Two Jewish bandits travel together in Kingdom of Arran, in the Land of the Khazars, 950 AD. They make a strange pair: Amram is a hulking Abyssian carrying a battle axe, while Zelikman is a thin blond Frankish physician who uses a lancelet as a rapier. They call themselves “gentlemen of the road”.
One day, in a inn, they take into their guard a fugitive Khazar prince, Filaq, whose family was murdered by the usurping bek, Buljan. The two friends intend to deliver Filaq to his wealthy relatives and collect the reward, while Filaq intends to take revenge on Buljan.
Gentlemen of the road describes the strange adventures of this odd group of travelers in the roads of the Khaganate, Land of the Khazars (the only Jewish country in history, situated between the Black and Caspian Seas) and dealing with the brutal and treacherous webs of power at the time.
The main characters of Gentlemen of the Road are well constructed and are the best of the book. The plot itself is not uninteresting, however it brings nothing new. The action scenes are stereotypes from any historic novel, and the crazy twists in trip are not comparable with Voltaire’s Candide. The theme of the Jewish country of the Khazars is not often tackled; however there are other books with a more interesting approach, such as The Wind of the Khazars by Marek Halter.
Gentlemen of the Road is worth reading because it is entertaining, short, fast and easy to read. However, I felt it the plot should have gone deeper.
[…] – Gentlemen of the Road – Michael Chabon (Der Wanderer’s Blog) […]
So? I’m anxious to see more about your reading 🙂
Thank you, Keisha, for following my blog with such interrest. 🙂
Lately I’ve been a bit busy to write, but not to read. Soon I’ll publish a post about “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay”, also by Michael Chabon, which I found more interresting than “Gentlemen of the Road”.
All the best!
[…] The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay seems less “adventurous” than Gentlemen of the Road, it manages to be more […]