Birds of Prey: The Courtney Series 9

Typically I read books about history, biographies, or memoirs. It is not to often I pick up a fiction book. Prior to finding an audio version of "Birds of Prey", I had no idea what a Swashbuckler story was (I had to look the term up). So basically, right off the bat, this was not the type of book I read and I really had no idea what to expect.

While I expected this to be the literary version of a pirate movie, I have to say I found the book surprisingly complex. On one hand, Birds of Prey is a highly entertaining book, telling a story about the days of old. Set in 1667, the book tells the story of a father and son team. The father and his crew are not pirates in the traditional sense, but rather they are mercenaries, fighting for whomever offered them the greatest opportunity to plunder enemy ships to obtain the spoils of war. As the story takes place during a couple of wars, as one would expect, the tale is filled with exciting fight scenes, thrilling chase scenes, suspenseful turns of events, surprisingly steamy adult scenes, and a stereotypical ending where the man gets the woman.

However, on the other hand, the story is really about Hal, the son in the father and son team. Much of the tale is centered around him. As much as this is a story about action, blood, and guts, this is also a story about Hal's passage from a meek man who really does not matter to a true leader, leading his man from the clutches of death and to a promise land of riches.

I found the narrator, Christopher Cazenove, to be pleasant to listen to. He also made the story really believable, making the listener really feel like they were there.

I was surprised to find this story worked on several levels. I found the beginning of the story to be a but confusing and I had a difficult time trying to keep the characters straight. However, once I learned who was who, I found this to be a rather enjoyable story to listen to.

If you are looking for a great, classic, action packed, bloody story, than this will fit the bill. It is also a great coming of age story if you look past the violence. Overall, I recommend reading this book.

BIRDS OF PREY

BY GLENYS AND DEREK LLOYD

Man being a hunter himself has always appreciated animals that share his passion for the chase. Here is a book that will satisfy the reader who would like to know more about the feathered hunters of the sky-the birds of prey.

Hawklike birds and owls share a taste for meat, and with it a similarity of sharp beak and talon. However, hawks and owls belong to two distinct groups. And within each group, again, there are innumerable specializations in size, wing construction, shape of the beak and other features, related to particular ways of life.

All birds of prey use their wings to reach food, but this may vary from find ing carrion in an open expanse of country to catching another bird flying at eighty miles an hour. Some catch fish, others feed on flying ants or snails.

The authors, who between them have spent over twenty years studying birds of prey, vividly describe hunting and feeding techniques, fantastic aerial courtship displays, care and training of young and migration routes.

The ancient practice of falconry continues to this day, and the reader will be fascinated by the methods and equipment for this unusual sport, which are included in this book.

A systematic account includes each and every species of hawklike bird and owl, listed by common and scientific name, along with appearance, size, geographic range and life habits.

Two hundred and twenty full-color, accurately detailed illustrations furnish a pictorial guide along with the text.

Torture, bloody murder, numerous decapitations, a mouthful of pus plus a sadistic nymphomaniac bisexual slut made this book a vivid read. If you want lots of historical fiction action this novel will serve you well. But I found myself wanting this book to end. Several plot lines had wholly unrealistic character actions - especially what the protagonists do not do during a desperate prison break. This somewhat spoiled the balance of the story for me.

The writer also has a penchant to draft descriptive passages of penises. In addition, more than once the reader will encounter difficult-to-believe depictions of pederasts and the occasional masturbation scene.

This book has a number of very predictable elements, especially along the amorous lines. If an attractive female appears in the text, the main character will be copulating with her in fifteen pages or so.

Cornball dialogue didn't help either: "The young eagle was beginning to rejoice in the power of his wings" and "Katinka! Have no fear. I am come to save you, my darling. I will never let these villains take you."

I am also biased against any novel that has the author's name printed larger than the title on the cover. It also doesn't help that the writer has his name on the top of every other page as if he needs to constantly remind the reader who created this literary gem.

I'm glad I borrowed it from my public library and didn't shell out the $26.00 for the hard-cover edition. It's not a bad little diversion in historical fiction, but its flaws kept me from enjoying it more.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this read. I usually require a good plot twist. Like, who dunnit? Or, is this person insane? Or, anything that requires me to think. Those are the types of books that keep reading fun. This book really didn't give me any of that. It was simply a scenic tour. And I loved it.

I will say that it was a bit more of a pirate story than I had expected. Had I known it was really a pirate book, I would have passed. But, I'm glad I didn't.

The storyline is great. The characters are extremely well done. The prose is flavorful. And, I can't believe I'm saying this, the action sequences are suspenseful. Yuck, I hate action and battle. But these scenes had me turning pages fast. It's a 600 page book. I'm a very slow reader. But when I finished this one is about one week, my wife said wow it must be a good one.

The book is based on the interesting premise of naval exploration and combat in Indian Ocean in the aftermath of of the Second Anglo Dutch War. It is a time and place unfamiliar to most of us and rarely a fictional setting.

Unfortunately, the writing just isn't up to the task. To call the plot meandering in an understatement. Too many characters are introduced. The characters are cardboard cut outs. The good guys are really good: loyal, virtuous, high minded. The bad guys are unalloyed bad. Smith initially creates a potentially interesting villain, the Earl of Cumbrae (think Harry Mudd from Star Trek), and a multi-dimensional character, the Dutch Colonel Cornelius Schreuder then proceeds to throw them away. Unfortunate, as both were more interesting than Courtney or any of his friends. The existence of an widespread naval order of chivalry is simply out of place at the time. And there are many small details simply wrong. For instance, one pound of black powder will propel about four pounds of lead shot. A musket ball of that era weighed in at a shade over an ounce so the single pound of powder would be good for about 64 rounds. The panic of Courtney's band of refugees when they find themselves reduced to about 50-lbs of powder is inexplicable.

Too much time is spent on events that lead nowhere and the last part of the novel, the climax, is rushed through making it an afterthought that you just want to get through rather than the reason you read the novel.

My first experience reading a Wilbur Smith novel was an overwhelmingly positive one. Smith does a first rate job in painting a descriptive verbal landscape of the world in 1667 through the eyes of protagonist Hal Courtney, son of the captain of a royal commissioned English privateering vessel. We get transported from the ocean drenched decks of a battle tested "pirate" ship to depths of a Dutch colonial dungeon in Africa in following the adventures of Hal, his father Sir Francis and his shipmates. Smith spins a tale of comradeship, loyalty and betrayal which had this reader thirsting for revenge against the enemies of the heroes. Of course, all ends relatively well for the "good" guys with enough unfinished business to pave the way for a sequel. I am anxiously looking forward to reading that sequel "Monsoon".

A top notch adventure from a top notch author, Birds of Prey is undoubtably a superb epic. Sure the sex scenes can seem overdone, but who cares? The entire story cackles with energy and escapism with grand action sequences that have rarely been as vivid. It is cliche-clogged and sometimes predictable, but to tell you the truth, if I wanted to read a literary suspense novel I would have picked Frederick Forsyth or Nelson Demille. What I expected from Birds of Prey was mind blowing action and a fast paced book, both of which exceeded expectaions.
Chronologically the first in Smith's prolific Courtney series (for now atleast), the book opens by introducing us to Hal and Francis Courtney, son and father, one a growing man and the other an accomplished privateer. After that, the duo and their crew spot a dutch ship carrying potentially tremendous cargo, and the reader is then treated to an epic action-fest journey like never seen before. Duels to the death, explosive jail breaks, wild animal hunting, battles with pirates, religious warfare, non-religious warfare, ancient relics, astrological prophecies, torture chambers, lakes filled with writhing crocodiles, fights with lion herds, explorations into the unknown african wilderness, confrontations with ancient tribes, christian empires, muslim armies and MUCH more shape this epic, filled with almost ridiculous acts of courage and skill by the protoganists, though tremendously enjoyable too. Much to the reader's pleasure, the good guys laugh at impossible odds and dispatch them with almost as much ease and for those looking for some action, this story is a definite must.
The tale is primarily about Hal's journey from teenage to manhood and about how he becomes a great warrior. He's charismatic, the best fighter alive, a natutral leader, he never turns away from his duty, no obstacle can hold him back and the rest of his characteristics are just about anything you can attribute to the classic good guy. The tale is of course also choke-full of utterly hateable villains. Colonel Schreuder the master swordsman who has never lost a fight, The Buzzard the cunning and greedy pirate, Slow John the almost inhuman yellow eyed executioner, Sam Bowles the cowardly traitor, Van De Velde the obese governor of Good Hope, Katinka the sexy and sadistic wife of the governor and lots more constantly face the protoganists for some reason or the other.
One thing that I should emphazize is that this is not a tale about just sailors and pirates. Though a huge part is full of sea battles, a chunky portion of the action also takes place on land too and to classify this as sea adventure would be a gross inaccuracy.
And talking of accuracy, whether some people are obliged to admit it or not, Smith has undertaken some heavy research on this book. It is totally unfair to say that this book is not well researched just because he got a technical term wrong about a 17th century ship according to a reviewer. From geographical locations like Trincomalee and Elephant Lagoon to the information about African wildlife, Smith has done his homework before penning this tale, and despite some faults, has managed to do a commendable job.
Overall, if you want great literature with three dimensional characters who teach you something about the morals of life, you would be better of with something else. If you just want to sit back, relax and read an action-packed adventure epic like a mega-budget summer blockbuster, Birds of Prey will definitely rank among your favourites.

I was disappointed in this one because I was expecting something as well-researched and based in history as the old Hornblower novels. Suffice to say this one ain't.

It is riddled with historical inaccuracies. There was no war between the Moghuls and the kingdom of "Prester John" at that time. And there are so many little details which a modicum of research would have revealed, such as the (Urdu speaking) Moghul Maharaja speaking Arabic, or a description of what is obviously a hummingbird (which lives only in the Americas) -- small points but when I say this sort of thing was repeated ad nauseum you get the message.

Smith even borrows an incident from "Hornblower and the Atropos" in which someone is shot in the chest but the bullet travels around the rib to the back, where it lodges and causes fever and inflammation. Forster uses the incident for character development (the wound is the result of a duel between two cantankerous individuals; the wounded man is absolutely vital to Hornblower's mission and the other duelist is the doctor who has to save him while Hornblower is all but tearing his hair out). In Smith's hands, however, the wound is simply part of a battle and the extraction of the bullet the excuse for as much gore, pus, agony, etc., as he can lay on.

Also, I HAVE to ask: is anyone out there familiar with fencing or swordfighting? I've done a little fencing, and the climactic fight in which Hal kills the evil Colonel Schreuder turns on a trick of swordfighting which simply doesn't make sense to me. It sounded odd when I read it, then I tried to visualize it, then it seemed like nonsense. I even got a couple sticks and tried it out with aanother friend of mine who's a better fencer than I. It just doesn't work.

I gave it two stars because if you like gore, sex, and fantasy in a historical cloak, this is OK.

I believe Wilbur Smith has written in the vicinity of 30 novels. I should go home and count them tonight as I have every one of them, and I am starting his most recent, Monsoon, this evening. My dear wife gave me his novel, Rage, about 11 years ago and I have been hooked ever since. He simply has never written a book that was not a delight to read and an educational experience as well. The history of South Africa is woven through many of his books and you will not find an easier way to learn it. This book is a rolliking story of the sea which contains all of the elements he weaves so effortlessly into his books. Adventure, romance, sex (there is a difference), mystery and suspence come in many measures, all palatable and more than enjoyable. The outline of the story has been told by other reviews. Suffice it to say, you always get more than your money's worth from Mr. Smith...even at today's prices!

Wilbur Smith is a great storyteller. In Birds of Prey he tells the story of young Hal Courtney who is learning the craft of sailing from his stern father. His father's hard discipline will turn out well for the lad as he faces treachery, uncharted lands and seas, and a confrontation of cultures. The setting of this novel is around southern Africa. Smith's research into sailing seems quite throrough as well as his attention to the areas around the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th century. Smith does give his plot away at the beginning, but that does not prohibit the reader from enjoying the playing out of the plot - and sometimes a few surprises as well. This is good reading.

A continuation of the Courtney saga. Full of rich drama, intrigue and genuine history. My friends get tired of my button-holing them to convince them to read this series. But I love it. I am already well along into the next book. I suggest that everyone look up the chronology of the series at Wikipedia so that you read the books in their proper order. That way you get the history and character development in proper perspective.

There's not another activity quite like reading a story created by a skilled author that allows you to travel to another time and witness events of high drama and intrigue while in the safety and comfort of your own home.Wilbur Smith has created such a story. This is a fantastic historical novel set in the 1670's depicting the English pirate raids on the Dutch East Indies Company. Treachery on the high seas, slavery, brutal conditions and extraordinary characters make this a story not easily forgotten. It seems its main characters, namely Francis and Hal Courtney may be the ancestors of the later Courtneys found in Smith's earlier novels. It will be a pleasure to find out.

"Birds of Prey" is the second book by Wilbur Smith I have read, and I can draw a couple of parallels with the other one, "Cry Wolf." First off, Smith's heroes are all men's men. Tough, handsome, winning the ladies right and left, and of course, always operating under a strict code of honor. Second, Smith writes adventure very well. Reading this book I was transported back to the Pirate craze of my middle-school years, when I avidly read anything involving treasure, jungles, ships, and sharks. Three, there are occasional slow spots.

The plot can be determined from the summaries given on this page, so I'll just sum up my reaction to the book. It is 664 pages long and probably could have been about 500. However, it seemed that whenever the thought of putting the book aside entered my mind, Smith would throw in a twist, or a thrilling action sequence to hook me again. The characters, though cardboard knights in shining armor from the school of G.A. Henty, are all fairly personable and thus do not grate like some two-dimensional heroes. And above all, Smith's love of Africa comes through in these pages. The man knows his country, and he imparts a fair bit of his enthusiasm in these pages.

So if you like to read and want an exciting tale of derring-do on the high seas a la Robert Stevenson or C.S. Forster, give this one a try.

Birds of Prey was my first Wilbur Smith Novel. Being a person that makes a living on the ocean I am attracted to novels about the great sailing ships of the past. Everything I had read about Wilbur Smith led me to believe that this would be a novel that I couldn't put down. In the beginning that was true. The main characters were interesting. I didn't expect the explicit sex scenes that are scattered throughout the novel. Mr. Smith's main hero throughout the book is young Hal Courteney. His sexual exploits are described in vivid detail in the first half of the book, but then as the book progresses become more like what I would expect from an adventure novel. I am not sure that the earlier sex scenes really added to the book. The St. Martin's Paperback version that I have is over 660 pages. It was a long read and you could actually divide the book into two halves. The first is while Sir Frances Courteney (Hal's Father) is driving the action in the story. The second is when Hal is the lead. The first half of the book is filled with intrigue and vivid battles scenes (and sex scenes). The second half of the book seems to have been an after thought. All the vivid drawn out scenes from the first half become a few paragraphs of quick victories for young Hal. You wait and entire 600 pages for Hal to face his Dutch antagonist. When it finally happens I can call it at best anti-climactic. He defeat's another ship easily and his other foil dies pretty unceremoniously. Forgive me, but when I put 600 + pages of time into a novel waiting for these two show downs (which you know at page 300 are coming) I expected more! Much more. Cut out the pages of Hal's sexual exploits and make the final scenes of the book worth the time I invested in this novel.

Having said all this the book was okay. The book's strength was the early vivid descriptions of Europeans seeing Africa for the first time. You could imagine what they must have been seeing. What a crocodile must be like for someone who has never seen nor heard of one. The fear they felt when the crocodile's got a hold of someone in the water. The book's weakness was the quick tidy ending. I am not upset that the good guys win; I expect that in an adventure novel. I was just disappointed that this was an after thought and wrapped up cleanly with a lot of luck.

I am not sure that I for one will invest another 600+ pages in a Wilbur Smith Novel in the future.

Hal Courteney is still being trained to the ways of the sea. When his father, Sir Francis Courteney, is captured, tortured and killed by greed and betrayal, Hal is left in command of the few surviving crewmembers. Somehow Hal has to escape from captivity and regain his birthright, provide for his men, and fulfill the debt that he owes to those responsible for the destruction of his father. Swashbuckling adventure. I can see Errol Flynn's sword flashing through these pages. - Recommended to me by a nephew, it's good to see that good taste in reading has been passed down the family.

Smith has written swashbuckling epic adventure of pirates, revenge and romance in the 17th century.The Courteneys:Francis and his teenage son Hal prey upon Dutch ships for England until they are betrayed by a greedy rival and Francis is executed by the dutch.Hal swears revenge and his adventures will lead him from sea battles to africa and finally to the court of Prester John the christian ruler of Ethiopia.This novel combines scenes of bloody sea battles, romantic interludes and lyrical descriptions of Africa; it also has great heroes to cheer for and suitable villany.

A continuation of the Courtney saga. Full of rich drama, intrigue and genuine history. My friends get tired of my button-holing them to convince them to read this series. But I love it. I am already well along into the next book. I suggest that everyone look up the chronology of the series at Wikipedia so that you read the books in their proper order. That way you get the history and character development in proper perspective.

There's not another activity quite like reading a story created by a skilled author that allows you to travel to another time and witness events of high drama and intrigue while in the safety and comfort of your own home.Wilbur Smith has created such a story. This is a fantastic historical novel set in the 1670's depicting the English pirate raids on the Dutch East Indies Company. Treachery on the high seas, slavery, brutal conditions and extraordinary characters make this a story not easily forgotten. It seems its main characters, namely Francis and Hal Courtney may be the ancestors of the later Courtneys found in Smith's earlier novels. It will be a pleasure to find out.

"Birds of Prey" is the second book by Wilbur Smith I have read, and I can draw a couple of parallels with the other one, "Cry Wolf." First off, Smith's heroes are all men's men. Tough, handsome, winning the ladies right and left, and of course, always operating under a strict code of honor. Second, Smith writes adventure very well. Reading this book I was transported back to the Pirate craze of my middle-school years, when I avidly read anything involving treasure, jungles, ships, and sharks. Three, there are occasional slow spots.

The plot can be determined from the summaries given on this page, so I'll just sum up my reaction to the book. It is 664 pages long and probably could have been about 500. However, it seemed that whenever the thought of putting the book aside entered my mind, Smith would throw in a twist, or a thrilling action sequence to hook me again. The characters, though cardboard knights in shining armor from the school of G.A. Henty, are all fairly personable and thus do not grate like some two-dimensional heroes. And above all, Smith's love of Africa comes through in these pages. The man knows his country, and he imparts a fair bit of his enthusiasm in these pages.

So if you like to read and want an exciting tale of derring-do on the high seas a la Robert Stevenson or C.S. Forster, give this one a try.

Birds of Prey was my first Wilbur Smith Novel. Being a person that makes a living on the ocean I am attracted to novels about the great sailing ships of the past. Everything I had read about Wilbur Smith led me to believe that this would be a novel that I couldn't put down. In the beginning that was true. The main characters were interesting. I didn't expect the explicit sex scenes that are scattered throughout the novel. Mr. Smith's main hero throughout the book is young Hal Courteney. His sexual exploits are described in vivid detail in the first half of the book, but then as the book progresses become more like what I would expect from an adventure novel. I am not sure that the earlier sex scenes really added to the book. The St. Martin's Paperback version that I have is over 660 pages. It was a long read and you could actually divide the book into two halves. The first is while Sir Frances Courteney (Hal's Father) is driving the action in the story. The second is when Hal is the lead. The first half of the book is filled with intrigue and vivid battles scenes (and sex scenes). The second half of the book seems to have been an after thought. All the vivid drawn out scenes from the first half become a few paragraphs of quick victories for young Hal. You wait and entire 600 pages for Hal to face his Dutch antagonist. When it finally happens I can call it at best anti-climactic. He defeat's another ship easily and his other foil dies pretty unceremoniously. Forgive me, but when I put 600 + pages of time into a novel waiting for these two show downs (which you know at page 300 are coming) I expected more! Much more. Cut out the pages of Hal's sexual exploits and make the final scenes of the book worth the time I invested in this novel.

Having said all this the book was okay. The book's strength was the early vivid descriptions of Europeans seeing Africa for the first time. You could imagine what they must have been seeing. What a crocodile must be like for someone who has never seen nor heard of one. The fear they felt when the crocodile's got a hold of someone in the water. The book's weakness was the quick tidy ending. I am not upset that the good guys win; I expect that in an adventure novel. I was just disappointed that this was an after thought and wrapped up cleanly with a lot of luck.

I am not sure that I for one will invest another 600+ pages in a Wilbur Smith Novel in the future.

Hal Courteney is still being trained to the ways of the sea. When his father, Sir Francis Courteney, is captured, tortured and killed by greed and betrayal, Hal is left in command of the few surviving crewmembers. Somehow Hal has to escape from captivity and regain his birthright, provide for his men, and fulfill the debt that he owes to those responsible for the destruction of his father. Swashbuckling adventure. I can see Errol Flynn's sword flashing through these pages. - Recommended to me by a nephew, it's good to see that good taste in reading has been passed down the family.

Smith has written swashbuckling epic adventure of pirates, revenge and romance in the 17th century.The Courteneys:Francis and his teenage son Hal prey upon Dutch ships for England until they are betrayed by a greedy rival and Francis is executed by the dutch.Hal swears revenge and his adventures will lead him from sea battles to africa and finally to the court of Prester John the christian ruler of Ethiopia.This novel combines scenes of bloody sea battles, romantic interludes and lyrical descriptions of Africa; it also has great heroes to cheer for and suitable villany.

What a fantastic read! I started reading Wilbur Smith about a year ago and have managed to tear through quite a few of his many exciting novels since then. To this point I would say that Birds of Prey is one of the best. It is action packed from beginning to end, and the scope of the story is enormous. The story takes you to a long forgotten time and moves you up and down and all around the southern coast of africa. If you have never read Wilbur Smith before, or are a fan and want a really good Smith book then this is the one! Two thumbs way up!!!

I have been a respectful admiring reader of Wilbur Smith for many years. I was enthralled by his intricate plot, spellbounding capacity, and deep knowledge of the history and politics of his (and my own) native Africa. But more than that, his psychological analysis of characters, ability to convey relations between different races, tolerance and contrivance to impartiality in portraying the motivation and actions of different ethnic/political groups has raised him above the exotic thriller/adventure writer he is classified as. However, beneath the surface, you could see sometimes his identification with the "Anglo" white man (that is African white people of English descent). This is apparent in his clashes with other Whites (Boers), Black (Bantu) people, and in this novel with Arabs / Muslims. Though the book technically and plot-wise is very good, the author has not escaped the temptation to generalize when speaking about Arabs or Muslims (i.e. There are many types of Christians, good ones, bad ones, but Muslims are a stereotype). It is bit surprising that Hal fought such a fervent war against Muslims, with such conviction, just after his Muslim wife was murdered. If you add that Muslims had nothing to do with the death of his wife or father, you'll be more surprised. Having his brother-in-law abstain from fighting his people was the gesture that saved the book from being unrealistic and superficial. Smith's portrayal of Muslim characters (even Anglos) is uncomplimentary, if not downright derogatory. Hal is a typical Courtney hero again, brave, clever, handsome, charismatic, irresistible, and unconquerable. But I got used to Smith's Courtney prototype that I am starting to enjoy it, if not believe it.

The pirate story is interesting enough to look up while reading. The players are caricatures, the female characters are Madonnas or whores and the story is improbable enough to be disctracting even while engaged. But it is just a story so it's ok as long as its a library book. It is better than reading the back of a cereal box!

This is a reasonably good novel until it degenerates into a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" story. The author did not seem to know how to end the tale, and continued from one misadventure to another. The author failed to keep all of his characters on the same time line, a problem when an author does not outline things properly. He also disposes of various characters as if he is tired of them, or does not know what to do with them, in order to introduce new characters. Perhaps a few too many dead bodies left by the wayside.

Wilbur Smith has written an adventure story of the high seas that surpases even the greatness of C. S. Forester. It is set centuries earlier than the standard Forester novel and gives us some family background for the primary characters in some of Smith's most notable novels. If you haven't read every single novel by Wilbur Smith, you have missed a treat.

An enjoyable enough read -- although like some other reviewers, I am somewhat skeptical of the accuracy of Smith's research. The characters are fairly one dimensional and the "bad guys" are prototypical.
Beyond that, it is entertaining -- kinda like a summer action flick -- lots of action, not much substance.
Kid Alert! This novel has some extremely graphic sex scenes.

I have enjoyed several of Wilbur Smith's books and chose to read Birds of Prey based on its reviews. There were parts of the story that I enjoyed but I found some of the graphic sex scenes to be disturbing and totally unnecessary to the plot. Smith went into such detail during some events of the story (like the weird sex scenes) and yet the last part of the story seemed to be rushed through. I found myself interested in the story but not dying to know what was going to happen next (like I felt while reading some of Smith's other books like The Seventh Scroll and River God.) Wilbur Smith is an excellent author and I will probably read Monsoon which is the continuation of Birds of Prey. I hope to be swept up in the adventure and NOT able to put THAT one down.

The flyleaf says this book is "meticulously researched". Let me tell you, in areas where I happen to have expertise this guy is absolutely clueless. There are several gross examples where he demonstrates conclusively that he has no idea whatsoever how square-rigged ships work. In addition, the details of naval conflicts range from the dubious to the impossible.
Given this incredible ignorance about things where I know the score, I am very dubious about a good deal of the other military stuff. In particular, although I am not expert, I think that his versions of how people fight with swords is not reasonable or even in some cases physically possible.
His characters are also extremely one-dimensional, and his plotting is pathetic. Gets very predictable after a while.
Oh yeah -- although Prester John is a myth, and I suppose one can have some freedom with what one does with a myth -- he transposes it some THREE HUNDRED YEARS. Sort of like meeting Daniel Boone in downtown Chicago having a conversation with Mayor Daley and Jimmy Hoffa -- and being told, "Well, it's his descendant and his family lived in the Kentucky woods for a loooong time without anybody knowing." Nuts.
If you enjoy this kind of book (and I usually do), I suggest you try the series by Terry Goodkind (starting with Wizard's Rule). Similar thematic material, better plots, much more interesting and realistic characters -- and the fantastic stuff like dragons is explicitly labelled as magic. Unlike Hal's ship which is supposed to be a square-rigger but actually has to have turbine-powered props to do what is claimed.

While I was deeply engrossed by this novel, one of the characters' deaths seemed like an afterthought of the author. The final and most important duel of the novel wasn't noble or suspenseful, but rather anti-climactic. And the book contained a few scenes of "self love" that could've been tastefully omitted.

What an enjoyable read. True escapism, you almost feel the sea spray on your face and if you read this book on a train, the motion could lull you into to thinking your on the deck of the ship. School curricular would do well to think about using this text, leaving certain aspect's out, to enhance history lessons covering that period of time. My only regret is that I read 'Monsoon' first, which was the sequel, even so this was, again, most enjoyable.

This novel showcases Smith's many natural talents. His characters are always bold, grand figures who make us try to better ourselves. Hal is filled with the indomitable spirit that Sean Courteney ehxibited in "When the Lion Feeds", and Aboli is loyal to the end. Birds of Prey is a fast paced adventure that will transport you into one of the most exciting eras ever experienced. Get ready to purchase your eye-patch and cutlass before you start Wilbur Smith's latest thriller.

Unreadable my foot! This book grabs you and does not let go. From the very first to the last I can't think of a down time in this book. Swashbuckling at it's finest, click off the t.v. and prepare to stay up late.

Having finished all Robert Ludlum's novels, I have been frustrated to find writing that grasps me as his did. Wilbur Smith may be my reprieve. Birds of Prey was an amazing surprise for me. The plot is intricate and full of wild adventure. Hal Courteney is my kind of hero -- I think I'll read Monsoon next to see what awaits young Hal.

I have always been a Jeffery Archer fan, (Kan & Able, Prodigal Daughter, As the Crow Flies) until I was introduced to Wilbur Smith. Birds of Prey is a classic novel. It is well written, suspenseful and has quite a bit of history incorporated into this novel. You won't want to put it down!

i read monsoon prior to this one and was slightly dissapointed. monsoon sts a very high standard for the series, however i still loved the adventure and bckground to the courtney legacy. i reccomendbooks all the tim and this is at the top of my list!

In Wilbur Smith's usual swashbuckling style, Birds of Prey takes you on a whirlwind adventure on the high seas. It is a book for those who enjoy adventure with a hint of romance... and for those who don't mind staying up late to read just a little more...