The Judas Blossom

A story of the empire of the mongols with a tiny slither of fantasy

I'm not a massive historial reader. I like some books and the history but I find the books that stick too close to the history I find are slow meandering and at times boring

This was and wasn't the case

There wasn't much distinctive character differences between the 3 main characters but it didn't stop my enjoyment

Arryan didn't pull punches. This story is brutal.
Oh how I hate Hulagu. So much.

The prose was a bit meh. I found it okay with no real engagement or drive to pull me into the story. However I was determined to stick it out and I'm glad I did

The story picked up around the 60% mark. This isn't to say there wasn't a story or Hook before but the story really stood on its legs by that point. Characters were doing things and I was interested to read more.
I do wish that feeling was with me through the whole book and some of the scenes and character arcs could have been brought forward in the story. Temujin storyline for instance. While the most interesting I would have liked to see more of his arc earlier on.

There was also an issue with the pacing. It jumped a lot, some scenes were rushed and there was little room for character moments. It felt as if the author was trying to cram so much into only so little word count.

I'm glad I read this. The ending struck it for me And as a historical fantasy (the fantasy being very little) it was enjoyable and I was never lost. I know little about this particular history