Lords of the Bow, Conn Iggulden

'I am the land and the bones of the hills. I am the winter.'

Temujin of the Wolves has become Genghis Khan, a man who must unite the most fractious, warlike tribes on earth. He intends to forge a new nation out of the wild plains and mountains of Mongolia. It will be a bloody birth that brings a continent to its knees.

For thousands of years, his people have been kept apart by the fortress empire of the Chin, a land of vast wealth and teeming armies. His warriors have only the bow, the horse and an iron discipline born from a land of ice, hunger and death. Stone walls loom over the Mongol riders and Genghis must break the ancient enemy or see his people scattered and his dreams crushed.

As well as that ancestral foe, Genghis must reconcile the restless factions among his own generals, mediate between his ambitious brothers and cope with his own reactions to his growing sons. The young warrior has become a victorious military commander: he must now raise his people to greatness.

Lords of the Bow is epic in scope, convincing, and fascinating in the narration of an extraordinary story. Above all Genghis Khan continues to dominate the scene as he matures from the young boy of Wolf of the Plains to the great Conqueror.