'A Sparrow Falls' and you want to fly! (Sparrow Falls - Wilbur Smith)

Member Name: leebo87

Product:	Sparrow Falls - Wilbur Smith
Date:	12/09/06 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great in depth research, hard to put down and will awaken in you wonderlust.

Disadvantages: Follws the same stroy pattern as a lot of his other novels

Wilbur Smith’s ‘A Sparrow Falls’ is a fast paced thriller novel with a slice of laid back South African life thrown in. Set initially in the trenches in France in World War One, it follows to main characters. Mark Anders, a young wide eyed South African who is the main focus of this book and General Sean Courtney (avid Smith readers who are familiar with ‘When the Lion Feeds’ and ‘The Sound of Thunder’ will know this character as a physically and mentally strong man who is very rich and clings on to his morals and ideals.

After the war ends, General Sean Courtney returns to his comfortable upper-class life with plenty of fame, a seat in government and a great deal of wealth. However Mark Anders returns to his South African home only to find his grandfather murdered, and his property belonging to an unknown company. Desperate to find out what has happened to his grandfather and property during the years of the war, he eventually (through hard research and a couple of attempts at his own life) uncovers that the new owner of his land is the estranged son of Sean Courtney, Dirk Courtney, the antithesis of the two main characters.

The book then takes you on a roller coaster ride full of heart racing moments, as more attempts are made on Mark’s life as he fights frantically to uncover the truth about his grandfathers murder and reclaim his right as owner of his grandfathers land. Gradually, after a brief meet in the trenches Sean and Mark become like father and son and make an interesting fighting force against Dirk.

However it’s not only the twisting and involving plot that I find so brilliant about this book. Through his great almost poetic literary skills he creates the almost dreamlike vision of wild Africa come a life. If you intend to read a lot of his books after this one, be prepared to be hit by wanderlust. I certainly found I had a great need to travel more as I’ve read through his books. This ability to bring wild Africa to life, combined with his thorough research, both when the time of the novel is set and the intricacies of wild Africa, like the tsetse fly and acacia trees to Zulu languages. He covers it all.

Although if you are an avid reader of Wilbur Smith half way into this book you are pretty much going to predict how it will all end it will just be a case of reading on to find out what actually happens. Of course its still a great novel and is very well researched and written, but I seem to find most of Wilbur’s novels follow the same predictable patterns. Hero who is fighting for justice, insert a love interest a long the way, then throw in a big show down between the thesis and the antithesis.

‘A Sparrow Falls’ is no short story however. My paperback version of this novel has just over 600 pages and is written in a fairly small font. I’m a moderately fast reader and it took me around one to one-and-a-half hours to read 50 pages. However this does make it great as a pleasant escape at the end of a long days work and gently winds you down for a heavy slumber.

In conclusion ‘A Sparrow Falls’ is an epic novel that regular readers of Wilbur Smith will enjoy and that first time readers will be enchanted by. Over its 600 pages it delivers a both swift thriller and a more laid back African atmosphere that is Wilbur’s unique signature trademark in a great deal of his novels and make his book stand out from the crowd.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Lee Billinghurst
www.leebillinghurst.co.uk

Summary: A great novel that truely captures you imagination and first time Wilbur readers will love.