The Judas Blossom Review! | Power and Betrayal in the Ilkhanate 

Thanks Allen, I appreciate the thoughtful review that digs into a lot of the themes I was exploring in this book.

I'm excited to read some of Stephen Aryan's books in the future. Thank you for the review, Allen! Also, the 13th century is very cool.

So glad that you enjoyed The Judas Blossom! I also thought that it was fantastic :). Great balance of historical detail that was immersive but not overwhelming, with a great cast of characters at the core. Awesome review!

I'm sold! I'm very curious about the magic as well... I read Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, and I believe that the use of weather magic for battle is a pretty neat part of the historical record! Tactical magic of all kinds is a selling point. Thanks Allen!

I really enjoyed Kaibon's POV, but all the POVs were at least good if not great. I am looking forward to more of this series and seeing what other characters from history make their way into the story.

Sold!! Sounds so intriguing especially since I know zero about this era and place in history.

Nice! would love to read this. Put it om the somewhat lengthy TBR pile. Don't complain though. Currently reading the Long Price Quartet as well as Malazan ;)

Definitely intrigued by the setting and outline! Maybe you mentioned this, but I was curious if the book tapped into religious aspects of the time: If I am not mistaken, Hulugu and Kublai were Buddhists, they had brothers that were Tengri (the traditional Sky worship of the Mongols), their mother (and many of their wives) was a Nestorian Christian (“Church of the East”) and the Ilkhanate mostly fought and ruled over Muslims, most infamously the Destruction of Baghdad.

Now I'm really curious about that unliked trope in the end... I have "The Coward" on my tbr, but this one sounds even more interesting, thank you!

I am reading this book now and I really like it. Book 2 The Dimmed Blood Tide is coming out in July 2024 and Stephen Aryan posted the cover on his channel!!

Excellent review, Allen. I love when historical fiction gets people interested in a time period and I'm so glad you're finally ready to learn more about the Mongols! Hulagu is one of the less interesting Mongols so you have plenty to look forward to. You're right about the khanates and the Great Khan - basically the khanates were independent provinces. When Genghis died, he gave each of his main kids a section of land - Ogedai got the homeland and China and was the official successor, and then the other sons got various territories, but Ogedai was still the Great Khan. As time went on and families became further apart, each of these four - The Ilkhanate (middle East), the golden horde (northern Asia/Russi) and the Chagatai (middle Asian) plus the homeland - became more divided and basically became independent states that nominally paid tribute to the Great Khan. At this point, they are still pretty unified; Judas Blossom does a good job showing the cracks widening. I'm about 30% and enjoying it!

I shall blame your review rather than my impulsive nature as to why I suddenly decided to buy the Broken Binding special edition of this book. 😅

I picked this up and was waiting for your review! Glad to see you enjoyed it

I’m seeing this book everywhere lately. Allen on the hype train!

Sounds awesome! I read Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden and that sparked my love for Genghis Khan and the Mongols. I definitely want to learn more about that history

I admit I'm not at all familiar with the Mongol historical period, but I love Aryan's writing and he has become an auto buy author for me. Your review has just added to my excitement to read this.

This is so interesting to me as I read an excellent biography of Genghis Khan some years ago and was fascinated by how he rose to power and how ruthless he could be at times. Thanks for this review as I add this to the growing list of books I want to read. Also, I have that shirt too. Bridgeburners!

Great review. I will buy the book at day one. I'm a little bit familiar with the period because I've studied the diplomatic travel of the friars William of Rubruk and Bartolomeo da Cremona to the Gran Khan Court that will take place some years later, I hope they (or some equivalent character) will show up in the subsequent books but I'm already sold to the series. Thank you

I am loving historical fiction these days. Excited to get to this.

Love hearing that this book explores different types of power and had such an exciting build! Oh no about actively disliking something at the very end! Now I want to know, even if it only bothered you ( or maybe because it only bothered you). Haha! Excellent review!

Sounds neat.

Thank The Great Bunny of Us All that this one works. I’m fascinated, and fairly well read in, the actual history of Persia and I’ve done some reading on the efficiency of the historical Mongols so I took the risk and pre-ordered a special edition of this book. If The Judas Blossom is this exciting to you then I’m confident I’m going to enjoy it as well. The dream of Genghis did trump family. I don’t know how it’s played in the book but he was a true genius at empire expansion and his daughters were at maintenance (except that administrators opposed them primarily because they were women even more than the fact that they were invaders.) The daughters of the Khan are especially fascinating to me in history so I’m thrilled they play a role in the book. YES!!! Excited!!

Where did you get that shirt? I want one like that. Lol. No one in my life would know what it was referencing. Yeah, the Mongols are not a group I've ever been interested in. This book sounds good though. I love historical fiction.

Can’t wait to get this one! Did you read his Heros duology? Allenxandria would approve those I believe.

Read the video title as Judy Bloom (Blume) review so I think my brain is telling me to go to sleep now 😂

This sounds great, weirdly you don't see a lot of books set around the Mongols for all the impact they had. Also they were fascinating in general, very like the Romans they'd rock up with their army, then send in diplomats like we all know how this goes down, you will lose. How about instead you come on in, the Empire is made stronger by diversity.