Genre: Action/Adventure

Rating: Teen Plus

Price: $9.99

The great Mongolian tribal leader is shown in this series, which follows the Genghis Khan from boyhood through to adulthood. Khan, whose name was Temujin, is shown at the beginning of the volume as a baby.

In the next sequence, he is shown as a young boy, and he embarks on a hunting trip by himself. But his father talks to someone else in the clan and confesses that there are others who doubt the bloodlines of the young Temujin. There are those who claim he is an "outsider" and that he will eventually become a great leader.

Meanwhile, on the hunting trip, Temujin encounters another boy from a different clan, and the experience will forever change his life. As the boys confront each other, wolves appear to attack. The boys save each other from the wolves and a bond is born -- but the fact remains that the boys are from different clans.

Later in Temujin's life, once he has grown up and assumed the mantle of Ghenghis Khan, he engages in battle with the boy he swore as a blood brother, and the fight takes over both of their lives.

Both are grown men and have children of their own, and they scheme to try to take down each other and become the ultimate ruler of the Mongolian plain. But the plains can be unkind, the the two must endure in order to become the king.

The book is aimed for a younger audience, and it was a bit difficult to get invested into it emotionally, even with the blood brother scene with Temujin early in the book. The character models also seemed a bit lacking for a bit more detail here or there.

Altogether, though, it was a pretty good book with a fairly emotional plot and some interesting characters. But it's shouldn't be confused as a must read.

6.5