so much. (According to Wikipedia, Ögedei Khan did actually drink prodigiously)

Gansukh is assigned a tutor to learn to navigate the dangerous ways of the court, because he is more used to killing his enemies with his sword than being flayed with sharp tongues. And in order to have any influence with the Khan, he will need to find a way to get close to the Khan without murdering his favorites.

So there are two stories, the Western champions working their way towards the Mongol capitol, Karakorum, in order to assassinate the Khan, and Gansukh, trying to find a way to save the Khan from his own alcoholism, and the resultant loss of respect. Also, Gansukh has to keep himself alive among the snakes at court.

These two stories are going to intersect, but not until at least Book Two!

Escape Rating C: It took half the book for the story to truly capture my interest. And half this book is 200 pages. If I hadn't been assigned this for a magazine review, I might not have finished.

Gansukh's story is the more coherent. His is a distinctive personality, and his point of view is easy to follow. Also, the "fish out of water" position he finds himself in is one that is easy to sympathize with. He wants to be back on the steppes, and the reader understands completely!

The Western champions are much harder to distinguish. There are too many, and they don't talk a lot. A lot of men who are primarily interested in fighting don't discuss their feelings or motivations a whole lot, which makes it hard to empathize. Everyone is mysterious. The point of view character is Cnán, a girl from a group known as the Binders -- whose origins and motivations the reader also doesn't know.

And is this alternate history, fantasy, or something else? The information at mongoliad.com leads one to the conclusion that it is sort of alternate history, but not yet. A cliffhanger ending is one thing, but this much outright obscurity does not inspire me to continue.

Originally published at Reading Reality.

Part experimental team worldbuilding novel, part fantasy epic, part history geekfest, Book 3 of the Mongoliad wraps up (most of) the dizzying array of storylines developed in the first two volumes. It's a pretty impressive feat, done with a lot of care with respect to historical accuracy (I've read a bit about the period, although I'm certainly not an expert, but much of the time authors clearly haven't even done so much as look up their subject matter in a good encyclopedia, so it's nice to see folks who've done some research). It's also honestly a bit exhausting, but overall an interesting and fun ride, and worth the effort. Especially if you're a bit of a history nerd.

The seven co-authored Foreworld Saga comes to a dramatic finish to book 3 of the Mongoliad. This alternate history set in medieval Europe, the Catholic Church battles the invading Mongols. The historically accurate details, complex and well-orchestrated fight scenes, and engaging characters make for a compelling story (or rather set of parallel stories).

The Shield-Brethren, who are warrior priests, fight the Mongol Army. Of course, the political nest of the cardinals and papacy struggle to keep control. The authors bring these as well as many others to life with a wealth of layered details you feel that you are caught up in the Foreworld.

I approach books with multiple authors (in this case, seven) with a bit of caution. They can be done tongue-in-cheek, as in the decades old "Naked Came the Stranger," or with a serious story to tell, as in "The Mongoliad."
The Mongol invasions almost destroyed Christendom in the Middle Ages. This story is set in those perilous and chaotic times. It has two storylines - that of Cnan, a scout and messenger who accompanys a band of warrior priest-knights on a quest to kill a Khan and ease the pressure on their homelands, and Gansukh, a warrior sent from one Khan to the court of Khan Ogedei, with a stated mission to prevent Ogedei from drinking himself into complete uselessness.
Both story threads move well, and at times are vividly written. However, much of the dialog seems stilted. Whether this is because of inputs from too many authors is difficult to say. However, a single author may have tightened up the scenes, particularly those involving Gansukh.
I look forward to the next book, but hope that a single, strong editorial hand takes charge of what should be an exciting series.

Before I tell you what I don't like about Mongoliad let me share what, in my opinion, are its strengths.

Most amazing is the ability of these seven diverse writers to bring about one consistent voice across 400+ pages. The skill with which they melded their writing styles delighted me. Like a spectator at a magic show, I kept wondering, "how did they do that?"

The plot is a strength worth noting. While the blurbs describe one strand of the plot, two other strands are braided into the book. Each of them is interesting in its own right, but they also build suspense into the others. In all three, the cost of war and barbarism paints a dark and foreboding background.

A large host of characters moves the three stories forward concurrently. It would be easy for these characters to lack depth. The writers, however, succeeded in developing the characters with such uniqueness that there never was a moment of confusion. This facet of the book is not easy to pull off either.

"With all these accolades," you might ask, "why are you disappointed?" Simple. The book only begins a story. I read Mongoliad because I was given a copy to review. Otherwise, I would have waited the two or three years it takes to get a trilogy published before I read page one of book one. I resent reading 400+ pages of a book, hoping that the promised "epic-within-an-epic" means it will have - at least - a stopping point that wraps up some of the plot. Instead, I was led to the edge of a cliff and left teetering there waiting for the next installments. That was very disappointing.

I came to this volume not having read the first two volumes. I am, however, familiar with the works of Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear.

By the standards that Stephenson set in Quicksilver and Cryptonomicon, this is a relatively slim volume at under 800 pages. Like his other works, it rewards the patience to get into the story. Not that, in this case, much patience is necessary.

We start with some of the characters escaping a deadly fire in Rome after the death of Cardinal Somercotes. The cardinals are under lock and key as they scheme and attempt to elect a new pontiff. With a start like this, I joined the story without too much trouble, although it would be nice to go and read the first two volumes. The action ranges far and wide from Rome to the camp of the Holy Roman Emperor across the steppes and towards Karakorum. We encounter the Shield Brethren, who could easily be a fictionalized version of the Knights Templar or the Knights Hospitaller - both of whom also appear in battles.

There are two principal areas of action. The first is around the election of the new pope - who (rather topically) turns out to be a Vatican outsider - and all the scheming that the election implies. The second is around Ogedai Khan's visit and subsequent hunting trip at his father Temujin's (Genghis Khan) homeland. Other pieces of action include the Shield Brethren and other messengers with a mission hiking across the steppes to meet up with the Khan.

Along the way, there is a lively battle against almost insurmountable odds. Also, the Khan's entourage get involved in a few skirmishes and we see the viewpoints of one of his Mongol warriors.

The whole volume moves on to its inevitable conclusion that centers on the Khan's hunt.

I find this works as a self contained volume. Still, there are enough loose ends after the hunt for there to be a volume 4 and 5 - particularly if we eventually move on through Ogedai's successor and eventually to Kublai Khan.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I haven't found the multi-author knights and mongols story to be inconsistent. I just haven't found it to be great.
I loved Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, and I'm generally a fan of historical fiction. This book covers a period I know little about, and some of the descriptions of battle and behavior are interesting. Unfortunately, few of the couple dozen major characters are fleshed out well enough to be interesting. Only Cnan, one of only two females in the whole story, brings real depth of background and thought.
So, I recommend the Mongoiad 1 as a good read, but not as a treat.

So many authors! I wasn't sure how having so many authors could be good for a book, maybe making it too disjointed? The two main story lines are rather disjointed, but not so disjointed as to make it unreadable, and the story sections are long enough that I don't get confused from too much switching back and forth, which I've had problems with in some books by less experienced writers, this book seems to do well in this concern.
My next concern was that it would be just another book written by and for men. There is one female author, but I didn't know she was female till the 'credits' at the end of the book, I think she redeems it somewhat as I'm thinking that she gives the female voices to the book, though I'd like to have the main female, Cnan, have her character fleshed out a little more, but this being the first book, maybe it's fleshed out more in the next books. They are definitely major characters, though the second female voice seems to be mainly a love attraction.
It's definitely enjoyable escapist literature, with a unique topic, being the Mongolian invasion, which was my third concern, not too many people know much about the Mongolian horse peoples and I was afraid there might be a lot of historical fudging out of ignorance and so far, it's not too bad.
I had difficulty putting it down, it is a fun read, high action with a unique subject, I must say that I zoomed through it. I'm glad it's LONG so that I got it to last longer. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book, I don't think it will be a classic, but it's definitely an enjoyable read and one can see maybe a tv movie out of it... though a little long for a movie, they'd have to cut out a lot. Bring on the next one!

The Mongoliad by Neil Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo,
E.D. deBirmingham, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo

With the help of his sons, Genghis Kahn and his Mongolian army are in full power and ruling lands with an iron fist. The son Onghwe Kahn proclaims to every king, bishop, and pope of every land not fallen to The Horde to send forth the greatest warriors and do battle in single combat against his own champions in an arena. If the guest champions prevail, the Mongolian army would depart and leave in peace, if the Kahn wins then the visitors would have to surrender the city to plunder. The Shield Brethren have been summoned. So the band of warriors begin their travel and journey to conquer and succeed at the unthinkable...to out smart and out maneuver Genghis Kahn and his army.
Neil Stephenson has arranged an all star team of Sci Fi and Fantasy writers. Together they have written Book 1 of a trilogy. These co-authors all belong to a Western martial arts study group that study and practice sword fighting. This group was the base structure and idea of what will come to be known as The Mongoliad Trilogy. For those with a taste of hand to hand combat and armed battles this is an exciting adventure for you. Prepare to ride!

I was watching the Netflix series "Marco Polo," at the same time I was reading The Mongoliad. This provided me with a visual context to the book, which enhanced the written word in the novel. My main criticism of the book was the abrupt ending. I know it is Book 1 and will be followed by other novels in the series. However, I think the ending of Book 1 left all the threads of the novel hanging without any resolution or indication of what would follow in the series.

I am not aware that the major, history shaping effects of the Mongols have been the subject of a lot of contemporary fiction, especially not by contemporary science fiction writers.

Also interesting is the fact that this is a collaborative effort by SF and Fantasy writers, writers who have written about this era, and martial arts experts.

Thus, a pretty good start to the trilogy; well-developed characters, an interesting story line, and the historical details seem accurate, and I await further developments.

I note that there are also several "prequels" that I have not yet read.

Pairs well with Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcasts on the Wrath of the Khans. The characters remained mysterious through the very last page, and I was not ready to put it down when I reached the end. I'm now reading the fourth book in the series, Katabasis. Katabasis has a different set of authors, so we'll see how it fares. So far, so good at least.

This trilogy is actually four loosely related stories. It is also a good example of why books should not be written by a committee. The four plot lines, separately and in sum, fail to reach any sort of satisfactory conclusion. Indeed, the entire story centered around the election of a new Pope bears almost no relation to the other three plot lines (one can imagine how the sub-committee responsible for this story fought to keep it in the larger work). It might have made a good, stand-alone historical novel; here, it adds nothing and simply peters out along with the other three stories.
There are excellent battle scenes, and the choreographic descriptions of individual fights are vivid. Unfortunately, this is not enough to elevate the entire messy work. Anyone expecting the brilliance of Stephenson's Baroque Cycle will be sadly disappointed.

Excellent story and writing. Enjoyed the book a lot. Initially attracted to this series because Greg Bear was one of the authors of the first book (this book appears to have been written by committee but it worked in this case) and I enjoy historic fiction.

It is difficult to rate only the third book because the reader could not appreciate the story without having read the first two books. And, if you've read the first two, then you will be sure to read the third. There are a few slow spots in the third book but it moves fairly easily from scene to scene and location to location. The ending is appropriate but it seems designed not for closure but to enable a fourth book or new series along the same theme. It is enjoyable if you are OK with a very long story, in a quasi-historic setting, with unique characters doing fairly unique things, that tells a good-trumps-evil story.

I've read all three Mongoliad books and each one does a great job building on the improbably storyline creating in the prior book. The books are written by a team rather than a single individual, yet the writing style is consistent and thoughtful. I enjoy history, but after reading this story, realize that my view has mostly been shaped by our western culture and I know very little about this history of Mongolia and China, which I sincerely regret now. I look forward to the fourth book in the series and hope the writing team keeps cranking them out.

I wanted it to be great! I would have settled for good. I'm not sure what I actually got, to much of nothing! I am a armchair historian and consider myself well read. (I watch about 2hr of TV a week. I read at minimum 2h/day) I love history, and were I not already knowledgeable about this point in history I would have been completely LOST! Given this I still found myself often confused. I suffered through and even read the 2nd, which is quite good. These AUTHORS need to do a rewrite including an introduction to place and time, some serious character development and tell the reader the current names of places. I love getting lost in a great story, but I was just plain lost!

This book could have been great! Instead it was a chore to be endured! PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR $!

The Mongoliad recalls Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire, the must-read account of Sparta's 300, in both the authenticity of the battle scenes and the realistic, gritty perspectives of the characters.

The story takes place in the 13th century when the Mongols, capitalizing on solid leadership and their technological advantages of a long range bow and seemingly tireless steppe horses, had created the largest empire the world has ever seen. The great Genghis Khan has died and his heirs rule the three corners of the Earth: Europe, China, and Russia.

Into this milieu a small band of knights belonging to a military Christian order devise a plan to halt the invasion of Europe by traveling hundreds miles across Mongol territory to assassinate the current khan. Their scout, and hero of The Mongoliad, is a mysterious woman named Cnán who belongs to some sort of old-world religious order. The knights are Christian, although the pagan religions and superstitions are never far away.

The Mongoliad is told from several viewpoints: knight, scout, Mongol, khan, Chinese tutor in courtroom etiquette, woman and man. Each character views the world from his or her unique viewpoint. From the Mongol point of view, every battle, all resultant carnage is justified. The authors do not pander to modern sensibilities, and succeed remarkably in getting into the heads of people of the day.

The fighting, particularly the one-on-one fights, are realistic and engaging. I didn't know what to think seeing so many authors on one book cover. It crossed my mind it must be a collection of short stories. (It is not.) What brings the authors together is their love of western sword fighting and history. As an 7-year (and counting) practitioner of Japanese sword, I appreciated the authenticity behind the fight scenes. The book manages to describe the horrors of war from the perspectives of those who lived in a more brutal age, where starvation was a harvest away, without descending into mind-numbing gore.

My full review is at NewMyths.com

I purchased the kindle edition of this book and it contains no illustrations or maps, which the official site offers to premium members. Also this book has 33 chapters but the official site lists over fifty. I'm just confused as to how this book ties into the official site.

I have really liked all three of these books. It is a very original story that gives you a wonderful view of the time period. But the ending of it all seemed a bit rushed and weak. With a book this huge it was left too open and it seemed to need another chapter and a more defined epilouge. The writers seemed to just abandon all of the well crafted charcters at the end in a ruch to finish this 800 monster. Hence the two stars. A bad ending can ruin a whole story and make you feel robbed... Boo...

Wooboy this is a long book! Don't read this one if you haven't read the rest, it's not stand alone. Okay, this is the third book in a complicated series in an alternate history universe during the Mongolian invasion of Eastern Europe. Filled with Christian Knights, Mongols, Popes (more than one) Kings, Khans, feral children, you name it.
Technically, I think this is a very good book, a testament to the computer age that so many writers could get together and write without entanglement and seemingly not let egos or anything get in the way. The characters were well written all the way around, the world building was wonderful, it was all good. In fact the continuation of the characters were why I finished the book as I felt involved in their lives and cared about them.
My only gripe is that it was just so long. By page 400 (half way) of my version, I was forcing myself to open the book because I actually wanted to finish it, not because I was interested... Book 2 was sort of like that without the length...I was interested in the characters but I felt like I was jogging in place. Okay Okay okay, get on with it! I really liked the description of the ShieldBrethren crossing the plains, it made it seem real, I understand the hugeness of it... still... wow... And then Poof! after about the 400th page the pace picked up and I knew that I was heading to the denouement. That was pretty much the only technical mistake of maybe two, it was a little obvious.
So then the pace picked up and I could barely put the book down... ZOOOM! I finished those last 400 pages in a blur. The the end... Okay, it was a little obvious. I liked some of the storyline conclusions and not others and jeez, do you need to make it more obvious that that MAY NOT BE THE END? Well, I don't think I have it in me to be more interested in the characters who are alive. This was a pleasant series, not perfect but pretty good and it should be done, leave us wanting more, don't leave us going "OKAY great, I'm done now!"
I recommend the series, not bad, and at least with this book, it's worth the price!

This does start pretty slowly. I didn't really like the writing style, it seemed quite clunky and I almost gave up. However it does rapidly improve.

It took me a while to remember the names of all the characters and to work out exactly what was going on.

The setting is interesting and there are plenty of vivid historical details. It is generally written quite well but as you might expect the writing styles do change throughout the book. Occasionally the writing can be quite dull.

The storyline(s) are well realised and intriguing.

Probably the best bits are the action scenes and in particular the fighting. This book has some of the most exciting and probably the most accurate fight scenes that I have ever read.

Despite the less-than-stellar reviews that, in retrospect, seem overly harsh, I really enjoyed this book, I don't know any of the authors' past works and wouldn't have guessed it was a collaboration as it was written in a consistent voice. As for a plot, I did not find the lack of a distinct story arc beginning in chapter one a problem. I just, kind of, enjoyed absorbing the atmosphere and characters as the story lines fleshed themselves out, Sure, the battle scenes were lengthy and more descriptive than other aspects of the book ( maybe the one place I sensed a particular writer was at work) but, for a reader who does not usually read this genre,I found the encounters surprisingly easy to follow movement for movement and appreciated the mental imagery they invoked. As for the ending that disappointed so many, I tire of neatly wrapped packages and, worse yet, cliffhangers. The story doesn't end on the last page unless you don't pick up the book two. There was more than enough good writing and interesting historical stage setting to have made the read a very enjoyable one,

3.58 stars is as far as want to go. Mongoliad Book One was a fast read. Knocked it off in 2 days, but don't know how much I'll remember by the time Book Two arrives. It carries enough grisly combat to resemble a screenplay for Gladiator sequel. But like cinematic samurai slashfests & the inexhaustible six-shooter of cowboy firepower, one's attachment soon suffers testosterone depletion and credibility fades in the glare of 40-to-1 casualty ratios. It's a common problem for action novelists, but apparently a bigger one for committees of novelists. It takes a lot of plot & character development, an imaginative grip on the crises of time & place, and creative visions of extinct cultures to keep the drama from slipping into a physical brawl.

There are also some moments of dubious authenticity---as when ragged ragged girl (in a world where even male literacy was rare) compares the conquests of the Mongol Khagan to those of Julius Caesar, or a Mongol sniffs a familiar scent of oranges. Not that they didn't try--some scenes and characters seem artfully created, and occasional shaft of insight creates a technicolor aura from the traces of external chronicles, but too many times the perpetual violence overpowers and warrior dialog seems a technology-adjusted patois of comic book superheroes. Resurrecting even 13th C. England from its archives would be a daunting challenge, so I admire the audacity of any author (especially a caucus of authors) trying to spin a good yarn from the medieval dust of Central Asia. If Book Two does that I'll be happy to smother it with all 5 stars.

I will not go over a lot of topics covered already except to say I agree with many of the critical comments. Medieval soap opera, way too many characters, too many writers perhaps? But no body has made the following comment so its here.

One massive clanger did it for me and so I was unable to even finish the book. The modern girls can do anything stuff is now inserted into most fantasy and adventure novels. You have these tiny pretty girls who are killing machines with an attitude. You also have the untrained female character who decides enough is enough and trains hard for, well it varies, maybe a week, a month several months? and then emerges able to regularly take down professional soldiers who are 40% larger and twice as strong at least. These men-at-arms have trained in the military arts since they were apprenticed at 12 or so. It is so wrong that it is in your face for the whole book saying "this is just a fairytale". The view is not misogyny. It would be like one of the knights having a glock. Just kills it for me. It seems it is now embedded in almost all of this type of fiction. An example is the tiny female Chinese courtier at the Kagan's court. She decides to learn to defend herself. She gets archery lessons from one of the Mongol nobles. Of course Mongol men are renowned for their tolerance for women especially non mongol women. It ignores than anyone touching a weapon who has not earned the right through the initiation process is severely punished. In any case she picks up the bow and after a few hints she draws the bow three times and had a burning sensation in her biceps but that will go away in time as she gets used to it. For real. Anyone who has tried to bend one of these powerful bows for the first time is shocked at the pull weight. You have to start with a learner bow and move up in pull weight even if you are a 180 lb man. I mean a proper war bow draws over 100 lbs. The longbows recovered from Mary Rose have been tested at a weight range of 100 to 185 lbs. Mongol bows which are still made the same way today are 165 lbs draw. (coldsiberia.org/monbow.htm)

I know its fiction, but be a bit reasonable with your female warrior personas. They would be better served (and the reader would find it a bit more believable) if they used a rapier or stiletto or poison in a dart or something.

Game of Thrones used a female warrior but she was well done in that she was naturally big and muscular and had trained her whole life for combat. She was not portrayed as attractive to men as she was mannish. I liked her character and she added to the story and in no way set off any BS meter.

Well, if you've read the first two volumes (which you should!) you'll want to read this one, even though the plot near the end falters and the story peters out rather than reach a real conclusion. (Okay, that's my criticism of much of what Neal Stephenson writes.) That said, the writing is stellar and few pages went by without a great turn of phrase, or a memorable setting, or a well-fleshed character.

There are at least two historical faults with this novel:
1) the black plague hit Europe in this time frame:
Rats, Lice and History
2) Marco Polo after visiting Mongol China
brought back stories of China, the Mongol horse back
game which came to be known as polo and noodles:
The Travels of Marco Polo - Volume 1
Had the Mongols actually invaded Europe in the middle 14th century,
there would have been nearly no one to resist them
as there was a great lot of dead people:
a) 1347: Plague again reaches Constantinople.
b) Winter 1347: Reaches Italy.
By 1351 all of Europe and Russia were being laid waste
by the plague.
3) An actual nomad was active in this time frame
who wasn't directly related to the Mongols:
Tamerlane (1336 - 1405) :
"In his life time, he has conquered more than anyone else except for Alexander."
Another problem is that the ending of the first book
can only be called abrupt.
The serial novel besides that promises to be very good
as historical romances go: I like the characterizations
and the details of weapons and clothing.
I wish these authors well as this is a period
of Chinese and European history that isn't usually
covered well, but in which there was more
cultural interchange than at other times.

I liked this book a lot and didn't experience the confusion some of other reviewers have mentioned. Yes, the authors do use medieval place names. I'd feel a little cheated if they didn't. And really, it's not that hard to figure out that Rus used to be Russia. I like also that the writers don't pull their punches when describing the Mongol atrocities, while at the same time giving us sympathetic and likeable Mongol characters. The fight scenes were really well done as well.

I did have some minor confusion towards the end figuring out which characters were where, but that sorted itself out, and I will be buying the next book. For 2.99 on Kindle, you really can't complain.

When there are seven names below the title, there's reason to worry -- but "The Mongoliad's" horde of writers make it work. The authorial voice is clear and distinct, and the setting (the invasion of the Mongols in the 14th century) is a good one. The characters are well developed, and though the plot sometimes stretches the suspension of disbelief to its limits, this was definitely a fun read.

This book started out as a very interesting tale rich with culture and drama. But typical of a lot of books, the author dragged out battle after boring battle, redundant and repetitive. I skipped over the battles and tried to find more substance in the book, which I am sure is there - just haven't found it yet. Put it down for a while, but will pick it up again.

Not a bad book, but somewhat predictable. The most interesting part to me was the interweaving of medieval Europe and the Mongol invasion. However, it appears to be a boy meets girl/scrounge becomes powerful/evading capture in the nick of time/adventure type of book. I guess I'll have to buy the remaining books to see how this unfolds.

Great read, and a good companion to the Song of Ice and Fire series. It has similarly weak magic, but follows rather closely to history and has an authenticity to the real world that the Song obviously lacks. It's the more sober cousin, then, and has fascinating details in its own right. Love the setting, there just isn't much coverage of the mongols or their wars in Western pop fiction (movies I'm thinking of mostly).

I won't go on about how I loved this series as my rating should have that covered. I will however write of how I was moved by the death of a lead caricature and in particular his asking the man who slew him his last moments on this earth about the western sea. I actually identified more with his caricature due to all his fears and human condition then any other in these books. The author, or authors did a great job not vilifying but rather humanizing him. Thanks for the wonderful story.

The book series is very good, I enjoyed reading about the different adventures. The only issue I have is the Kindle version of this book that I borrowed through Kindle Unlimited skips some of the paragraphs when turning pages, so I missed out on some information throughout the book which is pretty frustrating.

As Game of Thrones has skewed my perception of the violence and sex required for solid book writing, I found the Mongoliad to well written, with good attention to detail and a deft hand at prose, but a bit lacking in the lurid details that I now have a taste for.

Recommended as a good medieval action story, but not off the charts like the GoT books.

This was an enjoyable read. The entire 4 books were well written and kept me reading. The only complaint I had about this series is the amount of jumping around in the story. It made the inevitable process of laying the book down and picking it back up difficult. Not difficult however to keep me from finishing all 4 of the books in the series.

This book was not only too long it was too much jumping from subject to subject. It wandered from place to place without much thought for the reader. It was evident that many hands were in this preparation. Previous books were better done.

I read all three of the Saga books. The first captured my interest, the second left me wondering why did they write it? It seemed like an interlude rather than a book. The third (this book) is definitely epic. Very well written, with great characters. There are parts I wonder about: Why include Rome at all? What does that have to do with the rest of the tale? I also feel this book was merely leaving the door open for more either spin offs or book 4. It felt somewhat unfinished, more like they got sick of writing about this then it was done.

But if you like this genre of epic tales of good vs almost as good, questionable heros, likeable villians, noble quests, this is a great book for you.

Story line is well developed with a good blend of mostly fiction but enough historical facts to create an interesting perspective. Excellent character development which greatly enhances the reader's interest. The way the story tells all sides of the conflict allows a better understanding for each character. Looking forward to next book.

I have been fascinated by this period in history, so it was interesting to see it imagined in some detail. I wouldn't care for excessive fantasy or magical aspects, but I thought they were kept under control. Action scenes were well written, but, so far, an almost puritanical approach to sex, almost pretending that it doesn't exist.

I was slightly disappointed, but not surprised to find book one does not end in any satisfactory way but just leaves you hanging. Essentially it is a teaser to get you to buy the other two volumes. So far I'm resisting, but I'll probably wind up doing that.

The Mongoliad has been in my the store recommendations list for awhile. It took a few chapters to get the pace going, but I enjoyed it very much. It's refreshing to have a story in this genre that doesn't take place in a proxy Mideval England. I never felt like I was reading a Fantasy novel though. Maybe that will change in the next book?

Obviously, if you're looking to buy this book, you've probably read the the first 2 book already and you can't wait to finish this one too! From here, the story concludes in an epic face off between some of the main characters you've grown to love and hate. In this David and Goliath tale you as a reader, have already journeyed the thousands of miles with the protagonists and now it's time to see how this grand story plays out.

IT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT~!

When Christendom is threatened by the son of Genghis Khan, a group of warrior monks set out to kill him, thinking that you cut off the head and the snake dies. The writing is reasonable, the plot is OK. The characters are somewhat attractive even though they seem a bit like cardboard cutouts. Its not a bad book, really....but..... there's something lacking. Maybe its the fact that with a half dozen authors it lacks clear direction to find that something to set it apart. Another issue is that it stops right in the middle of nowhere....hence book 1. They make no pretense about it being a complete story. You want more, go buy book 2....

Is it worth reading? I generally do everything Neal Stephenson writes, even though its a mixed bag. This one feels a bit like his Baroque Cycle, except with Mongols and knights/monks. This one is fine as filler, but its not the best. I would recommend waiting until the series is done, so you can collect all parts and do it in one go, as opposed to waiting for most of a year and forgetting where you were at in the story.

I may have read better written books but I enjoyed reading the first two installments of this series.
I guess my highest compliment would be that I've already pre-ordered the third book. Looking forward
to reading that next month. If you enjoy historical fiction you will probably like these books.

These three books may be a collaboration of artists from my understanding, but the storyline, characters and plot don not feel like it at all. The entire story is eloquently possible-feeling in the way great writers of historical fiction do; it feels like a true story at time, but with little bits of mysticism mixed in. Altogether a great set.

It is long and will suck you in. There are many characters which you could lose track of. I didn't rate it 5 stars because I hate when books in a series don't have a conclusion with each book. I did download all three books and enjoyed them all, but I want an ending in each.

I picked this up as one of the store's daily deals since it looked interesting and I haven't studied the Mongol invasions much at all. It's a compelling piece of storytelling that swept me right into the action, riding alongside C'nan and the Shield Brethren as they start their quest. Can't wait to pick up book 2!

It was OK. I saw Neal Stephenson's name on the author list and that's why I decided to read it. If you like to read about weapons from that era, this may be the book for you. It wasn't for me. I'll be skipping the sequels in this series.

I got into the Mongoliad because I love Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear. Not being into knights and such, it was difficult for me to really get into the flow of the stories. That said, the wonderfully written characters allowed me to enjoy the tales, epic sword fighting scenes and all.

I got about 1/3 of the way in and just stopped reading. I really like all of the authors involved, but somehow together they just fail to engage. None of the characters seemed very interesting or particularly believable, and I just couldn't muster the interest to read further.

I reviewed book two and gave it five stars. I did enjoy the different stories but at the end, I felt they didn't fulfill my expectations. I believed the different stories and significant characters would all come together. Some of the story lines met this expectations but the scene in Rome was curiously disjointed from the rest of the trilogy's direction. As I stated in my previous review, too many significant characters, story lines jumping back and forward - hard for a reader to keep in touch with all.

After wading through the first two books, it was almost worth it to get all the story lines tied up with about 500 pages of action packed conclusions in book three. If only the second book had been half as long as it was. A really good read though I'm confused as to whether anything is next or they just let loose ends hang.

I enjoyed the kindle version of this book. The ability to switch between text and audio was very useful. It allowed me to keep reading(listening) even when I was on a crowded train or driving. Audio book was well performed.

These books are recommended. I have enjoyed them all and they seem to get better with each book. The progression of characters and their development is interesting to say the least. Not a lot of magic. No elves or monsters but a nicely written piece of fiction.

Most of the book was exciting, and very well written. The biggest problem was the extensive descriptions of each specific battle. The art of medieval battle and weapons almost overwhelms the overall theme of the story.

I was a bit skeptical but loved it and quickly dove into the next in the series. The people and the situation grabbed me and broke through my mild ADD. I didn't read it in one night but I did stick with it more than I have any book in a while.

Like most novels with which Neil Stevenson has a connection, the Mongoliad trilogy is complex, takes the reader through multiple settings and requires the reader to recall the previous events, frequently through use of the "If we are now here, then this must have transpired, even though it was omited from the intervening text" strategy. The concluding book does nicely bring to conclusions, not necessarily satisfactoraly in all cases, the many strands. If you have persevered through the first two segements, you will be satisfied with this one, including the traditional riding off into the sunset at the conclusion.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Set in an actual time period with a mix of fact and fiction that worked well. The writing style was great, very well written. Look forward to reading the remainder. Only negative was that it didn't end gracefully or enough to be a cliff hanger.

My major bone to pick with this set of books
is that nothing happens in a very lot of text.
One actually reads this sort of fiction
for the action and this set of books seems to fail in
many pages with little action or resolution of conflicts.
All the parallel episodes in China, Rome and Asia Minor
don't lead to anything important happening
( even electing a Pope takes forever).
in this alternate reality the Mongols seem to way a head?
By the end of the third book one is convinced:
this set of sequels is truly boring...
I'm sorry to say this as a lot of good authors
have contributed to this never-ending saga.

Great concept here and love the subject and the scenerio. There is plenty of action and there are some exciting parts. But overall, much like you can often tell when a movie has too many writers (never a good sign), I felt this way about the book. Just too disjointed. Again, cool concept and maybe it worked better on the web, but not as good as it should have been.

reads like a book written by seven different authors. so many chracters inroduced in the first 20 pages, with little to no explanatory backstory, i found it impossible to figure out what was going on.

Fast paced read with varied characters for a range of readers to identify. HIGHLY recommend if you like medieval era story telling that has combat, politics, religion, and relationships all intertwined.

A fast moving, generally accurate historical novel on the Mongol Invasion of Europe. This book offers the excitement of Neal Stephenson's classic trilogy with some sacrifice of intellectual heft but with full measure of rapidly developing and moving storyline. I do prefer Stephenson's themes of the development of modern science and cryptology to some of the detail here of bladed weapon combat. But with the excitement, ease of telling and rapid action developed by this team of talented writers it can be absorbed with greater ease than some of Stephenson's heavier intellectual tomes.

A thoroughly enjoyable beach or weekend read.

The series was fun for a while but became a labor to read. The chapters on Rome have nothing to do with the rest of the book and do not meet with them in any way. If you skip those wasted chapters, the book makes sense and is fairly fun, yet gruesome and violent.

I was very happy with this book. I do enjoy the different view points and even though I think it started off a little slow, I liked it enough to purchase the second book before I was even done with the first. A good read!

Mongoliad Book One is well written and begins an entertaining story. However, as it proceeds to Book Two, additional unnecessary storylines are added which slow the action and divert attention from the main plot.

I read all 3 books and enjoyed the story. I knew very little of this time in European history so it was very interesting. It wasn't a "page turner" type book but I read a few chapters every night before bed and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Great intro to the life and times of the Mongols after Ghengis Khan. Very descriptive and realistic narrative. Good story and character development right from the beginning. Auther keeps 2-3 different but related stories going at the same time, jumping from one to another. Makes the reader glad that this is a fairly long book and looking forward to continuing the story through the trilogy to find out the conclusion of each of the threads the author has created.

The editing job is brutal. There is a lack of continuity between scenes. In one paragrah, a character is referred to in the masculine and then in the feminine. Mistakes are throughout the. My advice is ignore it and enjoy the book. I am a technical writer, and this kind of sloppiness drives me around the bend.

The time of knights and barbarians has always intrigued me, so I was delighted to stumble upon The Mongoliad. I'm nit nearly as fickle as some other readers. I only require that the author(s) not bore me and this first book did not disappoint. Looking forward to the others now.

I found the book a "plodder" with occasional good parts but mostly a mish mosh of characters and situations. Parts were very entertaining but I found myself reading other books while plodding through this one because I was so bored with The Mongoliad.

Much better than I expected for a joint effort. The characters are distinctive and the fight scenes are excellent. Vastly underrated novel, as opposed to the well-documented ambitious multimedia project.

Thought this was a good read. Always liked Neal Stephenson's and Greg Bear's books, so I gave this one a try. Good character development and plot lines, looking forward to the next book in the series.

This book is kind of a come-on to sign up for the series. The book builds up to a muddle of a climax and then leaves you hanging 'till you buy the next installment....kinda bush league honestly.

7 different writers and though I could not tell who was who (except maybe for NS - don't know most of the others) they do not mesh well. The book jumps around with time and place to the point where keeping it straight is more of a chore than it is worth.

Billed as historical fiction - ummmmm, I fear not - not much history here and really the fiction is pretty lame. The characters have plenty of potential and are well wrought but I got the feeling that they dropped the characters in a hat and then randomly dealt them into the story.

Maybe too many cooks working on this broth.....