The first one of the Ballantyne novels. On page 3 I was already cracking up. The willful heroine catches a glimpse of the mean, but good-looking hero having a shower on deck of his ship:

"This was a marvelous symmetry and balance of trunk to long powerful legs, of broad shoulders to narrow waist. There was a lustre to the skin, even where the sun had not gilded it. This was not an untidy tangle of masculine organs, half hidden by a bush of coarse hair, shameful and vaguely revolting. This was vibrant manhood...."

At the end of the 19th century our main characters travel to Africa to make their fortune and search for their father, who disappeared into South-East Africa several years previously. They encounter the British Navy, slave traders, African kings, elephants, treasures, witches, buffalo, malaria, love, betrayal, loss and their destiny... To be continued in the next book... ;)

A nice adventure novel. Nothing too exciting. Certainly not one of Wilbur Smith's best efforts. I would still buy the next one in the series, Men of Men, to see what will happen. But he can do better.

Unfortunately the book had a rather major hiccup: page 600 of the paperback edition published by Pan Books is followed by page 41 to 88 and then continues with page 649. Which is really annoying towards the end of the book. I missed out on the conclusion of one major storyline and missed the beginning of the final climax of another one. Shame on you people, where is your quality control?