TEMPLAR TRAITOR (The Mongol Knight #1) by Angus Donald
- Adam Lofthouse
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read

I do love an Angus Donald book. His Outlaw series about Robin Hood is the gold standard for historical fiction, and his Last Beserker books have flown off the shelves, so I was excited to get a read of his next project.
This one starts in 1241, Austria, with a collection of knights rallying to fight off Mongol scouts encroaching on their land. After the battle, in which the knights are victorious, they discover that one of their prisoners is in fact an Englishman, fighting for their feared enemy.
Father Ivo of Norbonne is summoned to question the prisoner, to find out why he has abandoned his faith to fight for the heathens and betray Christendom. The prisoner turns out to be Robert of Hadlow, once a Templar Knight, expelled from the Order for the sin of gambling.
He travels east, across mountains and deserts. Surviving the extreme cold and blistering heat, eventually finding himself on the borderlands of the empire of the Great Khan. It is there he is faced with a choice. The Mongols are on course to invade Persia, the might of the Khwarazmian Empire stands in their way. Robert must win the favour of Ghengis Khan, so he may strike a trade treaty that may save the life of his brother. So how far will he go to get what he wants?
This sets us up for a fantastic, action packed, immersive historical novel. In a previous life I know Angus was a journalist, a well travelled one at that. I think his past shines through in this book. From Europe, the Middle East, to Asia, Angus really builds his world well and grounds his character into place.
The research done into the daily lives of the Mongols also seeps from the page, as their customs and culture come through. I've not read many novels covering this part of history before (Iggulden's series on the Mongols perhaps?) but I found that when Robert joined up with the 'Tartar's' as the Europeans called them, the story went up a notch.
So all in all, a brilliant book filled with epic adventure, brutal battles and rich in detail. What's not to like?
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