Birds of Prey is set in 1667 around the coasts of Southern and East Africa. It tells the story of Hal Courtney, his father Sir Francis, and the crew of their ship, the Lady Edwina. The story starts as the Courtneys are waiting to waylay a ship – any ship – belonging to the Dutch East India Company, unaware that the war is over and their letter of marque is worthless. They capture the Standvastigheit, which is carrying the new governor of Cape Town and his wife, along with a valuable cargo of spices, not to mention silver coins and gold bullion meant to finance the colony. Colonel Scheuder, an officer travelling on the captured ship, is released to travel back to Amsterdam to arrange the ransom of the governor and his wife. He leaves vowing vengeance on the Courtneys.
Birds of Prey is an exciting adventure. There are sea battles and land battles. Sir Francis and the crew of the Lady Edwina are betrayed by an old friend who felt he had a right to a share of the captured spices. The governor’s wife is a self-centred nymphomaniac who uses Hal and Colonel Schreuder to satisfy her appetites and casts them aside when they are no longer of any use to her. The story takes Hal from innocent boyhood to a man who is strong mentally as well as physically. There were passages that made me cry, and passages where I was glad that the ‘bad guys got what was coming to them’.
Birds of Prey is the first of Wilbur Smith’s books about the Courtneys. Like many of his books, including those about the Ballantynes and the other books about the Courtneys, it stands on its own as a gripping adventure. However, I find that reading the books in chronological sequence gives me a better feel for the way the family’s fortunes change and the way the family develops.
