OMG! What a story!! And to think that I got this out of the scribblings on leaves in an ancient manuscript. Those ancients sure knew how to spin a yarn.

Get the book and see for yourself. You will be as hooked as I was.

Seriously, what would you do if you came upon an ancient manuscript in an unknown language? That is what happened to me and for reasons you will see in the book, I ended up translating the book. The small story of the manuscript's translation is set in modern day USA and interleaves the much larger story, a fascinating tale set in the valley of the Amu River more than five thousand years ago.

Oh and what a story! Yuda, a brash and ambitious young man, ascends to the throne of Kunduj causing his tiny neighboring kingdom of Khet to fear an invasion. Khet's King Mayun dispatches Jenon on the impossible mission of kidnapping Yuda to preempt the invasion.

That conspiracy is foiled by Balu, a lowly junior guard in Yuda's entourage, setting Balu's life on a spectacular path. As Jenon reacts to the failure, Balu's life is jostled by the resulting series of conspiracies leading to an explosive murder and culminating in the birth of a new nation.

I kid you not, I found myself shedding tears when the murder happened. With equal parts people and politics, this is one of the best stories I ever read - even if I say so myself.

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