Rating: ***** 5 stars

Geraldine McCaughrean,
Tamburlaine's Elephants
Usborne.

Ages 10-14

This dazzling historical novel is set within the medieval Mongol Army at its peak of conquest, responsible among other things for slaughtering 100,000 Indian men, women and children prisoners in one ghastly operation. This is witnessed by Rusti, a 12-year-old prospective Mongol warrior himself. Initially longing for a piece of action too, he is gradually brought round to a different way of seeing things after finding he has a gift for looking after the elephants captured during the previous siege of Delhi. Along with these elephants comes Kavi, their young Indian mahout who survives with Rusti's connivance by unwillingly dressing up as his slave girl. Several brisk interviews with Tamburlaine along the way reveal the tyrant as crippled in mind as well as body. Rusti is also forced to marry his dead brother's wife, a harpy of the first order. And so the story surges on, with never a dull or unconvincing moment. Whatever the period and character this author writes about, and they have been many and various, she always conveys the effect of total credibility achieved by her mysterious ability to get into the minds of whoever she is describing. Often funny despite its grim location, this story of moral change linked to hectic action is truly memorable, beautifully written and unreservedly recommended.

Nicholas Tucker
September 2007, No. 166

Guide to the rating system:
***** 5 stars, unmissable
**** 4 stars, very good
*** 3 stars, good
** 2 stars, fair
* 1 star, poor