Summary:
In the late twelfth century, across the sweeping Mongolian grasslands, brilliant, charismatic Temujin ascends to power, declaring himself the Great, or Genghis, Khan. But it is the women who stand beside him who ensure his triumph....
After her mother foretells an ominous future for her, gifted Borte becomes an outsider within her clan. When she seeks comfort in the arms of aristocratic traveler Jamuka, she discovers he is the blood brother of Temujin, the man who agreed to marry her and then abandoned her long before they could wed.
Temujin will return and make Borte his queen, yet it will take many women to safeguard his fragile new kingdom. Their daughter, the fierce Alaqai, will ride and shoot an arrow as well as any man. Fatima, an elegant Persian captive, will transform her desire for revenge into an unbreakable loyalty. And Sorkhokhtani, a demure widow, will position her sons to inherit the empire when it begins to fracture from within.
In a world lit by fire and ruled by the sword, the tiger queens of Genghis Khan come to depend on one another as they fight and love, scheme and sacrifice, all for the good of their family...and the greatness of the People of the Felt Walls.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 496 pages (Paperback)
Source: Review Copy
Available Formats: Print/E-book
Publication Date: November 4th 2014 by NAL Trade
I swear, Stephanie Thornton can do no wrong. I've been a fan of her novels since I first read her novel The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora last year, and loved her sophomore novel, Daughter of the Gods: A Novel of Ancient Egypt as well. I reviewed both of those and my review for The Secret History can be found here and my review of Daughter of the Gods can be found here. I was so excited to be on the tour roster for this because she never disappoints in her novels.
I've never read historical fiction set in Mongolia, but as always Stephanie Thornton brought the setting and the period to vivid, brilliant life and she tackled the story with a passion that clearly shines through in the writing. I love how each of her books has a strong heroine as our main character, often I find women are left out of the history books and I've enjoyed her fictionalized accounts of these very real women. They are strong, intelligent, and ruthless when it comes to those they love and I love that.
Since this one was set in an unfamiliar setting, I went into the reading very excited because I love reading about new places, and commend her for chosing yet another exotic, if not turbulent place and period to write about. I've got the very vaguest knowledge of Ghengis Khan, and so in reading this I learned that he was married to Borte, one of our heroines in this colourful tale of love, loss and betrayal on the Mongolian steppes and there was plenty of all three to go around for our four heroines in the story of the Tiger Queens.
I was really surprised about the fact that the story was told by four different women, as I've grown used to only having one heroine to concern myself with and if it had been any other author I would have been concerned about tying the story together through so many points of view but it was meticulously weaved together where each of the women; Borte, Alaqai, Fatima and Sorkhokhtani tell their sides, but seeing how everything fit together as a whole was fantastically done and it was nice seeing the women behind the great Khan.
Rich with historical detail, wonderfully depicted setting and extremely intense and strong leading ladies The Tiger Queens is just another example of Stephanie Thornton's being a powerhouse in the historical fiction arena, this is one I read in one setting and couldn't put down so if you love historical fiction and strong women check out this, or one of her other novels because she's an excellent author that every one should try out especially if you're in the mood that will suck you in and keep you reading for hours.
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.
Loved It!
★★★★★
★★★★★
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Author Bio:
“The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora” and “Daughter of the Gods: A Novel of Ancient Egypt” are available from NAL/Penguin. “The Tiger Queens: The Women of Genghis Khan” will hit the shelves November 4, 2014, followed by “The Conqueror’s Wife: A Novel of Alexander the Great” in November 2015.
Sounds like quite a epic book. Good to year enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteHrm. I think this is the one I was randomly sent for review a few months back. I'll have to dig through the pile and find it!
ReplyDeleteYou read a 500 page book in one sitting!!! I have never read any of the author's books but with a review like that, I should definitely read them. Set in Mongolia, wow, that's new. And in 4 different voices, must be something. Totally need to grab this.
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