Krishna
Even by the violent standards of Wilbur Smith, this book sets a record in both gore and sex. It is savage, and risque in parts, and I personally feel that the author has skated closer to the line of telling a good story and making it very violent and near pornographic sexy descriptions.
The story told is interesting enough, if you ignore the excess. It tells the continuing saga of the Courtneys, as all of Smiths books (except the Egyptian series and very few other books) do. This is a sequel to the gripping Monsoon, where Guy, Tom and Dorian Courtneys’ story is told. Here they all figure as the elder generation, with Tom and Mansur as the younger generation.
Since his discovery of magical contest (in Egyptian series) Wilbur Smith seems to be enamoured of the idea of contest between two non white but highly talented individuals and here it is Bakkat and Xhia, two Bushman with outstanding instincts of tracking anything that moved, but who have personal enmity, that pit their wits against each other, and of course one is the epitome of good and the other that of evil. True to Wilbur Smith’s world, all characters are evil or good,
with no shades in between. (Hunting and some lasciviousness, some piracy etc count as ‘good’ in his world. Not that I am complaining or moral posturing but all of Wilbur’s heroes are instinctive and daring and promiscuous and wild after “adventure” especially the impulsive and unplanned kind).
But the story is skillfully told, and there is a “satisfyingly” brutal and extra violent ending reserved for each of the villainy rascals.
In this, Jim finds a bride from a slave ship but she was pure, constrained by circumstances. Mansur loves a relative, but daughter of an enemy. They all get their girls.
Not a bad story but pure pulp and slightly overdone gore and sex.
Let us say 5/10
— Krishna