For you. The 3 best books by Wilbur Smith

The historical novel has its logical limitations to develop a plot. It should not be easy to start writing novels of this genre under the approach of many authors such as Stephen King, declared defenders of a certain autonomy of the characters. It is clear that If you let the character think, act, move and interact in the way he asks himself, you may run into some problems to move the plot towards some minimum initially expected paths.

But in return, the characters will always intervene with ease and absolute verisimilitude, like a neighbor on whom the reader could spy... Getting the plot to shine in the end as an organized construction, with full meaning, endowed with twists and a perfectly closed or wonderfully suggestive ending will be due more to your imaginative capacity and sufficient critical feeling that ends up determining that you may have screwed up. Because if you have no imagination, and you are not willing to abandon a novel halfway, it is better not to dedicate yourself to writing.

The already deceased Wilbur smith He had that imaginative capacity and also dared to write about historical mysteries with the double difficulty of redirecting or readjusting the plot based on plot needs and historical impositions. There it is nothing. I don't know if this would mean plot headaches and a few novels abandoned in drawers that might come out after his disappearance. But the truth is that his more than 30 novels suggest that he got the balance between the creative and the real framework right.

The history of Africa is a sum of very unique stories, from the tribal to the colonial. Every African country has its history written like a real novel. AND Wilbur smith He knew how to take advantage of the reef to present us with countless adventures and frenetic mysteries.

Top 3 best Wilbur Smith novels

When lions eat

If there is a country of singular differences with the rest of the states of the African continent, that is South Africa. Portuguese, Dutch, British, Germans… half of Europe ended up leaving its stamp on one country.

To the point that South Africa seemed to become a country with its back to the rest of the continent, where indigenous tribes were relegated to a second level as citizens. In this novel we are at the dawn of the XNUMXth century. The country is still a place that European settlers yearn to exploit at all levels.

The character of Sean Courtney, adventurer and lover of that mystical space at times of the southernmost Africa. With this novel a saga of adventures began that also portrays that particular time of clash between cultures, that latent conflict in the middle of a nature transformed into the paradise of colonizers.

When lions eat

Sacred river

I was recently talking about Terenci moix, surely the fiction writer who has most tackled the theme of the old Nile in Spain. It is not that there is any thematic harmony between one author and another, but the truth is that both provide a differentiating account of this millenary culture.

Wonderful fictions that read separately make up a very complete scenario that stops at the moment of the character or that poses a frenetic plot, depending on the case of one or the other author. In this novel Río Sagrado, the best of the trilogy that Wilbur ended up writing, by far, we discover a very special character: Taita.

It is about a eunuch in the service of the Pharaoh's court who manages to lead us through a masterful web of mysteries, violence and passions with the brilliance of a millenary civilization that seems to sparkle from every page.

Sacred river

Hunter's fate

Some other Wilbur readers throw the tackle at my head when I highlight this novel as one of his best. But for me it is without a doubt.

The action starts in 1913. León Courtney (you know, from the Courtney saga that began with "When the lions eat") maintains that adventurous and passionate spirit of his ancestors. Our friend León is involved in this novel in a committed role between passions and feelings.

On the one hand he feels that it is due to his country and on the other the discovery of Eva opens up for him like an inalienable enigma. An action-packed novel, with its sex scenes to ignite the blood and twists that appear as evidence of a destiny determined to extract his true self from León ...

Hunter's fate
4.8/5 - (6 votes)

10 comments on «For you. The 3 best books by Wilbur Smith »

  1. Страхотен автор.Жалко, че хора като г-н Смит са смъртни.Загуба, огромна загуба.Почивайте в мир, г-н Смит.Дано издателите в България се сетят да издадат още от книгите му на български език

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