The Sunbird
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Narrated by:
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Piers Hampton
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By:
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Wilbur Smith
About this listen
A lost civilisation. A curse reborn.
Dr Ben Kazin has only a blurred photograph and a gut instinct that there is a lost city to uncover somewhere beneath the Botswana cliffs. Soon, a whispered curse and a chance encounter with a local tribe lead him to discover much more than city foundations.
The curse, it seems, is real, and will link Ben, his oldest friend and the woman they both love with a forgotten leader from 2,000 years ago, in a city of glory and honour that subsequently disappeared without a trace. But what happened to that ancient civilisation? And what is it that connects that lost empire to Ben and the violent dangers he must face in the present day?
An action-packed archaeological adventure from global best seller Wilbur Smith.
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Poor sequel
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Me Time, was awesome
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Eagle in the Sky
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The Syrian plane disintegrated, evaporating in a gush of silvery smoke, rent through with bright white lightning, and the ejecting pilot's body was blown clear of the fuselage. For an instant it was outlined ahead of David's screen, cruciform in shape with arms and legs thrown wide, the helmet still on the head, and the clothing ballooning in the rush of air.
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May be my favorite
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By: Wilbur Smith
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The hijacking of a jumbo jet off the Seychelles galvanises antiterrorist chief Peter Stride into the action for which he has spent a lifetime training. But even in the hail of bullets which follows, he knows that this is only the beginning of a nightmare. Stride is the one man who might find the twisted genius who holds the world hostage - if only his every move were not anticipated by the enemy....
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more vivid descriptions and good story but unsatis
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By: Wilbur Smith
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The Dark of The Sun
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Performance
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Story
Bruce Curry is the leader of a mercenary band with the dubious support of three white officers. His mission is to relieve a mining town cut off by the fighting and to retrieve a priceless consignment of diamonds. Ranged against his ill-disciplined unit are bandits, guerrillas and hostile tribes that roam the land. But there is another, even deadlier enemy - one of his own men....
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Wow!! And wow!!
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By: Wilbur Smith
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Shout at the Devil
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In German East Africa on the eve of the First World War, two freebooting adventurers - one a flamboyant Irish American, the other an impeccable young Englishman - pit their wits against the gross German Commissioner from whose territory they are making their living as game hunters and ivory poachers. But the outbreak of war gives the signal for their private skirmishing to flare into a relentless vendetta pursued with devastating violence by land and sea, so that what begins as a comic escapade gives way to chilling horror....
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Brilliant
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By: Wilbur Smith
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Gold Mine
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Performance
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In Gold Mine, an exciting adventure from Wilbur Smith, ambitious and hard-living mining expert Rod Ironsides knows that the general managership of the Sonder Ditch gold mine is the chance of a lifetime. But the price of unquestioning obedience to the coldly obsessive genius of Dr Manfred Steyner proves impossible to pay. Both men are but unwitting tools of powerful people - for whom the control of a gold mine is only part of a dangerous plan which includes the destruction of the very mine itself....
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1960s Smith Epic
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On Leopard Rock
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Wilbur Smith has lived an incredible life of adventure, and now he shares the extraordinary true stories that have inspired his fiction. From being attacked by lions to close encounters with deadly reef sharks, from getting lost in the African bush without water to crawling the precarious tunnels of gold mines, from marlin fishing with Lee Marvin to near death from crash-landing a Cessna airplane, from brutal school days to redemption through writing and falling in love, Wilbur Smith tells us the intimate stories of his life that have been the raw material for his fiction.
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This Gives You a Look Into Wilbur Smiths Life
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By: Wilbur Smith
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Cloudburst
- Jack Courtney, Book 1
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- Unabridged
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Jack Courtney has lived in the UK his whole life. But this summer his parents are travelling to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for a gorilla conference and they've promised to take Jack and his friends with them. When his parents go missing in the rainforest, abducted by mercenaries, nobody seems to have any answers. Jack is pretty sure that it's got something to do with the nearby tantalum mines, but he needs to prove it. Along with Amelia and Xander, Jack must brave the jungle to save his parents. Standing in his way is a member of his own family - Caleb Courtney.
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This book was not written by Wilbur. It's boring.
- By Anonymous User on 02-23-23
By: Wilbur Smith, and others
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Eye of the Needle
- A Novel
- By: Ken Follett
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
His code name was “The Needle.” He was a German aristocrat of extraordinary intelligence - a master spy with a legacy of violence in his blood, and the object of the most desperate manhunt in history.... But his fate lay in the hands of a young and vulnerable English woman, whose loyalty, if swayed, would assure his freedom - and win the war for the Nazis....
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All-time great thriller, great reader, great idea
- By Glenn Hopp on 03-14-21
By: Ken Follett
What listeners say about The Sunbird
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- thomas
- 11-08-21
the best Wilbur Smith stand alone novel!
this book truly is epic. Sunbird is Wilbur Smith at his best. The characters are well thought out and I find myself lost in their worlds. I have always been a fan of mr Smith and this is my favorite stand alone book by far.
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- J S Foley
- 12-30-21
Not a great audible listen
Not sure what happened. I was all involved with the story and then it switched to some far forgotten story in the middle. I was lost the whole last part of the listen. Love Wilber Smith’s books and listening to them. This one for me was not a good one to listen to. I was completely lost in part 2.
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- John
- 02-15-20
Wonderful story marred by 1970s cultural bigotry
I read this in the 1970s soon after its release and loved it, as I did all of Wilbur Smith's works back then. I hadn't touched a Smith book since but recently returned to this wonderful story as an audiobook. The story retains its outstanding features: a clever and engrossing narrative, satisfying moments of success and failure, larger than life characters, an intriguing alternate ancient history of Africa, and two nicely executed parallel stories separated by 2000 years. The narration of the book does the writing justice, delivered with a pleasing variety of accents and dramatic touches. On the downside, modern listeners will find some of the 1970s attitudes and assumptions jarring: casual racism, bigoted sexual references, the careless killing of wildlife, and stereotypical white male supremacy. If you can ignore these offenses (which were acceptable when written but sound dreadful now) the story is a rewarding trip down memory lane for those who enjoyed the book 50 years ago.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kevin
- 07-04-23
Superb overall
This was the first Wilbur Smith book I read, 45 years back. Yes, some aspects are hackneyed (viz romantic scenes and the treatment of women in general), some dated or overtly racist (a product of Smith’s time and place, whether a reader cares for it or not). But the imagination! The plotting! The pace! It’s just incredibly entertaining and worth the time. A word about the performance by Piers Hampton: Notwithstanding the criticism above of a South African, I thought Hampton’s performance masterful. He does English fop, Rhodesian trooper, educated South Africans, working class South African and English. And the African accents as well, all distinct, crafted, and consistent. Hampton is superb in this performance.
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- Audrey
- 07-03-22
South African accent
Beautifully written, the accent not so much. Signed A South African lover of Wilbur Smith
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- Ruby Morales
- 05-08-24
Well read, unforgettable story
The reader of this title did an excellent job with differentiating the characters and performing the accents while still being very easily understood to the listener, even to someone like me, who has hearing loss.
Obviously the book, having been written years ago, reflects the racism and sexism of the times (i.e, Black characters and women characters are not written with much depth), but the author manages to vividly relate the story from differing viewpoints.
The story is told with great detail in both "present" day and in the past, but I did not find the ending in the "present" to be very satisfying. I do have to admit that I first read The Sunbird as a condensed version in Reader's Digest a LONG time ago, re-read it in the 1990s, and am now in 2024 listening to the audiobook, so it is clearly a story I have not been able to forget
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-15-21
great story
my 3rd time of reading this story, 1st time in audio. excellent. must read for all
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- Drew
- 04-05-22
Not my favorite Wilbur Smith
I prefer the performance of Sean Barrett. Entertaining novel but not his best. Maybe I’ve been binging too hard and the formula is getting old. I’ll take a break before returning.
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- Karl Landis
- 08-18-24
Great adventure story, well told
Well told adventure story that isn't rushed. Very cleverly structured to complete the whole arc of the story.
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- Elizabeth Chilcott
- 04-25-19
Another spectacular Wilbur Smith book of Africa
Like his River God series, Wilbur Smith weaves a fascinating tale in the past and present with a rich geographic description and wonderfully full fleshed characters. There is plenty of excitement as well.....thoroughly enjoyable.
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