The complex fortifications of the Chin are a great challenge to the nomadic Mongols who carry their families, yurts and all, with them. They must travel great distances over deserts and frozen, uninhabitable mountains, but they are able to do this quickly; and so, with iron discipline and their great military skill in a strange environment, conquer the great Chin Dynasty.

Iggulden has written a very entertaining but violent story, filled with military action and the slaughter of thousands in hand-to-hand combat.  Genghis is a glorious general with innovative new ideas about warfare, and he is supported by a vast array of colorful characters.

Conn Iggulden's Emperor series is a brilliant epic of ancient Rome and Julius Caesar, the man who would become the most powerful ruler on earth in another era. Now, in Genghis, Birth of an Empire and Lords of the Bow, he brings to life another of the world’s greatest leaders.  His extensive research and fluid writing style make this a very enjoyable story, and one that is impossible to put down. Iggulden is, without a doubt, one of the greatest writers of historical fiction that I have read.