Review
The word "swashbuckling" was
invented for this novel. In antique, jewel-toned
words ("bambakion," "buskin, "bodkin") and sentences
as meandering and adventuresome as the plot itself,
Gentlemen of the Road gallops after Amram and
Zelikman, a mismatched pair of fortune-hunters in
tenth-century Khazaria. They are far from your
average adventurers—Amram is an Abyssinian who looks
like a thug, carries a Viking ax named
Mother-Defiler, and behaves like royalty, and
Zelikman is a moody, ascetic German Jew with an
abiding affection only for his horse. Their
small-time swindles take a turn for the
extraordinary when a foundling they've been
conscripted to deliver to distant relatives turns
out to be an orphaned prince bent on revenging his...
Beyond the Book
The Lost Empire of Khazaria
Khazaria ( map) was
an empire founded by
semi-nomadic Turks in the 7th
century. Khazaria was a strong ally
of the Byzantine Empire and
enemies of the Crimean Goths. By
the time of its decline in the
10th century, Khazaria covered
much of what is now southern
Russia, western Kazakhstan,
eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan,
large portions of the Caucasus,
and the Crimea. Between 965 and
969, approximately the time
period of
Gentlemen of the
Road, the Khazars were
invaded by Russian...
