Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All the Rigours of Life at Sea, 10 Sep 2004
Having read Wilbur Smith's books about Taita's adventures in Egypt (River God, Warlock and The Seventh Scroll) I'd got a taste for his exciting, descriptive and involving style of writing and I felt like I was at a loose end when I knew that 'that was it' for his Egyptian stuff. Tentatively, I picked up Birds of Prey, and although it was a bit of effort to get into at first (I later discovered this book is in the middle of 'The Courtneys' series) I soon found I couldn't put it down and became a recluse for the next few days. As with so many of Smith's books the clever story line follows surprising twists and turns at a furious pace, yet always stays descriptive enough to let you really experience what the characters go through, victorious elation, love, heartache, torture and gore.. I was never really a great fan of any adventures at sea, but THIS BOOK CHANGED ALL THAT. It got me hooked on the Courtney novels. Having since read the two sequels after Birds of Prey I've been unable to prevent myself from ordering the first three books in the Courtney series too. Once I've read those I'll probably re-read this one again and I'm sure I'll pick up on a whole lot of finer points and detail I missed in the excitement the first time around! If you'd like to have the advantage of starting at the beginning of the series, they're listed here in order: When the Lion Feeds
The Sound of Thunder
A Sparrow Falls
BIRDS OF PREY
Monsoon
Blue Horizon Enjoy.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A New Tangent On The Courtneys, 27 Aug 2000
By A Customer
I have been an avid Wilbur Smith fan since the age of 14 when I first plundered the library for a copy of When The Lion Feeds.Since then I have avidly devoured all of his serialised novels and four of his other ones.The discovery that he'd gone back in time to the early roots of the Courtney(or should that be Courteney?)family had me breaking down the doors of the nearest book shop. Up till now we'd been used to the idea of members of the Courtney family fighting their battles in the jungle or in the boardroom,so having the new slant of seafarers in their earlier generations injected new enthusiasm into it. Wilbur Smith lays the innermost feelings and emotions of his characters bare and exposed for us to see.Even the restrained and dignified Sir Francis Courteney has feelings,as Smith reveals in his narrative without confusing the image that the other characters in the book have of him. The adventure unfolds over a period of years,taking Hal Courteney from a youth of 17,into his eraly 20's.In that time he experiences everything you could think of:lust,love,betrayal,comeradeship,adventure,etc etc etc.The sexual scenes are described with language more explicit than we are used to seeing in Smith's books,but I was left with the feeling that Smith was more focused on Hal's betrayer than his other lovers,who he really feels something genuine for.Perhaps Smith finds his female villains more captivating than his heroines;I know I do! If you can stomach reading a novel this huge,(554 pages in the hardback edition)then you won't be sorry for getting a copy of this.It has everything and does'nt really fit into any one specific genre because romance,adventure and any other subject you can think of,are covered in this one novel,more than they would be in any smaller,specialist book. Long may this author live and long may he keep writing material of this calibre!
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exuberant and engaging action, however wildly improbable, 21 Jan 2003
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.
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