2017-01-29
The greatest achievement of this book is that is makes the young Ghengis Khan a very sympathetic character.
Drawing on historical notes, Iggulden does a great job not only of building the character up and making us care, but also fills it will those wonderful little background details that make a work of historical fiction stand out. Apparently, the author spent some time living in Mongolia, trying to get a taste of the old traditional life, and it shines through.
My one complaint is a small one – although the story is mostly written in close third, there is a little head-hopping. Iggulden may think he’s fleshing out the secondary characters when he does so, but what he’s actually doing is distancing the reader from the protagonist whenever he does so. Frankly, I’m surprised that head-hopping still remains tolerated in historical fiction.
But that’s a very minor complaint. All told, Wolf of the Plains is a fantastic piece of fiction that does everything it can to make the world and experience of the young Gengis Khan feel very real and believable. It’s full of visceral feeling and emotional highs and lows, and I can’t wait to read more from this series.
Rating: 5/5