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Loading... The Mongoliad: Book One (2012)by Neal Stephenson, Erik Bear (Author), Greg Bear (Author), Jospeh Brassey (Author), E. D. deBirmingham (Author) — 2 more, Cooper Moo (Author), Mark Teppo (Author)
A secret order of knights battles the Mongol empire in thirteenth century Europe. ( )This 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. At 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. This 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. Overall 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! no reviews | add a review
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