They had discovered a new reef that was rich with the precious elements of space and time. Out here there was more of those two treasures than a man could use in a dozen lifetime. Space to move, to ride or to fire a rifle; space spread with sunlight and wind, grass and trees, but not filled with them. There was also time. This was where time began: it was a quiet river, moving but not changed by movement; draw on it as much as you would and still it was always full. It was measured by the seasons but not restricted by them, for the summer that was now standing back to let autumn pass was the same summer that had flamed a thousand years before and would flame again a thousand years hence. In the presence of so much space and time all striving was futile.
(377-8) ( )

Sudáfrica, fines del siglo pasado. La cría del ganado, las guerras contra las tribus zulúes, la fiebre del oro en Johannesburgo, la cacería de elefantes, son los hitos que marcan una vida entregada al riesgo y la aventura. Porque Sean Courtney ha nacido para destacarse. Algo siempre muere cuando comen los leones pero siempre el alimento para quienes lo siguen, dice, refieriéndose a él, su servidor zulú

3.5 ( )

The novel opens in the 1870s in Natal - one of the colonial possessions of England in what will one day become South Africa. Sean and Garrick Courtney, the twin sons of one of the local ranch owners, spend their days hunting and playing under the hot sun. Until a tragedy strikes, Garrick loses his leg (due to his brother's negligence) and the relationship between them changes. Sean tries to make up for it, Garrick gets more and more bitter and manipulative.

And all that story unfolds while the world around them changes - they both end up in the Anglo-Zulu War - Garrick comes back a hero, Sean and their father are presumed dead. Until Sean comes back home to find his pregnant girlfriend Anna married to his brother and confirming the father's death. Had it been almost anyone in the world, that may have been the end of it but Anna wants a revenge for being forced to marry Garrick (because she believed Sean to be dead) so she spins a story and causes the two brothers to fall out permanently and Sean to leave, leaving all he owns to his unborn son.

And this is where the story really begins. While the Natal chapters are interesting and the war is tragic, they serve to set the scene for the future. Because Sean 's adventures are just beginning - he gets in the middle of the Witwatersrand golden fever, gets extremely wealthy and participates in the founding of Johannesburg, then have to run out of there after trusting the wrong people and ends up chasing ivory into the Bushveld, gets married, gets a child and then loses almost everything again when his two worlds meet for the first time. It is an adventure novel set in a place and time which is almost forgotten.

It is the story of Sean but it is also the story of the land that is to become South Africa - with all its beauty and weirdness, with the large open spaces and the wild animals, with the local tribes and the colonists - Dutch, English and Portuguese (and anyone else who shows up...). Sean's best friend may be white but his constant companion is Zulu and there is also a friendship there, albeit unconventional and looking almost insulting from our viewpoint - but both men respect each other and listen to each other and both learn from the other. There is a play on race and the changing in perceptions around it (and in how race is being used and abused at the colonies) - it is a world in flux where your yesterday's friend is an enemy tomorrow (the Boer war is coming soon) and your enemies may be the ones to save you next time.

And in counterpoint to Anna from the first part of the novel are the women of the later parts - Candy and Katrina - different as two women can be and yet, both of them hardworking in a men world. Their meeting ends up being the undoing of Sean's world - because none of them understand the other and neither Sean understand any of them.

The novel finishes almost where it started - with Sean looking back to Natal and deciding to go back home. It is a long novel and yet when it finished, I wanted more - Wilbur Smith is one of those storytellers that knows how to keep you interested. I am definitely planning to read more from Smith. ( )

I have never read a book by Wilbur Smith until now. I can see why he is a popular writer. He captivates you with his characters and keeps things moving fairly well. I will be reading his works in sequence. ( )