With Conn Iggulden having demonstrated the appetite of the British reading public for thrilling to the exploits of ancient conquerors, first with his Rome series and latterly with his Ghengis Khan books, Alex Rutherford is well positioned to take advantage: this enjoyable tale is the first in a series of novels about the Moghul Empire, established in the Indian Subcontinent by the hero of this book, the young Prince Babur. As a descendant of the great Emperor Timur (aka Tamerlane), Babur feels he had greatness in his veins, and as his grandmother will never let him forget, they are also descendants of Ghengis Khan too, via his mother – thus this is an excellent way to follow the later ramifications of the continent spanning campaigns of the Great Khan.

Babur is born to the life of a royal heir, but is thrust in to the position of power prematurely at the age of thirteen, ruling the kingdom of Ferghana after his father dies in a freak accident. It’s a small kingdom, the empire built by Timur having been split between various descendants, and Babur covets the neighbouring territory of Samarkand, seat of Timur’s power – so much so that he contrives to conquer it, and lose it, on several occasions. Babur’s early reign is characterised by brief periods of good fortune followed by serious reversals, to the extent that he becomes at one point a stateless prince with no more than a few hundred followers. It would all sound pretty far-fetched, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was based very closely on real events, as recorded by Babur himself, in Islam’s first known instance of an autobiography.

The turnaround in his fortunes begins when he is offered the throne of Kabul, and this acts as the springboard for campaigns in to Hindustan which ultimately result in the formation of a Muslim empire in a largely Hindu nation, one that was to persist in some form until the 19th century. Although written in the third-person, this is very much a book about Babur and his experiences, with the action revolving almost exclusively around him. It’s just as well, then, that he’s worth spending time with – an intriguing prince, who learns from his many mistakes, makes some wise choices of companion to support him, and who through a combination of luck, skill and sheer persistence, achieves the greatness he covets in a part of the world totally different to that which he had set his heart on.

This is a good advertisement for historical fiction – entertaining, engaging, educational in a broader sense (if books such as this prompt the reader to find themselves a history book on the period, then who can argue that’s a bad thing?), and reasonably well written by the standards of the genre. Rutherford made a wise choice with the Moghuls, and was lucky to be able to start with a ruler who documented so much of his life – I look forward to the next volume, Brothers at War.

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