The Moghul

Thomas Hoover has taken the real history of the first interaction of English men with the Moghul court in India, and moulded it into a cracking good read. He sends his swashbuckling English sea captain, Brian Hawksworth, on the trip of a lifetime through 18th Century India. On his trip the Englishman is used and abused by various factions in the internal power struggles of India as he represents an opportunity to break the Portugese stranglehold on the Indian trade. He is exposed to Muslim and Hindu culture, exotic foods, drinks and drugs, overt sexuality and worship of the senses, heady music, tiger hunts, unbelievable wealth and fickle abuse of absolute power. A veritable feast for the senses, and a fun read.

Thomas Hoover's Moghul is a story which will stimulate and please many people. It is a tale of adventure full of anticipation with a wonderful sense of being there. Character development complements the swashbuckling story showing human development much like that witnessed in Shogun. I thought it a wonderful read.

The Moghul is an overlooked book that offers enough action, sex, violence and shady characters to keep you turning the pages until you sprain your thumb. During the reign of King James I, English Sea Dog, Brian Hawksworth, is sent on a mission by The British East India Company to try to break the Portuguese monopoly on trading with the sub-continent. Needless to say, the Portuguese do not consider this a great idea, and they do everything in their power to sink him at sea and assassinate him on land. As if India wasn't dangerous enough on its own with a drunken Moghul who allows his Persian wife and her brother, the Machiavellian Prime Minister, Nadir Sharif, to run the affairs of the nation. Hawksworth has a weakness for Indian luxuries, wine, and beautiful women. Don't we all? But, in this nation of myriad plots and sub-plots, he learns that nobody is what they appear to be on the surface. Not even Brian Hawksworth. He sees both sides of the issues as he first becomes a Khan at The Moghul's court and then gets caught up in the rebellion of the charismatic Prince Jadar. The book provides interesting background on Hindu, Sunni, Shiite, and Suffi religious traditions and lifestyles, not to mention a look at how Christian traditions appear to pre-colonial Indians. (One wife? Barbarous.) King James, whom many of us revere for the translation of The Bible he commissioned, does not fare well at the hands of Hoover. However, from what I have read of Stuart history, Hoover is dead on. In the long run, the book hangs on its characters. We root for the underdog Hawksworth, wonder what trick Nadir Sharif will pull next, admire the brains and beauty of the Queen and the exiled harem woman, Shirin, Hawksworth's only love interest (though hardly his only bedtime companion).A rousing adventure tale that will satisfy those who loved Shogun.