Trophy for Eagles

Trophy for Eagles is a good work of historical fiction. The time period is from just before Lindbergh's famous flight to the Spanish Civil War. Settings cover a wide area of the world, although most of the novel is in various American locations. The two main characters develop their rivalry early on and it carries through to the final pages. Historical figures appear enough to connect our fictitious aviators to the time period - and the changing relationship between the protagonist and Lindbergh provides for excellent character development. Technical details are incorporated but similar to a Tom Clancy novel. My only real complaint is the overuse of similes in otherwise good writing. If you enjoy history and aviation you should enjoy show more this book. show less

Boyne, coauthor of The Wild Blue , here explores the golden age of aviation: the years from 1927 to 1937, when flying airplanes developed from an art to a craft and building them evolved from a craft to an industry. While peopled with historical characters such as Lindbergh, Howard Hughes and Ernst Udet, the relationship between two pilots, American Frank Bandfield and expatriate German Bruno Hafner, is at the novel's heart; their rivalry is the thread on which Boyne strings his vignettes. High-risk air racing in Depression America, innovations in design and production, the creation of Hitler's Luftwaffe , the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War--all find their place in this complex, compelling narrative. A former director show more of the National Air and Space Museum, Boyne impressively details flight techniques and aircraft construction. He even writes convincingly of the shortcomings that keep imaginary aircraft from entering production in his fictional universe. Technical material is so well integrated into the narrative, and human relationships are so dominated by flying, that it seems only natural when lovers talk of airplanes at intimate moments. show less

This is a historical fiction novel set in the 20s & 30s in the interwar period leading into and including the Spanish Civil War.

If you're an aviation fan, you'll probably love it, for those of us who aren't it's okay. There's certainly a story in there yet the start is cumbersome and slow, which becomes average towards the middle and slowly builds toward good quality reading in the last 100 or so pages.

There's a few historical figures within the novel, yet they're used more for set dressing than pivotal story moments which I found took away from the picture it was trying to paint rather than adding to it.

Overall, it was decent but if you're not into aircraft & aviation there's better historical fiction books out there to sink your teeth show more into. show less