The Sunbird

Only by reminding myself of when this was written was it possible to both continue reading and finish the book.

It's a story about an archaeologist and his discovery of an ancient Carthaginian city in Botswana. The relationship between him and his wealthy backer who has been a friend since he was quite young and his assistant, a woman he loves.

That's the first part of the story, the second is about a parallel set of people who were in this doomed city, the City of the Moon. They're close enough to be reincarnations.

It's not a terrible story but some of the assumptions and treatments of women and non-whites is fairly appaling. Both are objectified and the various African Tribes are treated with a dreadful paternalistic dismissal that show more just made me grind my teeth.

The parallels are interesting, but the idea that only White folk can bring civilization to Africa rankles and made me seriously annoyed with the book and story, even if his sexist attitude to every woman there didn't make me happy. show less

Una fotografía apenas visible y una siniestra maldición son el punto de partida. Durante dos mil años una antigua civilización ha permanecido enterrada en algún lugar ignorado del sur de África. Las magníficas pinturas de las cavernas y la legendaria Ciudad de la Luna de los bosquimanos permiten al Dr. Kazin encontrar la ciudad oculta. Pero entonces ocurre lo inesperado. EL viejo maleficio funde a los personajes modernos con los seres de la antigua civilización descubierta, creando una situación trágica y extraña. Pájaro de sol es quizás el libro más original del autor.

Some of Wilbur Smith's stuff is long-winded, family saga series that seem to stretch on to infinity with boring detail and some repetition. This book is absolutely unique and very obviously the best thing he ever did. A parallel adventure, one in the present day and one is the ancient past, make for one of the most intriguing books I ever read.

This starts off with modern adventurers seeking the remains of the lost ancient culture of Opet in Africa and leads to the advnturers re-enacting the conflict which destroyed that culture. The story owes a lot to Haggard, particularly She.

Wilbur Smith's best in my humble opinion. The story is incredible but strangly believable. The transition from modern times to historical past is done so seamlessly as to be magical. One of my favourite books of all time.

He's such a 'blokes' author, but i loved it; the mix of ancient and present day africa made it an interesting read.

My first book on Wilbur Smith. had a bit of everything in it. The romance, betrayal, suspense, action, adventure. This book was very in depth and took me some time to complete. Bit of a sad ending but a good book. will recommend