The Triumph of the Sun

Wilbur Smith Pan Macmillan 600 pages $20

Like an old elephant heading back to that familiar watering hole, Wilbur Smith has returned to the territory he knows best.

Africa, where men are men and women go weak at the knees in a rip-roaring, lusty, busty tale based on actual historical events but featuring either of his heroic families, the Courtneys and the Ballantynes.

But wait, there’s more. In retelling the story of the Mahdi’s rebellion in the Sudan in the 1880s and the death of British General Charles Gordon, he has brought the Courtneys and the Ballantynes together as they battle the hordes of the Mahdi, a Sudanese Islamic revivalist.

Naturally there’s a beautiful girl, Rebecca Benbrook, who is torn between the handsome officer, Penrod Ballantyne, and the roguish trader, Ryder Courtney.

It’s by-the-numbers standard Wilbur Smith fare, given the prolific author knows he’s on a good thing, so why mess with a winning formula? Still, if you’ve got a long plane ride or a weekend indoors because of foul weather, then Triumph of the Sun could be just the trick to while away the hours.

– David Sibley

The Last Kingdom
Bernard Cornwell Harper Collins 500 pages $18.95

Master historical novelist Bernard Cornwell’s massive legion of fans won’t be disappointed by the latest series to come from his prolific pen.

The Last Kingdom is the first of a series of books on Alfred the Great, the king who withstood the Viking armies to create the foundations of the kingdom which has survived to today.

As usual, Cornwell has created a flawed but feisty protagonist, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, a young Anglo-Saxon warrior, with the story told from his perspective. Uhtred is the heir to to the earldom of Bebbanburgh, now known as Bamburgh, in northern England, after his older brother and his father are killed by Viking raiders.

The raiders, led by the merciless brothers Ubba and Ivar the Boneless, destroy the Kingdom of Northumbria in a battle at York where Uhtred is captured and made a slave of a Viking chieftain, Ragnar.

Cornwell’s depiction of 9th century England is meticulous, especially the battle scenes where the horror and savagery of the battles of that era come alive.

If you haven’t read Bernard Cornwell yet, then try The Last Kingdom – it could well whet your appetite for more of his writing.– David Sibley