“Yet another exquisite, page-turning adventure set in the beautifully crafted Seven Brothers world, with its rich mythology in which the gods are intimately involved with humanity.”

—Booklist (Starred Review)

“An exciting and enthralling stand alone book that readers will enjoy immensly.”

—The Midwest Book Review

“Set in a majestic and richly described realm eerily reminiscent of 13th-century central Asia,
Lords of Grass and Thunder
is surprisingly fast-paced for such an expansive story. It’s a story that cries out for a sequel, which readers will eagerly await.”

—The Barnes & Noble Review

Also by CURT BENJAMIN

THE LORDS OF GRASS AND THUNDER

Seven Brothers

THE PRINCE OF SHADOW
THE PRINCE OF DREAMS
THE GATES OF HEAVEN

eISBN : 978-1-101-09501-0

DAW Books Collectors No. 1324.

DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

All characters in this book are fictitious.
All resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

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First paperback printing, April 2006

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks as always to Barb for all the feedback, and Charlotte for all the feeding, and Erik and David and Mom and Dad and the sisters, who keep me going and the cousins, Emily and Sarah and Rachel and Matt, and Stephanie and Jessica and Rodi and Ashley and Kyle and Megan and Bethany and Kaitlin and Madison and Ethan, a never-ending source of inspiration and information.

Thanks to the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Sher wood branch of the Fairfax County Library, to whom I am indebted for everything I know about the Mongols. The ignorance, as usual, is all mine. For those who are curious about such things, I developed my ideas about riddles for this book reading Archer Taylor’s 1954
Annotated Collection of Mongolian Riddles,
a publication of the American Philosophical Society. My favorite version of the Secret History of the Golden Horde is Urgunge Onon’s translation as
The Life and History of Chinggis Khan.
(Leiden, Brill, 1990). And the Carlsberg Nomad Research Foundation catalog of Nomad Costume (Henny Harold Hanson. Copenhagen: the Rhodos International Science and Art Publishers, 1993) has the most amazing photographs of Mongol Costumes, including some shaman costumes. I borrowed shamelessly to dress the characters in this book!

Military Command Structure