Empire of the Moghul

Empire of the Moghul is a series of historical fiction novels written by Alex Rutherford (the pen name for Diana and Michael Preston). The series consists of six volumes covering the rise and height of the Moghul Empire in medieval India.

This article is about the novel series. For the South Asian empire, see Moghul Empire.
Empire of the Moghul
The cover of the Tainted Throne.
AuthorAlex Rutherford
LanguageEnglish
GenreHistorical fiction
Media typePrint (Paperback)

Books
  1. Raiders from the North. London: Headline Review, 2009. ISBN 978-0-755-34752-0.
  2. Brothers at War. London: Headline Review, 2010. ISBN 978-0-755-34755-1.
  3. Ruler of the World. London: Headline Review, 2011. ISBN 978-0-755-34758-2.
  4. The Tainted Throne. London: Headline Review, 2012. ISBN 978-0-755-34761-2.
  5. The Serpent's Tooth. London: Headline Review, 2013. ISBN 978-0-755-34764-3.
  6. Traitors in the Shadows. London: Headline Review, 2015. ISBN 978-1-472-20590-2

Raiders from the north

The first volume revolves around the story of Babur, heir to the ruler of Ferghana, Umar Shaikh.[1] Ousted from his homeland, Babur forged his own destiny and became the master of an empire stretching from Kabul to Bengal.

Brothers at war

The second volume tells the story of Humayun, Babur's son and the second ruler of the Moghul Empire. Humayun is a well-meaning but dissolute ruler, prone to rash judgement and easily manipulated. Nonetheless Humayun successfully holds his father's empire for nearly ten years and conquers Gujarat before he suffers several setbacks that nearly cost him his throne. A combination of battlefield defeats from Bengali ruler Sher Shah and treachery from his half-brothers Kamran and Askari leave Humayun with only the Afghan portions of the empire.

Humayun spends the next fifteen years rebuilding his strength, partly with Persian aid. Though merciful to his siblings, their recurrent treachery forces Humayun to exile Askari and Kamran via a hajj to Mecca, with Kamran being blinded on Humayun's orders. Eventually Humayun and his son Akbar reconquer Hindustan after the death of Islam Shah, the son of Sher Shah. Barely six months after rebuilding the Mughul Empire, Humayun breaks his neck when he tumbled down a flight of stairs.

Ruler of the World

Akbar, a bold ruler, faced many problems to control a vast kingdom. With many enemies, he had no one to trust, with his own milk-mother and brother planning to plot against him. He mercilessly crushed rebellions, entered into matrimonial alliances with the martial Rajputs, and controlled his son's ambitions to build the greatest kingdom of the subcontinent. He ranks among the greatest Moghuls.

Tainted throne

Newly crowned Jahangir has literally everything a king wants. But what could he do to stop his eldest son from committing the gravest mistake - rebelling? And to what lengths would he travel to get what he so earnestly wants - the one woman he unconditionally loves? And to what lengths would she herself go to ensure her position as the real power behind the throne?

The Serpent's Tooth

The fifth in a powerful and epic series of novels about the ruthless warrior emperors who ruled much of central Asia through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[2] The Moghul emperors are still bloodthirsty and entirely ruthless; they control a quarter of the world's population and have wealth beyond imagining. But this is the final flowering of a doomed empire and, while Shah Jahan mourns his dead wife and obsesses over the Taj Mahal, her monument, his son Aurangzeb is planning to take his father's throne, by any means necessary.

Traitors in the Shadows

The sixth volume covers the reign of Aurangzeb.[3]

References
  1. "Empire of the Moghul:Raiders from the North, review". OutLookIndia. Archived from the original on 2012-12-21.
  2. The Serpent's Tooth (Empire of the Moghul, #5)
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