I have to start off by telling you that this is my absolutely fab book of all times. I love it, admire it, have been inspired by it and recommended it to all my friends and relatives. But I also need to tell you that none of them have understood what my fuss has been about. This is a very special book that talked to me, but it is possible that it is so special it won’t be your cup of tea at all.
The Sunbird is actually two books in one, cleverly built together in the very end, in a way that you may read as you want to read, meaning that this book will leave a different expression probably on each reader. The first part of the book is from “modern time”, where an archaeology team found what’s left of an ancient civilisation in Africa and comes there to explore it. We read on their findings but also on their personal matters, I won’t tell more to avoid spoilers. The second part of the book is about few of the people who lived in that civilization that was found in the first part of the book, their lives and drama.
I loved the second part of the book, much more than the first part, and wouldn’t mind to read more about it. But on the other hand, I wonder if the book would have been as good if I wouldn’t have got to read the first part, they are very importantly linked together. What I love is that the book focuses on this small, crippled man and how he grows as a person thru the book. I love these kinds of stories, they give me hope, and Smith has managed to do it in a way I have never experienced before. Because "The Sunbird" is more than just reading, for me it was an experience. I LIVED with its persons, I was excited with them, cried with them, thought of them all the time. I was very close to obsession, the people in the book came out of it, into my living room and I cheered and suffered with them as if they were my dearest, longest friends. The feeling cannot be described better, it has to be lived. I actually cried when the book was finished, and I was sad for days, because I missed them so much.
As you can see, this book has made a big, big impression on me. It was my dream-book come true, combining historical and fiction in a brilliant way. One of my biggest interests is ancient Egypt but also other ancient civilisations, maybe this book won’t be perceived the same way by a reader that doesn’t swallow with joy everything that says “ancient”. I also think that this book became very special for me in other ways, and it is possible that another reader with another perspective on life will just find it silly. Because you really have to LIVE with it, otherwise it might easily become silly with “Roar for me, great lion! Fly for my sunbird!” and “For Baal!”. You have to WANT to be there and you have to let your guard down a bit and allow yourself to be silly to feel the feeling of admiring Baal.
Last of all, this is a book that does demand your full attention. It isn’t something you can read bits of in the TV-breaks. You can’t read page up and down and up and down without sometimes slowing down and work thru your head on what’s really happening. And once again, you have to allow yourself to allow the “sillyness” in the book. It isn’t silly; it may just seem that way for us modern people. You have to put yourself a thousand years back to see what it’s truly about. This isn’t a book, it’s an experience. For Baal!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: well researched, successfully recreating the life and mindset of the ancients of britain Disadvantages: Disadvantages: story is slow placed and tedious in places
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