Empire of the Moghul # 2 .. Brothers at War .. By Alex Rutherford

I just finished the second installment of this series, which is based on Humayun’s life and struggle to live up to his father’s expectations of ruling Hindustan and extending their powers beyond Delhi or Agra. 

Babur chose Humayan, as his successor as the next Moghul Emperor, when he died because not only he was the eldest, but was much more capable than his other three sons, which led to a feud between him and his brothers, who started plotting to kill Humayan right after their father’s funeral.

This book was way more interesting than the first because not only it contained 90% of facts according to the author’s historical notes, but also Humayun’s life story was quite interesting compared to Babur’s. His character in the book turned out to be very brawny and passionate and an interesting thing that stuck me most about him was his star gazing, dream interpretation abilities and his astronomical skills.

Although successful in his first campaign as an Emperor, to seize Gujarat, Humayun suffered a number of setbacks, mainly because as a ruler he was very dissolute, prone to rash judgement and easily manipulated. It was not long when he had to abandon his empire in Agra and travel to Lahore, which didn’t end there. He had to wait a long time to recapture Hindustan from a Bengal ruler, Sher Shah, because of his brothers, Kamran and Askari, who kept plotting behind his back, worst of which was they kidnapped his infant son Akbar and threatened to kill him, which forced Humayun to give up his conquest and exile to Persia. After which his life took interesting turns that you will have to find out after reading the book.

All-in-all, it was a compelling tale that left me in a trance. I feel like reading it again, not only because it was an interesting read, but because to stumble upon some new facts (This book had many by the way!) that I might have missed in the first reading. It is indeed a kind of book that you would like to keep for multiple diggings. I can’t wait to read the next installment of the series, which who knows might turn out to be more exciting than the previous two. 

Keep your eyes peeled for my review on the third book - “Ruler of the World".

Happy Reading!!!