Favourite stand alone

Want to talk about any other Wilbur books?

Fave Stanalone

dark of the sun
5
10%
Shout at the devil
6
12%
Gold Mine
1
2%
The Diamond Hunters
0
No votes
The Sunbird
11
21%
Eagle in The Sky
3
6%
Eye of The Tiger
7
13%
Cry wolf
3
6%
Hungry as The Sea
5
10%
Wild Justice
3
6%
Elephant Song
8
15%
 
Total votes : 52

Favourite stand alone

Postby delby » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:16 pm

Just wondered what your faves were mine is Elephant song.Followed closely by the Eye of the Tiger. But hten I love them all.
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Postby John R » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:25 pm

ok even though i have not read them all i still voted, and my favourite stand alone so far is the Sunbird.
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Postby Monsoon » Wed Mar 21, 2007 6:19 pm

Now this really is a toughie! There is a 3 way tie going on in my head between Eagle in the sky, Hungry as the sea and Eye of the Tiger, so i will have to think on this before i vote, although i suspect Sunbird may win the poll.
While a tiger eyed its prey and an eagle raged in a thunderous sky a river of darkness fell upon a burning sun and the wolf cried tis a time to die, thus did the angels weep as power and triumph in those golden eyes did creep.


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Postby Twoscoops » Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:43 pm

Eye of the Tiger for me, although I had the same predicametn as you, Monsoon. There is something very different about the standalones - most of them were set at the time they were written, so the fashions of the day stand out and date them.
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Postby Monsoon » Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:33 pm

It's a very good point you are making Twoscoopes, i wonder if there is some kind of precedent here whereby a slightly larger portion of people who are newer to his works don't like these books as much as the people who read them closer to the time scales in which they were written.
While a tiger eyed its prey and an eagle raged in a thunderous sky a river of darkness fell upon a burning sun and the wolf cried tis a time to die, thus did the angels weep as power and triumph in those golden eyes did creep.


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Favourite Stand Alone

Postby Ada » Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:28 am

Since The Sunbird is my favourite over all, it naturally is my favourite 'Stand Alone'.
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Postby bosstard » Mon May 21, 2007 7:50 am

Just been given The Triumph Of The Sun to read after a few years off Wilbur. Got me thinking how much I revere his work, and the first book I was read of his (I must have been about 12) was Wild Justice, for this reason I had to vote this my fave as it is down to this book that I was drawn into the various webs of intrigue, loyalty, friendship, treachery, love, hate, family bonds etc etc etc that epitomises all of Wilburs work.

This also means I have about 3 years of solid reading to go through again to reread all the novels I've forgotten!!
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Postby John R » Mon May 21, 2007 11:30 am

Hi bosstard. , i also still remember the thrill of my first ever Wilbur novel! Can't beat it.
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Postby Phils_jd » Mon May 21, 2007 10:13 pm

I picked Shout at the Devil. It wasnt like a normal WS book, I thought there were some really funny tales in it, and also some very sad tales. Pretty much like life.
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Danny Ramone » Sun Sep 30, 2007 2:27 am

the sunbird and eagle in the sky are tied for me.

Then again I am always going to be biased to something with fighter jets
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Bids » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:05 pm

Well out of the 2 i have read so far id say Elephant Song is pretty damn good. I didnt mind Cry Wolf either
When The Lion Feeds, The Sound OF Thunder, A Sparrow Falls, Birds Of Prey, Monsoon, Blue Horizon, The Triumph Of The Sun, The Burning Shore, Power Of The Sword, Rage, Golden Fox, A Time To Die Assegai.

A Falcon Flies, Men Of Men, The Angels Weep, The Leopard Hunts In Darkness

River God, The Seventh Scroll, Warlock, The Quest.

The Dark Of The Sun, Shout At The Devil, Gold Mine, The Diamond Hunters, The Sunbird, Eagle In The Sky, Cry Wolf, Eye Of The Tiger[/b[b]], Hungry As The Sea, Wild Justice, Elephant Song
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Henrik » Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:22 am

27% for Elephant song? I have to disagree. For me it's just an average standalone. If I had to pick out the best I'd say Sunbird. But on the other hand there has been quite some time since I read most of the standalones, perhaps I would change my mind if I were to read them all again in a shorter period of time :)
Last edited by Henrik on Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Ada » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:14 pm

Henrik wrote:27% for Elephant song? I have to disagree. For me it's just an average standalone. If I had to pick out the best I'd say Sunbird. But on the other hand there has been wuite some time since I read most of the standalones, perhaps I would vhange my mind if I were to read them all again in a shorter period of time :)


I bet you won't change your mind. [b6] Sunbird is better but I also liked Elephant Song and think (without going and rereading all the Stand Alones again), I would place Elephant Song second in this group.
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Oddjob » Fri Sep 12, 2008 3:19 pm

So far I have read Shout At the Devil, The Diamond Hunters, The Eye of the Tiger, Hungry As the Sea and am currently reading Wild Justice with Elephant Song the only other one that I have. It's quite difficult to choose, but I have voted for The eye of the Tiger as mu favourite so far. Great characters and plot.
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Ben » Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:42 pm

I voted for Sunbird as its probably my favourite standalone, but I'm torn between that and A Time To Die, which in my mind is a stand alone as well. Although Sean junior features in other books, his character in this novel was somehow different to Rage and Golden Fox. Also there is little reference to anything else out of the Courtney series...
Mind you, the same could apply to Triumph Of The Sun, it really could be a standalone and is certainly not worthy of being included in the Courtney Series, Im not sure why WS used the Ballantyne/Courtney names at all, maybe he was just unsure of writing anymore standalone novels, and felt the need to bounce off the back of something reassuring like the name Courtney??? You could equally as well called Daniel Armstrong something like Bruce Courtney, thrown in a reference to some cousin called Garry who could pull a few strings with some Government Official, and then called it Elephant Song, a new Courtney Novel... :?

Sorry, got side tracked there... :D

Sunbird. Brilliant stand alone Novel.

PS. The second half is what I always assumed gave WS the concept of River God and the Seventh Scroll, anyone else think this??
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby Matbow » Mon Nov 03, 2008 6:47 pm

Ben wrote:Im not sure why WS used the Ballantyne/Courtney names at all, maybe he was just unsure of writing anymore standalone novels, and felt the need to bounce off the back of something reassuring like the name Courtney????


Marketing IMHO; call it a Courtney and you'll sell more books...

Ben wrote:PS. The second half is what I always assumed gave WS the concept of River God and the Seventh Scroll, anyone else think this??


Agreed...the concept of Sunbird is very similar to Rivergod/Warlock and Seventh Scroll.

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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby nazlina » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:40 am

I love Elephant Song... the reference about the Pygmies is charming.
Also love Sunbird, but we cannot vote for two titles.
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Re: Favourite stand alone

Postby mjstephens » Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:16 am

Would be a shame to see Gold Mine without a single vote!

Although it seems more like a novella sitting along-side the more robust novels, Gold Mine certainly ticks all the boxes for me. I didn't expect to like it, but as we all know, Wilbur Smith pleansantly suprises us when he breaks from the Courtney/Ballantyne mould.
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