Birds of Prey (Courtney Family Adventures) | Wilbur Smith

Birds of Prey (Courtney Family Adventures) | Wilbur Smith | great swashbucking fun

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Birds of Prey (Cou...

	Birds of Prey (Courtney Family Adventures) Wilbur Smith St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1998 - 664 pages average customer review:based on 84 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Deemed "one of the world's most popular and prolific adventure writers" by The Washington Post, bestselling author Wilbur Smith is at the height of his storytelling powers in Birds of Prey, a swashbuckling epic of adventure, intrigue and passion on the dangerous high seas of 1667.As the choppy sea lanes of the African coast are rife with bloody battles over trade booty, Sir Francis Courteney and his 17-year-old son Hal embark on a seafaring quest for the treasure-laden galleons of the Dutch East India Company. But soon the horrific torture and execution of the elder Courteney catapults Hal into the role of captain. And the heavy burden of avenging his father's death-- along with the lusty pleasures he shares with three beautiful women-- will swiftly, irrevocably transform Hal from boy to man...Richly detailed, breathlessly plotted, and rich with the color of the time and place, Birds of Prey is an unforgettable saga that will transport you to one of the most fascinating, action-packed eras in world history.

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Bird of prey

What a great surprise to find this book in perfect conditon at such a great price. thank you also for your promptness

great swashbucking fun

What a treat for me. I had never before read a "swashbuckling" adventure story. Despite not understanding anything about ships and sailing(lots of the language was foreign to me) I was totally engrossed and caught up in the universal themes of strong family and friendship bonds, loyalty, revenge, good vs. evil, etc. To its credit, this book just takes you away. It reads very quickly(once you skip over nautical stuff).

Avast me hearties, a Pirates life

An exciting read that is a kind of cross between Treasure IslandTreasure Island: The Graphic Novel (Puffin Graphics) and Anthony Adverse in Africa
Anthony Adverse in Africa. It has a little too much sexual content for even an high school level
but not very exceptional for popular novels today.
Details of sea life and the hardships of prisoners is vivid
and realistic, but the compounding of gun powder in the African wilderness is very unlikely.
Some suspension of credibility is to be expected with such fiction.
That there were wars between the colonial powers:
Belgium
France
Holland ( Netherlands)
England
Germany
Portugal
Spain
in Africa is not to be doubted. That the wars were this
extensive, this early is somewhat doubtful.
The matchlocks used match the ones in the film The Seven SamuraiSeven Samurai - Criterion Collection - 3-Disc Remastered Edition
as a Dutch weapon. The English of this period actually used Flintlocks
which needed no slow match from what I have read.

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