Helpful Score: 2
Pretty interesting - I thought this was going to be a difficult read, but the author does a good job of incorporating foreign words into the story so you can figure out what they are on your own (if you're like me and did not realize there was a glossary at the back of the book!) Interesting to know that, although this is a work of fiction, the characters in this book actually did exist. Even if you are not familiar with the culture and history, I think this will still be an enjoyable read.
I read this book on the recommendation of a lot of people and because the historical characters and the time period in history are so interesting. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it. The book seemed to be geared towards presenting the worst and most negative aspects of the Moghul empire. While many of these things did occur, a lot of positive also came from those same historical figures and from that time period. The positives were either not brought out or just mentioned in passing without any presentation of the impact they had. The negatives unfortunately were highlighted and repeated in so many ways. While it was not necessary to present an inordinately positive image, it would have been nice to see some balance.
