Golden Lion Hardcover – 24 Sept. 2015

Do not bother with this very poor WS effort although suspect Giles Kristian may be more the issue with WS profiting from his name & past reputation which he is ruining in my opinion with this type of offering. This is a poor effort @ best with very little action and when it comes it is of no surprise whatsoever. 90% of the book is just spurious human interaction which to say the least is hackneyed and when the limited action does come it's so overtly obvious what is going to happen that a 7 year old could have written it. Save your money and buy a decent Connelly, Grisham or Child thriller. This is just plain expensive profiteering tosh and has saddened me as WS has been one of my favourite writers in years gone by.

I was very disappointed with book. I had read a few wilbur smith novels but not for ten years or more. So when I purchased this I was looking forward to the read. The characters and plot was good with sufficient depth and charm to keep me thoroughly engrossed. However as I was nearing the end I thought to myself how is this going to end as I have only 15 or more pages to read, innocently thinking there must be a second book.That is the fatal flaw it seems the author got bored and just finished up the book as quickly as possible, as he had something better to do, maybe cutting the grass!!!!The author owes it to the readers to properly finish a book and not cop out and insult the intelligence of the readers by bland simplicity.I will not be wasting my time again with his books.

Was a big fan of Wilbur Smith's earlier books - of this series (Birds of Prey, Monsoon) in particular - so was excited to discover this new adventure. However, unfortunately the excitement was short lived.Smith's more recent books have become way too formulaic, so you won't find any surprises here. The story moves along okay, and reading it passed the time - nothing more. The ending however was unbelievably bad - so much so that I actually thought I must have missed a chapter somehow! The story seems to be building to the final 'climax', when suddenly it's just all over! It's as if the author just got bored mid-storyline and called it a day. Not sure I'll be reading anymore of Smith's new releases, very disappointed.

Wilbur Smith has lost his touch. Golden Lion is much inferior to his other fabulously written books.The end in Golden Lion is abrupt, unreal and comes across as if Wilbur suddenly got tired of the whole scheme, wanting to end the story as quickly as possible..A huge disappointment.

I've read nearly all of Wilbur Smith's books and thoroughly enjoyed every one of them. I was hesitant about this one after reading some of the "reviews" which were negative and focused on the fact that it is co - (ghost?) written with Giles Kristian.However.... when I started reading it any such doubts were. Loan away. Right from the start this gripped me. A welcome addition to the Courtney sea faring books and Im even going to read Mr Kristian's Viking books as the writing maintained a very high standard and great exciting pace with lots of Wilbur Smith traits. If I hadn't been aware this was a co written venture I seriously wouldn't have known as this is a typical great Wilbur Smith book.I'll have no problem buying any other co-written books after this.

Having read pretty much everything by Wilbur this book came as somewhat of a disappointment. The book ambled on, the characters were bereft of the usual intensity of earlier Courtney characters, the plots were rather clumsy and, if anything, annoyingly predictable. The booked lacked the colour, taste and smell of Africa which have become such a familiar and stirring component of the Courtney novels. The finale fell short of the punch that we expect from the master story teller and I was left feeling rather short changed. Ultimately, this book would have been another classic had Wilbur Smith actually written it.

Enjoyed this book with several twists and turns as usual. Usual lucky escapes for all involved and me hanging on to the edge of my Kindle as the Courtneys and their band of loyal followers rescue each other from the jaws of defeat or death on several occasions. However without giving away any spoilers the ending was a bit of an anticlimax and what could have been a jaw dropping ending petered out in a few pages without the goodies coming to any harm. All in all not a bad book but the ending was a bit of a disappointment.

This story held me in thrall from the first page to the last! I am a devotee of Wilbur Smith- he is a story teller extraordinaire. I read and re-read his books and find something new every time.I would recommend him to anyone looking for adventure - I guarantee that you will not be disappointed!