Before there was empire, there was trade, and military force to protect that trade. Wilbur Smith's new, full-blooded historical novel starts with the commissioning, by King William III of Sir Hal Franklin. Franklin's mission is to rid the Indian Ocean of the pirate known as al-Aouf, the Bad One, and tells us more than we knew about the East India trade, Channel smuggling, the Arab slave trade and the struggle to keep Oman free from the Ottoman Empire.

Smith's solid, competent prose does not always avoid the hackneyed, but effectively conveys both the heat of battle and the savoury smells of lands experienced for the first time. Hal Franklin has four sons and the complex tragedy of their relationships dominates the book as brother is pitted against brother in love, and war, and treachery. The plot, though, is only a part of what is important here; the Indian Ocean trade was the site of one of the great confrontations between the English-speaking world and Islam--a conflict, between the brash mariners with their shiny new guns and the long-established, scholarly, brave, pious rulers of Arabia and the East African coast. A conflict whose outcome was open to doubt.--Roz Kaveney

Monsoon, set in the dawn of the 18th century in England, East Africa and Arabia, takes over where "Birds of Prey" left off and follows the lives of the three sons of Hal Courteney.

2007-12-03 Rip-roaring!

Monsoon is by far the best novel by Wilbur Smith that I have read. It is an epic generation-spanning tale of war, violence, love, lust, deceit and despair, all rolled in to one. It's an endlessly gripping novel that follows the Courtney boys through childhood into manhood, through England, Africa into the Middle East and back to Africa again. Smith manages to paint a vivid picture of many different lands, cultures and personalities with apparent ease.

In my eyes, this novel stands apart from others by Smith, it is great escapism and a terrific read. Whether your a fan of Wilbur Smith or not, this is worth buying. At times I have been dissapointed by his books, but I certainly wasn't on this occasion.

Definitely worth your time and money!!!