Gentlemen of the road

I hadn't read any Michael Chabon novels before and chose this one purely for its historical setting as I hoped it would fit nicely alongside a couple of other recent reads: Ibn Fadlan's travel memoirs of Western Asia in the Viking era and Edouardo Albert's humorous Conrad Monk And The Great Heathen Army adventure tale. Gentlemen Of The Road is closer to Conrad Monk in style, although not as funny, however it does feel based in a solid historical reality and I could appreciate that Chabon had certainly done his research.

The story is a classic adventure tale which gallops across medieval Khazaria at such a pace that I did sometimes find myself left behind. At its heart is a wonderful friendship between two men, apparently as different in physical appearance and temperament as it is possible to be, yet perfectly suited to each other and utterly loyal. They get themselves into ever more dire predicaments, yet somehow always manage to scramble clear of total disaster. Gentlemen Of The Road is a fairly short novel, but a very entertaining one. Perhaps its overall arc is a little too predictable, however the twists and turns are great fun to follow and I enjoyed the inventiveness of the plots. The humour is tempered with a spot of philosophy here and there and it was interesting to learn more about the unique kingdom of Khazaria.