Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon

Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon (Find this book in our catalog)
If you like adventure stories, with a quest or a road trip, you will love this, especially if you have fond memories of reading classic boys adventures like The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle. This book reads like a pastiche of those old stories, using some of their merry and hearty language, and yet this book is way more!

Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay came from a passion for classic comic books. This time the breathless action, the raucus humor, the cliff-hanging suspense, and the colorful characters are said by the publisher to owe their inspiration to sources such as The Arabian Nights and the works of Alexandre Dumas. I was also reminded of the movie "The Princess Bride."

Pale, black-clad Zelikman ben Solomon of Regensburg is a moody, itinerant physician who has paired up with Amram, a huge, grey-haired, black-skinned ex-soldier with a battle axe. Rootless, with interesting and unspoken pasts, they make their way through the Caucasus Mountains in 950 A. D., living from hand-to-mouth as blades for hire or as con artists. They are forced by circumstances into becoming escorts and bodyguards to a young prince of the Khazar Empire whose entire family was murdered and who is traveling home to recover his rightful throne. On the way they encounter many dangers from robbers, mercenary armies, and evil emperors. There is much spitting on swords and beheading, of good guys and bad. As well as, writes Michael Chabon, "Jews with swords," there are intrigues, secrets, plots and betrayals. There are even elephants!