The Mongoliad: Book One
Written by Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear, Greg Bear and
Narrated by Luke Daniels
4/5
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About this audiobook
The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.
But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.
Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined.
A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors’ preferred text.
Neal Stephenson
Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Termination Shock, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, and the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . .Was the Command Line. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
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Titles in the series (5)
The Mongoliad: Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mongoliad: Book Two Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mongoliad: Book Three Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Katabasis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Siege Perilous Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
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Reviews for The Mongoliad
94 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I picked this book up solely on the basis of Stephenson's name on the cover; without it, I'm sure I would've walked on by a sword epic with too many writers on the cover. That would have been a mistake, and I would've missed out on an engaging history lesson on something glossed over in my schooling; the Mongol takeover of Asia and Europe.
The Mongol Empire, by land area, was the largest empire in human history. Since we tend now to think of the time between Rome and the Renaissance as an unchanging Dark Age, we forget that once all of Europe was either under the thumb of, or in fear of, the Great Khan. This story drops the reader right in the middle of that period, as Eastern Europe begins to suffer terribly under the attacks of the Horde.
A group of Christian (but secretly pagan) knights is looking for a way to save the people of Europe from more suffering. A rumor of a fine point of Mongol law gives the knight's leader an idea...
At the same time, a young fighter in Mongolia is torn from the steppes and installed in the court of the Great Khan, and must learn diplomacy quickly if he's to live.
I've been reading experimental novels and comics all year. It's nice to sit down with a novel with a familiar structure, with a good story and solid history behind it. This was a quick, fun read.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overall pretty good! Very well written, likable characters, especially Feronantus and his knights. I took off a star and a half for being a tad slow in places, mostly during the Mongolian chapters. I am looking forward to reading the sequel!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed this. Lot's of historical detail, fighting and blood. None of the mushy stuff to ruin it either. Totally recommend.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Decent. Nothing particularly amazing, but the writing was tight and the characters relatively interesting. Not sure I'm hooked enough to continue.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5At the start I was eagerly reading this because the premise of the story was a selling point. But halfway through I just lost interest in the characters and by the end of the story the storyline was boring.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A secret order of knights battles the Mongol empire in thirteenth century Europe.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a good light read, if a little grim and gory in places. The writing is remarkably cohesive for the number of authors involved. Good beach reading. The ending is a total cliffhanger though. Some of the battle scenes were a little annoying because they went on for so long and it's hard to describe swordfighting action in prose.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book - not that I was surprised taking into account its authors. The only downside is that when you reach the last page and turn it, you really expect the rest of the story to be there... And, instead, you're left simply with the need to pre-order Book Two.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is a really tough one to review. Mongoliad is a serial novel which was produced interactively as part of a transmedia franchise. According to the website, it's "sort of the thing that Charles Dickens wrote, but with a decidedly 21st century twist", emphasizing the role of social media and community resources in the project's idea and creation.I have to say the serialized format and the multiple authors both facilitated and hindered my enjoyment. Not surprisingly, the novel did not always feel cohesive. There are sections of the novel that are beautifully written, paid attention to character development, etc. and those were the sections I found I really liked.On the other hand, there were also those sections in which style changes are more obvious, quality of the storytelling was not as high, and chapters where more attention (like pages and pages) was paid to fighting styles and weapons than the actual protagonists utilizing and wielding them. Apparently, Mongoliad and the Foreworld universe came about from a group of friends' shared interest in the study of Western Martial Arts, so that's understandable.If that's your thing, you'll find plenty to like in this novel. If not, you'll probably go through ups and downs like me. I generally prefer a good story with ample character building. There are so many characters, and it always seemed like just when I wanted to know more, the book changes to another scene or switches perspective, leaving me hanging. There was just enough in book one to keep me intrigued and interested in picking up book two.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Impression 30% through the book? Editing makes a HUGE difference. I subscribed to the Foreworld project for a year, but I got bogged down in chapter four and couldn't get restarted. I started it over using the iPad app to read the web version, but again I got bogged down in too many plot lines. I couldn't keep track of the characters and thus couldn't really care what happened to them.
Then I bought the Kindle version (not while it was .99, sadly) and this time the story-lines are curated in a way that keeps my attention. The Mongoliad is a project about authoring and writing as much as it is a finished project and one thing I think it demonstrates clearly is that stories may move from the beginning to the end, but they aren't written that way and a good editor can make the difference between something that never quite gets off the ground and a rewarding tale. Even when the books are essentially the same content.
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Impression upon reaching the end: the book isn't finished, but neither am I finished with these characters. I'm invested in them and their story lines. So much so that I'm annoyed that there wasn't any resolution or climax. Back to editing, I think everything worked except the packaging as a novel. This is a serial work in progress. The last page contained no satisfying conclusion or cliff hanger, the story just stopped. That was a bit abrupt and jarring, but only when I think of it as a novel. When I think of how it is being written, that makes perfect sense.
Now, I think I'm going to resubscribe to the Foreworld project so I can read the new chapters as they come out.