Product Description

It is 1913 and ex-soldier turned professional big game hunter, Leon Courtney, is in British East Africa guiding rich and powerful men from America and Europe on safaris in the Masai tribe territories. One of his clients, German industrialist Count Otto Von Meerbach, has a company which builds aircraft and vehicles for the Kaiser’s burgeoning army. But Leon had not bargained for falling passionately in love with Eva, the Count’s beautiful and enigmatic mistress.

Just prior to the outbreak of World War I, Leon is recruited by his uncle, Penrod Ballantyne, Commander of the British Forces in East Africa , to gather information from Von Meerbach. He stumbles on a plot against the British involving the disenchanted survivors of the Boer War, but it is only when Eva and Von Meerbach return to Africa that Leon finds out who and what is really behind the conspiracy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1114 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-03
• Released on: 2009-04-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 478 pages

About the Author

Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He was educated at Michaelhouse and Rhodes University. He became a full-time writer in 1964 after the successful publication of When the Lion Feeds, and has since written over thirty novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. His books are now translated into twenty-six languages.

Customer Reviews

Well I couldn't put it down...
Wilbur Smith's story of a young big game hunter captivates you from the opening pages with its distinguished, convincing and evocative descriptions of colonial Africa. Whether you have visited Africa or not, an enriching experience of the continent is in store as the author transports you to confrontations with the big five, altercations with rebels, and the ghostly visions from the hero, Leon Courtney's, past, present and future.

The book is a page turner not just for an well-conceived plot. As 'Assegai' demonstrates in every lucid description, Wilbur Smith is a genuine writer, and a stylist of distinction. The writing is a joy to read. The cultural details expand upon the plot and never seem tacked on. The novel illuminates a crucial juncture in early twentieth century history, the steep incline to the First World War, the problems and pitfalls of imperialism.

What is most impressive is the way in which Smith marshalls and orchestrates the structure of this plot and his characters. The way the novel segues from a straightforward action and suspense largely focussed on Masai rituals and customs, to a Western intrigue in which Courteney is essentially the outsider looking in on the west is seemless. This deepens the characterisation of Courtney and genuinely questions ideas of national identity.

I have a few issues with some of the characters (Snell is your archetypal pen-pushing underachiever with an axe to grind), and sometimes the portrayal of Africans and their deference to the physically and morally excellent Courtney is a bit too conventional, but what's important is their interrelationships and interiorirty, and these have a palapable veracity at their core.

If you're a fan of Smith work then this is another winner. For new readers, expect a well-orchestrated plot where the perspective and identity of the protagonist is adjusted by the uncontrollable events around him, either by supernatural fate or the growing, undeniable reality of war. Above all, expect good writing and an enveloping experience.

Assegai by Wilbur Smith
It is 1913 and clouds of war are gathering over three continents. Ex-army officer turned big game hunter Leon Courtney is running safari expeditions in East Africa for the rich and powerful. This activity, though, is a smokescreen for a priority mission, spying. Leon has been recruited by his uncle, Penrod Ballantine, the commander of the British military forces in the region, to gather information about one particular client, Count Otto von Meerbach, a German arms manufacturer whom, it is suspected, has a secret agenda. As Leon settles into his task he becomes inevitably drawn into contact with the Count's mistress, the beguiling Eva. He falls passionately in love with her and this brings its complications when he discovers she is leading a secret life. With the Meerbachs temporarily back in Europe, Leon stumbles on the Count's plan to destabilize the British presence using disenchanted survivors of the Boer War. Worryingly, Eva seems to be part of the conspiracy, which poses a problem for Leon. Can he block the Count's scheme and at the same time rescue her from danger? The outcome is predictable, but this latest adventure in the Courtney saga will not disappoint the author's fans. However, for readers new to his work, the characters may seem stereotypical of popular fiction (dashing hero, cunning adversary, beautiful woman). Never the less, Assegai is a satisfying historical melodrama, well up to Wilbur Smith's usual standard.

short changed
The last few books Wilbur Smith has written have fallen far short in quality of his earlier classics such as, Eye of the Tiger, The Sound Of Thunder, Sunbird - and leave fans a little unsatisfied.

We now get repetitive desriptions of wounded Buffaloes, huge Lions, African sunsets, plots now build for 95% of the book and a garbled denoument of about twenty pages finishes them off eg Quest, Blue Horizon and now Assegai.

Come on Wilbur!! Let's have another complete classic like Eagle in the Sky...

Dave Hicks...