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The Triumph of the Sun | 
 enlarge | Author: Wilbur Smith
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: EBooks
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $7.19
You Save: $18.76 (72%)
Rating:  42 reviews
Sales Rank: 13804
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1st
Pages: 512
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.914
ASIN: B000WNOORK
Publication Date: March 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
In the Sudan, decades of brutal misgovernment by the ruling Egyptian Khedive in Cairo precipitate a fierce and bloody rebellion and Holy War headed by a charismatic new religious leader, The Madhi or Expected One. The British are forced to intervene to protect their national interests and to attempt to rescue the hundreds of British subjects stranded in the country. Along with hundreds of others, British trader and businessman, Ryder Courtney is trapped in the capital city of Khartoum. It is here that he meets Captain Penrod Ballantyne of the 10th Hussars, as well as the British Consul, David Benbrook and his three beautiful daughters. Against the vivid and bloody backdrop of the siege of Khartoum, in which British General Charles George Gordon is killed and the British retreat, these three powerful men fight to survive. Rich with vibrant historical detail and infused with his inimitable powers of storytelling, The Triumph of the Sun is Wilbur Smith at his masterful best. Wilbur Smiths novels are #1 bestsellers both nationally and internationally. A major lead title for Macmillan.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 37 more reviews...
 Mr. Smith Brings History to Life Again!! September 25, 2005
John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States)
17 out of 22 found this review helpful
Having finished this novel, I have now read all of Wilbur Smith thirty novels and I must say that the man never strays far from what made us start reading him in the first place. His novels are not for the faint of heart as there is considerable cruelty in them, both with animals and our fellow man, but that is the way things happened during the times he writes about. There are also some fairly graphic sexual accounts. If that is not your cup of tea, you had probably better find a different author. However, Smith in his books always follows the thread of history in whatever part of the African continent he is writing about and gives life and color to a part of the world that many of us know too little about. This book is set basically in The Sudan and brings to life the seige of Khartoum and it's aftermath in a most interesting and realistic way. As in many of his books, a Ballantyne and a Courtney are prominently featured along with many other characters from both history and Mr. Smith's most fertile mind. My only criticisim of the book is that with 50 or so pages to go I was looking forward to the sequel. Alas, that is not to be. However, the story is vintage Wilbur Smith and if he is someone you enjoy reading, this novel will not change that.
 Don't waste your time or money May 29, 2005
Robert Hansohn (USA)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
I am an avid reader of Wilbur Smith and have read all his novels. To me he has been an excellent story teller. But this novel is among his worst if not the worst he has written. Among the many flaws are poor character development, improbable plot twists and gratuitous sex scenes that lend little if anything to the story. He, his editors and publishers let us down on this one. It is not worth the hardback price, or even the paperback price. Wait until it comes to your local library. In the meantime you are not missing a thing. What a disappointment to loyal fans who have in the past revered most of his works.
 Triumph of the Sun is another triumph for Smith ! October 22, 2006
Ric Wasley (Boston, MA USA)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Once again Wilbur Smith confirms his mastery of meticulous historical research coupled with a good old fashioned 'rip-roaring' yarn!
As with his dozens of other tales that span the history of his of his fictional Courtney family, this tale keeps the reader literally on the edge of their seat throughout all 500 plus pages.
As with the other superb books which track over four centuries of the lives, loves and struggles the Courtney clan, Triumph of the Sun is set against the sprawling backdrop of Africa.
This novel covers the adventures of Ryder Courtney and pits him against the fanatical Mahdi and the infamous dervish troops during the long siege of Khartoum defended by the legendary British General Gordon.
In this novel however Courtney's heroics almost pale in comparison to a member of the other fictional family of Smith's African saga's, Captain Penrod Ballantyne.
Ballentyne plays the role of the handsome, dashing, fearless young British officer that was most typified in the swashbuckling films of the 30' and 40's, by Errol Flynn.
The almost Hollywood style love interest is supplied by the beautiful teenage daughter of the British consul general, Rebecca Benbrook. In a neat little package that would have done a Hollywood director proud, Smith also manages to throw two preteen younger sisters, Saffron and Amber, into the mix as well.
As the story weaves in and out to cover the long years of the siege and battles, Smith cleverly develops the pair of young sisters into love interests as we watch them grow up under the most adverse but exciting of conditions.
In the hands of a lesser author, this tale of dashing hero's and winsome maidens in peril could have turned into a hackneyed 'Saturday matinee' of a novel.
But Smith is a master when it come to the historical saga. And although both Ryder and Penrod make escapes from certain death, survive fiendish tortures and rescue fair maidens, Smith spices the mix with liberal doses of really good history and cunningly woven and often shocking detail, so that the reader is truly caught up in the adventure and never bored.
As a matter of fact there is one incident when Penrod is held captive by a dervish prince, who suspects him of treachery, where I actually find myself getting choked up. The dervish decides to expose Perod by torturing in the most gruesome manner imaginable, a poor little slave girl that Penrod has befriended.
For the rest of the novel, I perused the pages with a vengeance, waiting for Penrod to even the score by plunging a saber into the dervish's guts!
It is a powerful writer who can evoke that sort of emotion in a reader, and Smith never disappoints.
I heartily recommend Triumph of the Sun as yet another in Wilbur Smith's long list of triumph's.
Richard S. Wasley "Ric - Author - Shadow of Innocence - coming January 2007 from Kunati" (Boston, MA USA)
Starts with a bang ... ends with a whimper May 25, 2005
Book Junkie (Dallas, Texas)
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
I can modestly claim to understand Mr. Smith's style for storytelling, considering I have followed his books written in the 60s through today. I immensely enjoyed the earlier books - Shout at the Devil, Hungry as the sea, Goldmine, Cry Wolf etc.
Lately Smith seems to have lost his touch for the exotic and has become more mainstream. Triumph of the Sun displays his usual brilliance in the beginning - however the latter half dissolves into a standard formulaic action adventure you get to see from Hollywood only too frequently.
Smith also seems to have stopped trying to keep his characters in, well character. Case in point, Rebecca Penbrook, our vestal, pure heroine seems to degenrate into a slutty tramp as the story unfolds. I was particularly put off by her 'awakening' with the creepy Mahdi after her capture. While I applaud Mr. Smith's confidence in his deep insights into the female sexual psyche, I seriously doubt if women think with their 'quimmies', as he puts it, all the time, which is what our dear Rebecca seems to do. If we wanted a detailed description of what Rebecca does with the Mahdi's 'essence' in her mouth, we always have Harrold Robbins or Erica Jong.
I am waiting for a book with the classic Smith touches of elephant hunts, lions roaring and crocodile snapping off people's legs in the Zambezi.
Not a triupmh May 30, 2005
Book-A-Week Reader (Melbourne, Florida)
10 out of 12 found this review helpful
I have read all of the family of books and this is the weakest. Poor character development, minimal suspence in the story line and the ending seems to be that Wilbur got tired and stopped writing. No where near the quality of the earlier stories.
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