Birds of Prey download epub

This book is one of the worst in the Courtney Adventures, and does not compete with the rest of his books. People say you should read his books in the order written but that is totally confusing, they should be read in this order. Chronical order of years and family tree the books represent

1. Birds of Prey 1660s
2. Monsoon 1690s
3. Blue Horizon 1730s
4. When the Lion Feeds 1860s-1890s
5. Triumph of the Sun 1880s
6. The Sound of Thunder 1899-1906
7. Assegai 1906-1918
8. A Sparrow Falls 1918-1925
9. The Burning Shore 1917-1920
10. Power of the Sword 1931-1948
11. Rage 1950s and 1960s
12. Golden Fox 1969-1979
13. A Time To Die 1987

Entertaining and educational. Written by an African author who knows and loves the continent, its geography, history, people, and wildlife. I discovered Wilbur Smith in the late '90s in paperback and since strived to chase down all of his books that I could find, generally out of print, in used book stores. But since my son gave me a Kindle for Father's Day this year I happily rediscovered his entire collection available on KIndle. I will eventually get them all and keep rereading them in order from time to time in retirement. It is important to start with "Birds of Prey", which refers to the sailing ships plying the waters off the shores of Africa in the 1600's. For here the Courtney family is introduced as a family of great courage and integrity, honestly trading with, and respecting all those of all races that they encounter. One cannot help but enjoy reading the "Birds of Prey". It is a fascinating story of little known times.

With no doubt the best and most exciting book I have read and to end with the baby on the throne and the beautiful lady general at Sr hals slide

I have read many of Wilbur Smith's books and have generally enjoyed them all. He is an excellent writer and builds characters like no one I know. His writing takes you there - right where the action is - and he provides plenty of description to his locations and unbelievable action.

BUT. All of the books I have read so far follow the same predictable formula, and my big issue with them all is the endings. They are predictable, yes. But the most annoying thing is that they appear to me to be rushed. It is almost as if he has put a lot of effort into building a good yarn, and then after a while thinks to himself, "Well I'm bored with this one now so let's put an end to it".

Though I enjoyed this book, I found myself at about 85% saying, "Oh come on, get on with it". Then at 97% I was saying, "Whoa, slow down. Let's spend a little time fleshing this out".

This particular ending reminded me of the old cowboy movies where everyone rides off into the sunset. That said, I have just started Monsoon and he is really laying the plot out well.

Not the best in the series by one of my favourite writers. Flowery language. If you are not the maritime type you need a naval dictionary to absorb the action. On the other hand a wealth of information of how England built its Empire. Wherever there was no enemy, the Brits always managed to create one. The Boers in Southern Africa are people from the same stock as the Brits. Yet they had to have an enemy in that part of the world also, so the Boer war and many other wars at the Cape, would be inevitable. For good measure Wilburn Smith in this book introduces an old enmity between Moslem and Christian in an area where active piracy is currently taking place! Is this wise? In my view no! I look forwards to the new book by Wilburn Smith.

John Taliotis, M.D.
Cyprus.

In BIRDS OF PREY, it is the year 1667, and we are introduced to the 17-year old Englishman, Hal Courteney. Hal is a crewmember on his father's ship, the "Lady Edwina", as it sails the high seas off the southern tip of Africa. England is at war with the Dutch Republic, and the ship's captain, Sir Francis Courteney, has been given license by the British Admiralty to prey on Dutch trading ships of the United East India Company as they return to Amsterdam from the East Indies via the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. Sir Francis captures a Dutch ship carrying the newly appointed Governor of Good Hope and his wife, Katinka. During the period when the Governor and his wife are held for ransom, Hal loses his virginity to Katinka, a sadistic, treacherous, highborn slut. (Well, good breeding isn't everything.) Subsequently, Sir Francis, Hal and the rest of the Lady Edwina's company are betrayed by a former ally, the Scottish Earl of Cumbrae, with the help of a former crewmember, Sam Bowles, and imprisoned at Good Hope. Sir Francis is brutally tortured and executed. Hal and a handful of survivors later escape, acquire another ship, and go on to defeat their primary tormentors, Cumbrae and a Dutch army colonel named Schreuder, against the backdrop of a war between the Christian Emperor of Ethiopia and the Moslem Sultan of Oman. Along the way, Hal inherits his father's captaincy and finds true love (as opposed to hormonal-driven sex with Katinka) - twice.

As painted by the author, Wilbur Smith, the chief characters of this swashbuckling adventure are almost caricatures. The "good guys" - principally Hal and his loyal buddies, Aboli, Ned, and Daniel - are brave, noble and heroic. The "bad guys" - Katinka, Governor van de Velde, Bowles, Cumbrae, and Schreuder - are cruel, dishonorable and totally vile. The action, much as in Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones film trilogy, is wildly improbable, especially over the book's latter half. Similarly, however, that same action is scripted with such exuberance and energy that it's totally engaging. Finally, I read to be transported to places that, in most cases, I will never visit. I doubt that I shall ever ply the Indian Ocean or South Atlantic aboard a frigate under sail. This book took me there in grand style.

Holy crap, not for kids. Adults only. This book also should have ended about halfway through. Then when it started to get interesting toward the end, the author just wraps things up as if he was rushing to meet some deadline. I struggled to finish this one.