This bookring has now been completed and the book will be released hand to hand from now on.

Grateful thanks to Michael Hunt the author for the opportunity to read this book. I hope it continues to travel widely.

Sleeve notes:

Beginning with the wreck of a Portuguese ship off the feared Wild Coast in 1814, this captivating novel spans southern Africa's tumultuous past, ranging from unexplored South East Africa in 1814, to war torn Angola in 1970. The reader is swept along through tribal conflicts, including the rise of Shaka, the charismatic founder of the Zulu nation, political events and racial tensions in a world in the process of discovery...

Well, what a wonderful surprise. I didn't expect it so soon.
And I find it particularly special this book, since there's a letter at the beginning, from the author to us.
And I might have made a new adept, since my father was with me this morning and was impressed with the theme of the book and the type of community bokkcrossing is...
If only he had the net at home!
Well,thank you again and I'll try to be quick (but I've got a huge book to read before).

And, please, be tolerant for any mistake I might have made. I'm not a native speaker.

08/11/2004 : I know I'm slow reading it, but I am just amazed so far. It's fascinating, not always easy grasping all specific references, but there's the glossary.

I'm done ! (at last!).
I loved it, and it's quite unusual for me to use that verb.
Thank you for letting me the opportunity to read such a book. It's dense, lots of characters, descriptions, but I got through it even though I'm not very familiar with that part of the world.
I'll come back to that entry later to explain with more details.

this is incredible. i love reading anything and everything about subsaharan africa, so when i stumbled across this bookring i immediately pm'd yokospungeon if i could please still take part in the ring. imagine my surprise when i received a pm from landrellec asking for my address... within 24 hours!

i've just returned from a short stint in the ivory coast and am currently awaiting news on a possible stay in south africa. what better time than this to read this book? it's predestined, i tell you!
[ insert twilight zone music ]

during my week off i've read most of the book and yesterday i've pm'd mymlan to know what address should go on the envelope.

somehow the author's note (in the front of the book) was kind of unsettling, as the book gave me the idea of autobiography more than fiction. to be fully honest, that's a mixed compliment. because it not only means i found it authentic. every now and then i had the idea that a bit more distance would have helped the characters to come alive.

the adventures in the (far away) past were interesting. i'm very fond of historical events, even if novelized. the adventures in the more recent years had a good mix of the peculiar problems apartheid served to people. i think the narrative was a bit too focused on bringing that across; these protagonists were on the brink of being a bit of a vehicle to vent ideas about that.

nothing that more writing experience won't cure though. so just keep going... the ideas are interesting enough!

Released on Sunday, January 02, 2005 at about 6:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at bookring in bookring, Bookring Controlled Releases.

RELEASE NOTES:

mymlan sent me the address a week ago, but the holidays are a tough time to mail anything here: all mailboxes are closed to avoid firework damage (every year several in the neighbourhood are blown up despite this. i always pray my books escape that fate!). ofcourse the post office is closed most of the time due to the holidays. sigh.
but this evening the mailboxes have been reopend and i'm sending this book out right away!

The book arrived safely today, thank you nrrdgrrl! I have another bookring waiting, so it might take a while before I read this.

I read the book quite quickly as the story was engaging. I have to agree with ndrrgrrl though; whereas the events in the past formed a true story and were extremely interesting, the "modern story" really seemed a bit too pamphletic.

What I liked especially were the Nguni characters, they seemed very real, even though I would have liked to get to know more about their point of view and their ways of thinking. The discription of their lifestyle was also quite fascinating.

It seemed that the historical story was a bit too compressed in the end, either it could have bee longer, or then just cut short at some point (but then of course, the reader does want to know "what happened then"). In all of the book, the sex scenes left me with a feeling of having been added to the story, they didn't really seem necessary or natural.

Thank you for sharing the book! Despite my criticism I definately think there was something in it: I'll be looking out for the next one by the author. The book is off to LabMom as soon as I get her address.

I finally set this one on its journey to Joanthro, I hope it won't be too long on the way - I'm sorry for the delay.

This was waiting for me when I got home last night - a great thing to happen on a Friday night! I immediately read the author's letter which is just inside the front cover and am very anxious to dive into the book. What a neat touch!

Once I picked this book up, I didn't want to put it down. It was one of those books that you never really leave and intrude unexpectdly into your thoughts when you're doing something else. I actually finished the book last weekend, but I wanted to go back through the pages I marked (with sticky notes!) and think about those passages again.

I enjoyed the characters and how they illuminated the history of the area. For me, that's what makes a good a historical novel - a story that reveals the everyday effects of historical events and policies. Knowing the history and historical processes of a region is important, but really *feeling* the effects of those processes in the lives of the people who are not policy makers is equally valuable. I will be buying a copy of this book and the author's other book as well for a "family bookring".

Thanks YokoSpungeon for facilitating this ring and thanks to the author for the note inside. It made my reading of this book very special.

I mailed this to tembo earlier today.

The book arrived savely today!

i kept the book much longer than i intended to....but i had to read harry potter 6 right away.
i liked the book in general. the events in the past were interesting and formed a nice story. whereas the more recent events especially in the last quarter of the book seemed a bit pressed. i especially liked the invented nguni characters and the way they experienced the history of southern africa. somehow a perspective from inside and outside at the same time.


thanks so much yokospungeon for setting up this ring and thanks to the author for the note inside.

as i did not receive a reply from labmom, the book is travelling back to yokospungeon.

This book has now returned from it's Bookring travels to me. I am going to send it by postal release to a new bookcrosser who might find it and the backstory to it interesting.

Starting to struggle with this book, can't deny that is a good read but I'm not in the right frame of mind to read it. If it was one I'd bought myself I would of put it down to read at a later date by now, however seeing how it was given to me in a RABCK I shall persevere with it. More journals to follow.

ok so finally finished it. i was quite surprised that i enjoyed it it;s not the type of book i would have chosen for myself so i thank yokospungeon for sending it my way, thought part two was much better then part one and couldn't help thinking that the more modern day sections dragged slightly and seemed a bit unnessecary almost as if they were just a tool so as to have the past story. a good way of getting a basic history lesson without getting to bogged down. all in all i am glad that i struggled on. now what shall i do with it?

After reading this book I have passed it on to a friend from work, hopefully he will post a journal when he finish's it. After that I intend on doing a wild release.

Well four yrs on, I lost touch with the friend i passed this on to and it seems they never read/released it themselves, shame