The White Rhino Hotel

Kenya just after the First World War has been opened up to ex-service men who are given a chance for land and a new life. Africa is harsh but beguiling and the characters reflect this. The shifting points of view allow us to see this world through different eyes as a cast of opportunists, established settlers, natives and newcomers fill the pages of this book.

Bartle Bull knows this land and tells the history of a few years at a pivotal point in time. As a picture of life this is a wonderful piece of storytelling. The love for a country and hope of life is captured in such a way that I was drawn into the story and hoped that things would end well. I must say that few of the characters are actually likeable all the time, and some of the show more violence (and sex) is sadistic, but that was all part of the highly descriptive nature of this book. In the end I found this book gritty and hard but also strangely appealing, just like Kenya. show less

This is a rugged and exciting adventure tale, set in East Africa, in the years following World War I. There is a land grab going on, as the British government rewards it’s loyal soldiers with parcels of land in Kenya. This is a beautiful land but also harsh and unyielding and into this heady mix, are thrown Germans, Irish, Portuguese and of course the native Africans, struggling to deal with this careless onslaught. Most of the action in this story is centered around the White Rhino, owned by an English Lord and run by a scheming, but very intriguing dwarf. This is a well-researched, highly ambitious novel, with heart-stopping action, sex and nicely developed characters. This is also the first book of a trilogy. Jolly good stuff!

After WWI, Great Britain held a lottery for its veterans , giving away large tracts of what is now Kenya. It was a new start and a promised breath of fresh air after the horrors of the trenches. There were far more applicants than land grants, Many of the winners had never been to Africa; some had disabilities from the war.

At this time, Africa was like the American wild west had been a century earlier. The new, untamed life was especially attractive to those without a place in British society – misfits, adventure seekers, younger sons of nobility, an adventurous gypsy. But while some sought their fortunes through legitimate pursuits such as farming and gold-prospecting, others used fraud and guns.

And so this novel is just plain show more gritty. Lots of big game hunting, but even more murders and rapes, thefts of land and dashed dreams – all those activities that exist just outside of the law. The native tribes were ousted from their traditional lands and treated as subhuman; it was certainly no crime to kill a black man.

Most offensive to me was also an oversexed dwarf who took a native twelve year old girl to teach as his paramour.

It was an eye opening look at the seamier side of British colonialism. I’m glad to have read it, but will pass on the sequels. show less

For sheer adventure it would be hard to top The White Rhino Hotel by Bartle Bull. The story carries you away to Africa in the years just after World War I, and, from elephant hunts to deadly soldier ant marches, it keeps the excitement level high. What is truly remarkable about this book is that not only can the author deliver an amazing story, he writes that story in a astoundingly descriptive manner. To that is added a wonderful assortment of varied and interesting characters. With this mixture, he has created a dense, rich book that made for a very satisfying read.

With an incredible amount of passion, the story unfolds around Anton Rider, a young Englishman, who comes to Africa to find his fortune. What he does find is lots of show more romance, greed and adventure. Other characters which flesh out this story include a cunning dwarf, a disillusioned English aristocrat and his bitter wife, a young Welsh woman and her badly wounded soldier husband, a Portuguese villain and his exotic sister, along with many other entertaining characters. This is a colourful, old-fashioned story that will have you rooting for the good guys and booing the bad.

I thoroughly enjoyed this great read and look forward to escaping again into Bartle Bull’s Africa with the remaining two books in the trilogy. show less

I never thought I would encounter another epic tale on par with McMurty's Lonesome Dove. I am happy to report that The White Rhino Hotel, book one chronologically in Bull's Anton Rider trilogy, is that book. With lush, descriptive details of the land, the people and the animals of colonial East Africa, this is a story that will transport you back to a place and time, like the American West of Lonesome Dove, where each settler is very much on their own to defend their property and settle in a land that seems determined to test their strength and will power to carry on. Filled with a cast that includes "an English aristocrat, his disgruntled wife, a gorgeous Welsh ambulance driver, a proud Goan dwarf, a German soldier of fortune, an show more American Safari hunter, and a brutal Portuguese aristocrat and his oversexed sister", this story has the characters and the backdrop for a wonderfully enthralling epic adventure filled with good guys, bad guys and the ones you are just not sure which side of the battle they are on.

If you loved Lonesome Dove as much as I did and are on the look out for another epic tale written on the same grand scale, I can highly, highly recommend The White Rhino Hotel. show less

This was an entertaining book to read, and I have re-read it several times. I picked it up at a library book sale on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. The story held my attention and the characters were original and unique. The quality of writing I would place on the level of a well done "romance novel" (Julia Quinn and Amanda Quick being my favorite authors). It's not a romance book though, that's just what the writing quality reminded me of. It does have violence in it, but it's not on the same raw/gritty level as, let's say, James Ellroy's "L.A. Confidential," certain parts of David Guterson's "Snowing on Cedars," or Emily Devenport's "Larissa." Overall: enjoyable to read, memorable characters, great setting, good blend of show more adventure and drama. show less

Set in British East Africa just after World War I, this is a pioneer tale in the same vein as that found in the best Westerns. Taking a page out of the manual for running the Roman Empire, in 1919 the British government rewarded soldiers with land in its colonies. In this case the land was in British East Africa. The land was awarded by lottery, and ex-soldiers from all over the empire found their way to the territory in hopes that they would win the land and become rich. For most it didn't work out that way, and this is the story of those who stayed and toiled away because they fell in love with Africa, or those who had nothing else to look forward to or any where to go. The gathering place for all of the main figures in the story is show more the White Rhino Hotel. A hotel built right on the equator. The proprietor is an ex-patriot British Lord and his horsey wife, but the real work of running the hotel is done by a devious dwarf. The work is populated by wonderful characters who grow and learn and change their attitudes about their friends, neighbors, and the land. It is the growth of the characters that makes the book a worthwhile read. At its heart this book has a very Wild West feel and is very much in the tradition of the work of Louis L'Amour and James Fenimore Cooper. Adding to the value of this story is the fact that the author can write. The book is full of wonderful adventure and tension filled scenes that make the reader wish they could read faster while at the same time prolonging the pleasure of the current page. show less