Review: Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden

I finally finished Bones of the Hills, book 3 in the Khan/Conquerer series. The book took a while to read, but that was mostly just because life turned a bit chaotic for a while.

The first book in the series, Wolf of the Plains, explored the early life of Genghis Khan and how he brought the clans of Mongolia together. You can refresh your memory with my full review here.

The second book in the series, Lords of the Bow, explored Genghis Khan’s conquests against the Chin and his defeat of the emperor. I also cover that book in this review.

Bones of the Hills is the third book in the series, and in this book, Genghis takes his entire Mongol nation into Arab lands to destroy the shah and decimate those who oppose his strength. But it is also at this point when his age begins wearing on him and his men begin doubting his ambitions.

It should be noted that of all the generals who followed Genghis Khan, only his oldest son — whom many doubted was actually his son — openly opposed him. This book covers the bitter relationship between Jochi and Chagatai, Genghis’ two oldest sons, as well as his own relationship with Jochi. The anger and pain Jochi feels toward his father are brought on by Genghis’ own treatment of this eldest son. I found the story of Jochi to be the most compelling part of this book. His heart, his strength, and his desperate need for his father to show him any form of love or pride. It was a heartbreaking tale.

The book had a lot to unpack: Tsubodai’s dedication to his khan against his love for Jochi; Jochi’s desire to be accepted by his father; Genghis’ stubborn determination to kill any who oppose him; Chagatai’s arrogance, short temper, and hate for his brother Jochi.

While this book covered a lot of ground as the Mongols conquered the Arabs, the focus felt more centered around the personal struggles of the men beneath Genghis in his final years. The characters had much more depth and emotion than any of the other books in the series thus far. The action certainly showed the epic, brutal strength of the Mongol army as they destroyed forces three times their size.

With all those strengths, this book still had weaknesses.

First was the shifting character perspective within a single section. This style of writing is clearly a preference for Iggulden, but I feel like it forces too much distance between the reader and the characters when we hop from one head to the next. I have mentioned this in the other reviews as well. Though I did feel more connected to the characters in this book, I still feel it could have benefited from a tighter point of view to really punch those emotions home.

The second weakness was my overwhelming disappointment with the complete lack of role Ogedai has in the book. If you know anything about Genghis Khan’s empire, you know that Ogedai is actually the son who will become khan when his father dies. Yet Ogedai only gets a few passing mentions in this book. Jochi and Chagatai’s hatred for each other takes center stage, leaving no space whatsoever for Ogedai to grow in our hearts before he takes over. For me, as a reader, this was the biggest failing of this book — and so far this series.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. Just be aware of the shortcomings before you dive in.

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