The story introduces Ocean going Hal, and his first exploration into the mountains of Africa. ( )

En 1667, durante la guerra naval entre Holanda e Inglaterra, sir Francis Courteney, junto con su hijo Hal, atrapan un galeón de la Compañía Holandesa de las Indias Orientales. Entre los rehénes se encuentran un gobernador colonial holandés y su seductora esposa, Katinka, quien no se detiene ante nada para acabar con los Courteney.

Letto probabilmente nel 1998 dopo IL DIO DEL FIUME - avventura storica ambientata nel Sud Africa del 1700 interessante la descrizione delle navi ( )

Set in 1667 on board a ship off the African coast, Francis Courteney’s ship is fighting against the Dutch. It is his son, Hal, who is the hero of this epic novel. At the beginning Hal is a young man who sits at the look-out for hours; however, he soon grows up and has many adventures. The novel is brutal and blood thirsty as it moves around the coast of the African continent. There is treasure, sword fights, detail about how to light a cannon and beautiful women (in fact all the women are stunning). The wildlife is often dangerous when the action is on land with crocodiles and lions. Mostly, this novel is too long. It had a good tale of love and revenge at the heart of it and had it been a bit tighter could have been more enjoyable. This is the first Wilbur Smith I have read and it didn’t make me want to read more. ( )

800 pages of sea battles, blood, guts, gore, people being eaten alive by animals, cruelty, unwashed bodies, gratuitous sex, torture. OMG, definitely not my type of book. Then how is it that I kept turning those pages. Obviously the skill of the story teller. Good thing there was also revenge and a happy ending. ( )