The Mongoliad: The Foreworld Saga, Book 1

Love this series...it is my second read through. Historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine, and I appreciate how the authors imagine the thoughts of contemporaries of the time and better still keep those thoughts in the period. In this series, there are no accidental examples of modern thought or vocabulary, which serves to keep the reader engaged and in the mindset of the period; to be expected for sure, but not often done well.

This is an epic tale in the tradition of something like the Song of Roland, but I think this is more much accessible to modern readers. This tale covers a short period of the Mongol rule in which various knights of Christendom are charged with the task of saving what little territories are left, but instead they decided to just take out the Khan. The main character of this story is oddly enough not a Christian or a knight. She is a scout of mixed nationality who goes along for the ride to help in any way she can, hoping she doesn't die, and soon begins to empathize with the cause of her comrades.I like this book for the many stories it tells. There are so many details and lives that cross in this book. It's a true pleasure read great stories like these. Cnan and the knights have a great adventure tale shared between them, but each of this group has a story worth learning, even though they don't all get told in this book. Even though they are united to save Christendom, most these knights aren't Christians, they just want to take down the Mongols. There are a few however who remind you of such characters as the Knights of the Round Table.Then there is Gansukh (a hunter/warrior sent to look after the Khan), and Lian (an obedient and wise slave looking for an escape), and the slave fighters of the Mongols who's names aren't important right now. There are so many characters and interesting stories to be told in the book that is does sometimes get confusing, but if you stick with it, it all comes together.I love the way the hunting and tracking scenes are described, and the fight scenes aren't bad either. My main reason for not giving this book a 5 is the fact that it doesn't really end. I mean the pages stop, but there is no type of conclusion drawn. I find this a bit irritating. I get that books in a series never really end until the series ends, but I at least expect some type of indication that this part of the series is now complete.I will never be on board with this idea that a series is an excuse to just stop in the middle of a story so the next book can be printed. I probably would have given this book a 5 if the goal of it had been for the characters to reach the Shield Sisters. The next book could start with what happens after that, but no- this book just stopped.This is a great historical fiction epic that I think would appeal to readers of fantasy looking to try something different. If you can read the Game of Throne books, you can read this.

A cast of characters as East meets West in the time of Teutonic Knights and Mongol Khans. Written as a collective between several authors, I had to experience it for myself. The story flowed seamlessly.

If you're looking for a great literary read, or even a rollicking adventure filled with semi-historical intrigue and action, you may want to look somewhere else. If you're looking for something to read for a few minutes at a time on your lunch break, this isn't a bad choice. It's just interesting enough to get you to pick it up on your next break, but not interesting enough to sneak a read here and there, or take a few extra minutes of lunch to get to the next chapter.Set during the reign of Genghis Khan's son, the book follows two separate plot lines; one from a Mongol's perspective and one from the perspective of a girl traveling with/leading a group of knights who somehow plan on assassinating the current khan (they don't really have a plan of any kind). There are a few other perspectives woven in for flavor, but they're minor to the story, and often feel like afterthoughts. And that's where the real problem with this book comes in. Well, one of the problems.This was written by a fairly large group of people, and you really get that feeling. Rather than two or even three people weaving their individual character's stories together, it feels like the authors wrote by committee and had to make concessions to each other to get some particular favorite point in. The result is mediocrity and a story that, while it ends without clearly resolving anything, gives me absolutely no motivation to pick up the next book in the series and find out what happened. And part of that is because I *know* what happened, at least in the real world, which brings me to the next downfall.I really love alternate history novels, mostly because they combine my two big loves, history and fantasy. A well-crafted alternate history story can present a convincing "what-if" that makes the reader wish things had turned out different in our own time. This novel has enough of the history in it to intrigue me, and the Mongol empire was always particularly fascinating, as well as European knights and the feudal society. The problem is, it feels like the collective authors read one book on the Mongol empire and one that had some vague crusader history in it and decided to write a semi-historic novel combining the two. It just has the feeling like someone took a block of Styrofoam, slapped some wood veneer on top and wants to call it "solid wood." The female lead is from a made-up, quasi-mystical society and is just glossed over. A knight takes hallucinogenic mushrooms, goes into killing rages, and then is sort of ignored in favor of another knight who has apparently received grace from the Virgin Mary herself. Which is then glossed over in favor of some whacked-out religious fanatics and a hidden reliquary with magical and mystical properties. Which likely will be glossed over in the second book. That's just the feeling I got reading this novel; nothing really matters, characters are only given a sketchy fleshing out, motivations are superficial, and I would not recommend anyone actually buy this. Check it out from the library or borrow it from a friend if you must read it.For any aspiring authors out there, this would be an amazing time to set a novel. There's a whole lot going on historically to choose from, and yes, you could even convincingly weave in magic. Just don't do what this book did; make me not care.

I absolutely love this series of books, I have read all of The Mongoliad 1-5 and am nearly ready to read the SideQuest books next. The characters are all well written and the storylines are excellent. You really get to care about what happen to the characters on their quests. Beware though if you decide to buy the SideQuest books, it can be very confusing as 3 of the stories are within the first three Mongoliad books. I bought "Sinner" a Prequel to The Mongoliad before I bought the Mongoliad books 1-5 so didn't realise till later that "Sinner is within The Mongoliad Book 1 so because I had to buy The Mongoliad book 1, I now have "Sinner" twice! The same goes for "Dreamer" - it's within The Mongoliad Book 2 and "Seer" is within Mongoliad Book 3. All the other Foreworld SideQuests are ok at the time I write this review. There is an option for you to buy "The Beast of Calatrava", "The Shield Maiden" & "The Lion in Chains" as a compilation book under the title SideQuests Adventures No.1 The Foreworld Saga Book 1 for £1 making it cheaper than the singles price of 98p each.

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.

Being a big fan of Greg Bear and an outright admirer of all things Neal Stephenson, this co-op between the two (and some lesser gods) had to be a surefire hit. And it is, in a way, or could be.The setting is innovative and somewhat remindful of 'Anathem'. An historic novel set in a slightly alternative medieval setting, this first part is a travel story; a disparate band of knights (genre 'Templars') on an epic quest across an Eastern Europe laid to waste by the Mongol empire.There are several storylines playing out concurrently (as to be expected from Bear and Stephenson), but these are as yet unconnected unfortunately. This being a trilogy, I expect this to be remedied in the later novels, especially since Stephenson is known to be a slow starter. I'm willing to wait for that.The story is well written, the characters are believable and sufficiently different from each other, dialogue is good, there is story and character arc, yet something is missing. Probably pace and progress.Were this a novel written by Stephenson (or Bear) alone, this would have been a 5-star review as I would know with a great amount of certainty that the later books would be nothing less than excellent. It is not though. There is great promise hidden in this first installment, enough to have me holding out for book 2. A certain amount of apprehension however holds me back from giving it the 5th star.

I bought this because I am a great fan of Neal Stephenson generally and in particular the Baroque trilogy, which very, very cleverly mixes fact, fiction, and a nice dose of paleocybernetics - with only one really egregiously embarrassing clanger. I had hoped that there might be some more cryptology in this one. I have also done in the past a bit of research on the progress of the Mongols, and looked forward to a Stephenson take on this in the manner of his treatment of the 17thC.Big, big disappointment. Three storylines, loosely connected and showing all too clearly how they are supposed eventually to link up, grind out an unimaginative and (literally) pedestrian course. Scarcely any characterisation, and only two women being a bit token in what is really just a series of fights. The fights are probably well done, if you like that sort of thing, which I find doesn't work in prose and seems to be angling for a film - or more likely a videogame - though I gather from some other reviews that there are big mistakes in the description of the fighting techniques too. But mainly it's just boring.I won't be buying Vol 2. However, I won't give up on Stephenson and will give 'Reamde' a chance, as it is pure Stephenson and looks as if there's a satisfying amount of cyber-skullduggery in it.

This alternate history has an impresive pedigree.The writers are amongst the most lauded in SF/F.I didnt find the book lived up to my expectations of a collaboration amongst 3 of my favorite writers - and others.The prose is fine byt the characters are poorly developed and the plot progresses so slowly it seems like you are making no progress on the book even when it ends. For a sizeable book we still have little insight into most of the characters in the book. Who they are , why they do what they do - most are merely labels - a massively wasted opportunity given the size of the book.This may be a deliberate structure - so the whole series is one book - but doesnt make a terribly satisfying read. Very dissapointed - wish i hadnt picked up all 3. Hopefully it will improve as the series continues.