A Falcon Flies (Ballantyne Novel)

Rating:
Summary: Intense, multi-plot, high seas and world travel adventure
Review: Being a big fan of Tom Clancy, I like intertwining multi-plot stories that come together at the conclusion. Mr. Smith puts together plots of intrigue, romance, terror, and corruption all in this one story. It was very difficult to stop reading because of the way he was regularly adding in new characters and situations. He did a great job of tying up all the plots at the end and even added a happy ending! If you like pre-1900 stories about the high seas and world travel, with romance and sex added in, you'll like A Falcon Flies

Rating:
Summary: Intense, multi-plot, high seas and world travel adventure
Review: Being a big fan of Tom Clancy, I like intertwining multi-plot stories that come together at the conclusion. Mr. Smith puts together plots of intrigue, romance, terror, and corruption all in this one story. It was very difficult to stop reading because of the way he was regularly adding in new characters and situations. He did a great job of tying up all the plots at the end and even added a happy ending! If you like pre-1900 stories about the high seas and world travel, with romance and sex added in, you'll like A Falcon Flies

Rating:
Summary: captures me like a bride
Review: Having lived in Southern Africa and talked to people who had knowledge of those events this is a good account of what went on for a historical point of view. I would recommend reading the entire series. A very good read!

Rating:
Summary: Realistic portrayal of life during that time in Southern Afr
Review: Having lived in Southern Africa and talked to people who had knowledge of those events this is a good account of what went on for a historical point of view. I would recommend reading the entire series. A very good read!

Rating:
Summary: captures me like a bride
Review: I am a 49 year old man who has recently taken up reading after an absence of too many years. I have found that Wilbur Smith's books have filled the void of recent changes in my lifestyle. Although I started with Angry as The Sea some ten years ago, I cannot read Mr. Smith's novels quickly enough. Each thought or phrase summons me into it's very existance. My only regret is that memory will not allow me the pleasure of re-visiting Mr. Smith's adventures.

Rating:
Summary: A Falcon Flies - A real African Tale
Review: I must say as a fan of Wilbur Smith, this book captures anyone's imagination from the first page to the last and it leaves you wanting to start on the next one in the series. As an African and Zimbabwean in which most of this story takes place I am left with no option but to salute Mr. Smith. He is a briliant researcher and an accurate writer of our historical stories even though he calls them fiction. Some of the facts are so true that you really feel you're in that age. He gives vivid descriptions of the Ndebele state as if he was there during that time. I have no problem rating it 5 out of 5!!!

Rating:
Summary: A Falcon Flies - A real African Tale
Review: I must say as a fan of Wilbur Smith, this book captures anyone's imagination from the first page to the last and it leaves you wanting to start on the next one in the series. As an African and Zimbabwean in which most of this story takes place I am left with no option but to salute Mr. Smith. He is a briliant researcher and an accurate writer of our historical stories even though he calls them fiction. Some of the facts are so true that you really feel you're in that age. He gives vivid descriptions of the Ndebele state as if he was there during that time. I have no problem rating it 5 out of 5!!!

Rating:
Summary: Visit my Wilbur Smith page!
Review: This book and the other 20+ books that Wilbur Smith has written are incredible. I have a website dedicated to Smith at www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/wilbur.html If you are a big fan also please visit, and make sure you e-mail me. This is one of my favorite books EVER

Rating:
Summary: Wilbur's overlooked gem.
Review: This book is, beleive it or not, right on par with Smith's other breathtaking adventures like Birds of Prey, Monsoon, Blue Horizon, Seventh Scroll etc. Only River God can be considered better (and even that is close). None of the books in the Courtneys of Africa series or the others in the Ballantyne series can even come close to this book. A truely marvellous adventure yarn and one of the overlooked gems in the entire genre, A Falcon Flies is a masterpeice which, if had been published after Smith became internatioanlly famous (that is, after River God), would have done as well as any of Smith's other monster bestsellers.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent first book of the series
Review: This is the first book of the Ballantyne series (the next two are Men of Men and Angels Weep). It is a excellent tale of the conquest and colonization of Southern Africa, as seen trought the eyes of characters with different worldviews. The ruthless, egotistic Mungo St-John, shows us how a slaveowner/trader of the begining of last century saw the world, The Ballantynes, and in particular Robyn, shows us a more familiar world view, in defense of the weak. The Africans' (Bazo's in particular) caracters sow us how good a grasp Smith has of the different African cultures. It is refreshing to see a non-ideological novel. Each viewpoint is presented by its holder and no judgement is emitted. The only negative point I see about this book is Robyn's incapacity to control her libido, a trait which I find in contradiction with the rest of her caracter and which makes her a bit out-of-this world, but which will no doubt appeal to many other readers