It’s hard to review The Mongoliad: Book 1 without going into any of the supplemental material available online, but I will try to limit this review to strictly what happens in the book. With the number of authors listed on the book, it’s easy to think that this is some sort of anthology. But this is on novel with three linked storylines going through the book. It isn’t listed who worked on which sections, so it is somewhat assumed that everyone had some sort of hand in the whole novel. So this doesn’t seem to be like one of the Tom Clancy books where he comes up with an idea and farms out the writing to others. So, lets head back to 1241 and see what is going on with the Mongols.

There are three linked stories in the book. The first deals with the current Khan, Ögedei and his ruminations on his rise to power after the death of his father, Genghis. The second story is with a Mongul warrior Gansukh and his mission in the capital. He was sent by the Khan’s brother to stop the Khan from drinking himself to death. He is aided by a slave girl, Lian, who was sent to teach Gansukh manners, but, more importantly, how to survive in the cutthroat world that is castle politics. The final (and most prominent) story features a small group of European swordsman who are on a mission.

The swordsman’s mission is the one that I will talk about the most, since it is the most fleshed out and the best storyline in the novel. The two Mongol storylines have little action and the main characters mainly react to things happening, which doesn’t make very interesting stories. The swordsman’s story is much more interesting. The Mongols have stopped their conquest temporarily to reinforce their supply lines and let their soldiers rest. They do this periodically, but need to keep the Khan entertained. The way they do this is to offer freedom to captured European soldiers if they fight (gladiator style) in the arena. The soldiers decide that their best bet is to send a small group back to the Mongol capital and kill the Khan. Mongol customs dictate that if the Khan dies, then all the military leaders go back to determine who will be the next Khan. They believe that will give then some breathing room to boost the European defenses to defeat the Mongols.

The small group heads out with a female scout (Cnan) who can get lead them through Mongol lines to the Khan without being detected. This small group of soldiers drive across Mongol lands in their mission and this story leads to most of the conflict and action in the story.

Overall, Book 1 of The Mongoliad isn’t a bad book. It’s fun in places and it’s interesting to read about this era. But it never really grabbed me. And I wasn’t that invested in the Mongol storylines (although Gansukh did have some moments). It wasn’t enough for me to say that this was a bad book. But if it didn’t have Stephenson and Bear’s names attached to the project, I’m not sure I’d continue reading future episodes. It’s a decent read that some people might enjoy more. Mildly recommended.