I've always enjoyed Wilbur Smith - I've read all the books about the seafaring Courtneys, for one, and enjoyed that mix of high drama and larger-than-life characters. This new book has the same immersive setting and wide scope but I did feel that the storytelling was a little toned down. It's also definitely a book that doesn't work well as a standalone - a fair amount of backstory was explained but I think I would have enjoyed it more had I actually followed the characters previously and understood what had brought them to this point.