As we reach the third volume of Iggulden’s unstoppable historical series, it has become more than just a book about Ghengis Khan: for much of Bones of the Hills, Ghengis is a pervading presence as much as a character, guiding the lives and actions of other central characters: his sons, Jochi and Chagatai, his generals, Tsubodai and Jebe, his wives, Borte and Chakahai, and his brothers, Khasar, Kachiun and Temuje. It is the Khan’s iron will, his vision and his philosophy that guides the expanding Mongol nation in their conquests, and that same vision that sends his cavalry soldiers to places as far away as Kiev in Russia, the borders of Korea and even in to the fringes of Eastern Europe. It’s a relentless expansion by a ‘nation’ forged through the will of one man, a nation that largely stays true to its nomadic traditions.

Following the drive eastward through the lands of the Chin in the second volume, Lords of the Bow, Ghengis turns his attention to the West in response to the execution of his envoys by the Arab kings of Central Asia. For a leader determined to show no weakness to his enemies, this is an unforgivable snub, and soon the Mongols turn their backs on the Chin and head West to teach the Arabs a lesson. Their encounters with a giant Arab army, which significantly outnumbers them and which has elephants among the ranks, are suitably epic, including a massive, protracted pursuit of the Mongols by the entire Arab cavalry arm, and the subsequent bleeding of the Arab infantry on the dusty plains.

There are numerous other plots interwoven with this thrust in to new territory: the sibling rivalry between Ghengis’s two eldest sons, rooted in their desire to succeed him as Khan; the threat of the secretive Assassins, representing a kind of political violence that the Mongols have not encountered before; Ghengis’s increasing age, and belated realisation of the potential for cities and other modern technologies to change the lives of his people, as well as his changing views about his succession. Iggulden pays plenty of attention to the Mongols’ enemies too: the Arab prince Jelaudin progresses from a pampered ornament to a battle-hardened leader of a Jihad that comes as close as anyone ever has to unseating Ghengis from the absolute control he enjoyed over his dominions.

Towards the end of the book, once the Arab threat is dismissed, the pace quickens as the author surveys the final years of the Khan’s rule, the settlement of the succession, and the journey back East to re-pacify the Xi Xia and the Chin, who have forgotten their obligations with the Mongols so far away. Ghengis Khan, born Temujin, meets his end, but it’s not the end of the story – he had established the largest ever contiguous land empire, and arguably instigated the first ever world war; his empire was to continue in various forms for hundreds of years. Iggulden will be continuing to follow the story through to his grandson, the famous Kubla Khan, in two future volumes, and I am glad this is not the end of the tale: I really want to know what happens to these people. Conn Iggulden is a fanastic storyteller, and this is a very enjoyable series indeed.

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