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When it comes to historical fiction, Wilbur Smith writes some of the best stories I have read. I have been reading the Courtney series out of sequence. When the Lion Feeds is the first book in the series.Sean Courtney is a character who is larger than life in the story. I found myself totally engrossed in the story. Africa in late 1800's provides the backdrop for this epic tale. A good portion is dedicated to Sean's adventures in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa. This region was one wor...
I picked this book to fulfill my challenge requirement. I did not expect to enjoy it. It is not what I typically read. I was pleasantly surprised. Set in South Africa on the mid to late 1800s, the reader follows the vicissitudes of the rambunctious Sean, who grows from cattlehand on the family ranch to gold miner and ivory hunter. He finds lovers, enemies, comrades. He hunts, kills, invests, and somehow always prevails. This is book one in a series of about fourteen. It definitely sparks interes...
Read 100 pages and decided it wasn't for me. I kept having flashbacks to Rich Man, Poor Man and who wants to be reminded of that crappy potboiler?
As I begin my semi-annual trek to binge read a sizeable series by an author previously foreign to me, Wilbur Smith seemed like an easy choice. His Courtney/Ballantyne series (some argue they are branch-offs of one another, others that they do not connect at all) should be a wonderfully complex and entertaining collection, worth a few months' investment. Twins Sean and Garrick Courtney were connected by birth, but could not have been more different. Growing up in South Africa in the mid- to late-...
Reading this Wilbur Smith novel, three decades after I read the last one, The Dark of the Sun, I quickly realized how far I have strayed from reading popular fiction: like hero Sean Courtney, once you leave home, you can never come back.This book is still a page turner despite its age. Short chapters, each with incidents of dramatic consequence, thread about 20 years of the hero’s life, from his days on the family farm in Natal to his intention of returning home to visit his alcoholic twin broth...
When it comes to action packed stories, full if excitement, charming hero's and of course the rotten to the. core bad guy, Wilbur Smith is the go to writer. Wilbur's books are not aimed at just aimed at men, far from it, they are for anyone, who like me, loves to travel to Africa, from the comfort of my chair' , He also writes about Egypt, (Historical) So go on, pick up a Wilbur Smith, you will be hooked...
*edit* upon second thoughts I actually really didn’t enjoy this book… too many of the ‘tragedies’ could’ve been solved with some simple communication, the female characters sucked and it was quite racist (yes it was set in 1860 South Africa and was written by a white man in the 60s but that’s too much for me)2.5 rounded up to 3 because it was still a book with words and it had some patches of great writing I liked the general idea of the plot but it would have benefitted greatly from a strong ed...
Having read all of his Egypt books (and LOVING them) I decided to tackle his Courtney series set in S. Africa. The story is broken in 3 parts.In the first part I had a hard time at first with the main character (Sean...he was a real turd lol) but once the story got going and other characters were introduced I forgot all about the first part of the book and really enjoyed the adventure.There were some serious ups and downs...I even cried at one point. I had a hard time putting it down at times.I
This is one of Smith's older books and what a welcome relief it was to read a real beginning!This one starts out telling a story of twins Sean and Garrick Courtney and allows the reader an opportunity to grow close to the characters before following them into action.I am so worn out with books that start in the "heat of battle" with characters the reader hasn't had time to love or hate. I realize that's the unfortunate current formula to get an agent to request a manuscript, but I LOVE that "Whe...
"First published: 1964" - one can tell.
I read this when it was first published back in 1965. At the time I was captivated by the book and read them all with enthusiasm. Now 53 years later my thoughts have changed a bit.I can't say that I didn't enjoy it the second time around but there were parts that just made me cringe.In essence, this is a melodramatic family saga with the African bush as a backdrop. Sean Courtney's, the principal character, life goes from dizzying highs to catastrophic lows. But no matter how bad things get for S...
This is a reread for me. I first read this about 20/25 years ago. To me the story is run of the mill. What keeps me interested is the descriptions Smith writes of Africa. This novel, the first of the original three Courtney novels, is about making and losing a fortune in the gold fields of Africa and then making another fortune in ivory from elephant tusks. Good story for any reader who, like me, gets caught up in the descriptions the author is trying to share.
Excellent old fashioned African adventure complete with buxom babes and Zulu warriors. Wilbur Smith is interesting. Will check out more in this series.