Africa complete

Its been a while since my last blog - too much travelling, too much work, too little time.  But, I did read in the spaces - one good thing about flying!  And I managed to finish the final Beverey Harper book "Footprints of Lion".  It is a great book!  And, as I mentioned in my previous blog, was the second of a two part series finished by her family - and Peter Watt - after Beverly died.


This book was about the Boer War and continued on with the family that Beverly introduced us to in the first book - Dallas and Lorna and their children and friends.  It was a really good read and told the story of the times and the family very well.  It captured the displacement of the Zulus post their wars with the invaders - and then the culmination of the clash between the German/Dutch settlers and the British colonil interests.  This included the scorched earth policy and the putting of women and children into concentration camps. The characters delivered well and matured over time.  The story was evenly paced with a nice range of excitement, history and relationships and the plots and sub-plots came together well.  So congratulations to those who completed Beverly Harper's legacy - it was a job very well done.  My only dissapointment was that the stories ended - and I wonder if any in the family might go on with what they stated!

And, in between, I did read Jenniver Fallon's "Undivided" - a mix between celtic fantasy and mystery and moving between an alternative world where the Roman's didn't conquer England and modern day where they had in history.  It was hard to tell wheter the audience was for teenagers or for we hardened fantasy readers.  But it was likable and whimiscal enough that I will look out for the next in the series.

I also managed to slip in two books by David Debord (ther first 2 books in a trilogy I think) - recommended to me by a friend - "The Silver Serpent" and the "Keeper of the Mists".  This follows the classic pattern of a group of young people who find themselves on a quest and with one of them being the chosen one for a particular magical sword and role of deliverer.  It has some interesting characters and the story moves along reasonably well - though I am not sure about how well the characters are developing and maturing (a big thing with me after my frustration with the "wheel of time series").  Still, quite readable and again I liked it enough to be on the lookout for the next book in the series.

Must be time to read some more theology or philosophy - rather than the Dean Koonst book that I have just started - "What the night knows" (not one to read home alone at night)..... happy to hear any ideas!!  Happy reading.