Blue Horizon

Rating:
Summary: Wilbur Smith continues his amazing writing!
Review:
Wilbur Smith never seems to run out of ideas. In "Blue Horizon" he takes us to South Africa(a favorite stomping veldt!). It's the early 18th century and we find the Courtney family (the next generation following "Monsoon") set for further adventures. Complex as "Dynasty" and any daytime soap opera when it comes to a myriad of characters and all the given possibilities of what their actions and reactions might incur.

Jim Courtney is set to make further success in the Cape of Good Hope colony, but, like Odysseus, a sea storm occurs blowing a ship full of Dutch female convicts into port, and from there Jim certainly rides the waves, saving the life of the most seductive prisoner (of course) just in the nick of time. Thus begins a few navel maneuvers of their own.

That facetiously said, of course, "Blue Horizon" is vintage Wilbur Smith. His legions of fans expect nothing else and they get it, in full gale force, in this long (and perhaps drawn out) story. Expect to lots of elephants, nefarious Dutchmen, treacherous Bushmen, lusty women, virtuous women (well, at least one!), conniving Englishmen---the whole littany of "baddies." But what Wilbur Smith adventure would not have these characteristics? Wilbur Smith is Wilbur Smith, for better or for better, and graphic descriptions and local color abound. Smith does get a bit verbose and that can be tiring, but in general his yarns are worth the effort. ([e-mail])


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Summary: You like a good Saga? This one's for you!
Review: An old-fashioned saga of the White-Man's-Burden variety in Africa. Good white guys battle the bad white guys and all condescend to the native population. A decidedly un PC book that I have to admit I devoured. Smith is a fluid and marvelous fiction writer. This one is set in Africa in about 1725 or so with Englishmen from Devonshire building a trade company in Capetown, then forced out by the importunate shennanigans of their youngest son who escapes the colony with a Dutch mail transported for her crimes. And, we're off from there! Lots of wild animals, trekking, adventures, ship lore and more. Yeah, I had fun with this. The sort of book that many fathers and brothers would enjoy. Some moms, too.

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Summary: Wilbur Smith is a global treasure. Blue Horizon is superb.
Review: As with River God and Blue Horizon's prequel, Monsoon, Wilbur Smith has brought Africa, and all it's glorious aspects, to life as no one else on this earth can do.

In Blue Horizon the Courtney clan are back in force. Mr. Smith, as always, develops his characters beautifully. From Jim and Mansur, the despot Caliph of Oman, a delighfully evil tribal queen and many more startling folks, Mr. Smith leaves one wanting a lot more of the Courtney's.

A great thing about this book, as in all of Mr. Smith's previous books, is the shocking twists. Not a 'by-the-numbers' plot, Blue Horizon satifies on many levels. Beautifully written, this is a book that will keep you up at night and longing for more of Africa.

A GREAT, GREAT READ!!!

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Summary: A truly magnificent novel.
Review: For anyone who enjoyed Monsoon, this is a perfect sequel and a magnificent novel. It doesn't start out quite as a "sequel", focusing on Jim Courtney; though his father Tom, Dorian, Sarah and Jasmina are in the book, as well as Dorian's son, Mansur. Jim instantly falls in love, as Smith's characters so often do, and risks life and fortune to rescue a pretty girl from a convict ship. Forced to flee north with her into the African wilderness, his saga is fascinating, though it does plod at times.

Smith really brings Africa to life in his novels. He's featured the tiny busmen in previous books, and in this one we meet Bakkat, an incredibly appealing character. The almost superhuman bushcraft and joyous existence of these diminutive people really add to the appeal of this book, and give us more of the kind of insights into African history and tribal variations which Wilbur Smith always delivers.

His family help Jim and his new lover "escape" justice, however, and when this is discovered they are themselves forced to flee north up the East Coast of Africa, where they hope to establish a fort and new life at Nativity Bay, a desolate place fans of Smith will remember. They also hope to meet Jim there eventually.

The Dutch have meanwhile sent a small party of vicious soldiers to chase Jim, and they have their own bushman, who is a mortal enemy of Bakkat.

The Courtneys do reunite with Jim and Louisa (the girl he escaped with), and they also meet some Arabs who claim that the Caliph of Oman has been temporarily overthrown, and that the desert tribes are searching for al-Salil (Dorian) to lead them in their fight against the brutal tyrant who killed Dorian's adoptive father.

At this point the story simply explodes with adventure, multiple plots, tragedy, vengeance, violence, passion, and unstoppable excitement, involving all of the Courtneys. Monsoon gave us the unforgettable reunion of love between Tom and Dorian. This one gives us some reunions of hatred and revenge. I read this 620 page novel in two days. I couldn't put it down.

As fond as I was of Taita and River God; I was a bit disappointed back in 2001 to see Warlock on the shelves (though it was a tremendous novel). Ever since the end of Monsoon I've been lusting to read more about that saga. This book delivers everything I could have asked for in a novel and in a sequel. I can't recommend it highly enough. Monsoon is one of my five favorite novels of my life. This one is just as good.

Rating:
Summary: A truly magnificent novel.
Review: For anyone who enjoyed Monsoon, this is a perfect sequel and a magnificent novel. It doesn't start out quite as a "sequel", focusing on Jim Courtney; though his father Tom, Dorian, Sarah and Jasmina are in the book, as well as Dorian's son, Mansur. Jim instantly falls in love, as Smith's characters so often do, and risks life and fortune to rescue a pretty girl from a convict ship. Forced to flee north with her into the African wilderness, his saga is fascinating, though it does plod at times.

Smith really brings Africa to life in his novels. He's featured the tiny busmen in previous books, and in this one we meet Bakkat, an incredibly appealing character. The almost superhuman bushcraft and joyous existence of these diminutive people really add to the appeal of this book, and give us more of the kind of insights into African history and tribal variations which Wilbur Smith always delivers.

His family help Jim and his new lover "escape" justice, however, and when this is discovered they are themselves forced to flee north up the East Coast of Africa, where they hope to establish a fort and new life at Nativity Bay, a desolate place fans of Smith will remember. They also hope to meet Jim there eventually.

The Dutch have meanwhile sent a small party of vicious soldiers to chase Jim, and they have their own bushman, who is a mortal enemy of Bakkat.

The Courtneys do reunite with Jim and Louisa (the girl he escaped with), and they also meet some Arabs who claim that the Caliph of Oman has been temporarily overthrown, and that the desert tribes are searching for al-Salil (Dorian) to lead them in their fight against the brutal tyrant who killed Dorian's adoptive father.

At this point the story simply explodes with adventure, multiple plots, tragedy, vengeance, violence, passion, and unstoppable excitement, involving all of the Courtneys. Monsoon gave us the unforgettable reunion of love between Tom and Dorian. This one gives us some reunions of hatred and revenge. I read this 620 page novel in two days. I couldn't put it down.

As fond as I was of Taita and River God; I was a bit disappointed back in 2001 to see Warlock on the shelves (though it was a tremendous novel). Ever since the end of Monsoon I've been lusting to read more about that saga. This book delivers everything I could have asked for in a novel and in a sequel. I can't recommend it highly enough. Monsoon is one of my five favorite novels of my life. This one is just as good.

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Summary: Swashbuckling bravura in the grand tradition
Review: Good and evil is never so clear as in the books of Wilbur Smith. His take on the world is rooted in the heros of yore - the good guys win. I love it! In a world where it gets harder to tell the good from the bad, Smith continues to serve up bountiful helpings of come-uppence. And getting there is the fun part. Adventure on the high seas, man and woman against beast in the wilds of Africa, virtue besmirched by the cunningly uncouth. And while this may be in the tradition of the matinees of my youth, Smith's way with words is literate enough to sustain my older, more jaded mind.
Smith's books are often compared to those of Patrick O'Brian. Wrong! While I also love the tales of Aubrey and Maturin, their stories are considerably more pedantic in their development. If you want a fast paced, action packed, humerous tale of derring do, Wilbur Smith is the man for you.

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Summary: The party is over
Review: Having enjoyed a dozen or so of Smith's historical novels from the south of Africa, I am now sorry to say that he is getting boring. Smith has run of ideas, and trying to compensate by writing longer. His books have always been action-packed, and contained rather explicit descriptions of violence. However, both here and in Monsoon, a lot of the violence has no purpose. Two full pages with a deadly wounded man's battle with a vulture is very unnecessary. The plot is also flat, too few characters, most of them not make-belief. In the first of his Courtney-novels, the heroes had some flaws, and the villains had some relieving feature. In the last novels, nearly everybody are black or white. Please, let this be your last one, Mister Smith.

Rating:
Summary: Great, read birds of prey and monsoon first....
Review: I love reading Wilbur Smith, I wish some of his earlier Courney novels were not out of print....This started a little slow, but picked up and was great. Just a notch below Birds of Prey and Monsoon.....

Rating:
Summary: Great, read birds of prey and monsoon first....
Review: I love reading Wilbur Smith, I wish some of his earlier Courney novels were not out of print....This started a little slow, but picked up and was great. Just a notch below Birds of Prey and Monsoon.....

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Summary: Fabulous, non stop adventure!
Review: I've been a fan of Wilbur Smiths for many many years and I've read all of his books. Blue Horizon is a classic non stop adventure. I didn't want to put the book down and I could not wait to see what was going to happen next. Wilbur has a way of taking you on a journey, drawing you into each scene and keeping you guessing what will happen next. Action, adventure, twist, thrills, and romance flows from page to page. This is one of my favorites!