I liked part one a lot. I skimmed over some parts of the war that didn’t draw me in as much in parts 2&3 but there was a lot of good on there too. I also had a vested interest in this book because my dad read it and liked it a lot before he passed away. Throughout the whole book I could totally picture my dad reading and loving this book. So many parallels to his life.

Near the end of the book, I had the feeling that the rest of the book was somewhere beside me.....but when I looked, it wasn't really there. Truly, I checked to be certain that I had not inadvertently purchased an abridgement. Yes, the story fragments that are told show Evans at his best. Yes, the story is gripping. In fact, it is indeed because it is gripping that the fairytale ending is a bit of a letdown. What is the meaning of the burning elk's antlers and eyes? Where does Skye twist fate? When and how did Ed die? Why all the unwoven threads? A beautiful story unfulfilled. Still.....worth five stars. The parts of the story that exist are very well written.

In Nicholas Evans's The Smoke Jumper, he wrote such an emotional and heart-warming eco-thriller than ever before. For Connor Ford, he was a smoke jumper who saved Julia Bishop's life. He fell in love with her, when she was with fellow smoke jumper, Ed Tully, his best friend. That have created an awkward love triangle, since she loved both of them, until she had to choose between the two of them after a fiery tragedy happened in Montana. After the fire, he chose a life that didn't bring him happiness, until he was reunited with Julia with a new chance to be with her in the end.

Absolute drivel.

After the horse charmer I wanted to read another book by the author so I picked this one up with rather mixed results. At first it seems to be based on the same theme, the healing of youthful traumas in a beautiful and peaceful setting, but then the course changes and we are led into a love triangle story, which is admittedly not something I particularly like. But the author handles the subject with particular restraint, leaving it to simply exist on the side while moving through the protagonists of the story on the one hand to the search for inner strength at a time when things are getting worse and on the other hand to the epicenters of war conflicts where the worst side of man prevails but also some glimmers of hope, so don't expect some sleazy tale of erotic jealousy, things are serious here. This is how the book develops and there are several emotionally charged scenes in it, but I have the feeling that the author is trying to deal with many things at once and as a result they do not fit into a harmonious whole. But it is definitely a good book.

Μετά από τον γητευτή των αλόγων ήθελα να διαβάσω άλλο ένα βιβλίο του συγγραφέα, οπότε διάλεξα αυτό με μάλλον μικτά αποτελέσματα. Στην αρχή φαίνεται να βασίζεται στο ίδιο θέμα, την επούλωση νεανικών τραυμάτων μέσα σε ένα όμορφο και ειρηνικό περιβάλλον, στη συνέχεια όμως η πορεία αλλάζει και οδηγούμαστε σε μία ιστορία ενός ερωτικού τριγώνου, κάτι που είναι αλήθεια ότι δεν είναι κάτι που προτιμώ ιδιαίτερα. Ο συγγραφέας όμως χειρίζεται το θέμα με ιδιαίτερη αυτοσυγκράτηση αφήνοντας το απλά να υπάρχει στην άκρη την ώρα που μέσα από τους πρωταγωνιστές της ιστορίας κινείται από τη μία προς την αναζήτηση εσωτερικής δύναμης την ώρα που τα πράγματα γίνονται χειρότερα και από την άλλη στα επίκεντρα πολεμικών συγκρούσεων όπου κυριαρχεί η χειρότερη πλευρά του ανθρώπου αλλά και κάποιες σπίθες ελπίδας, οπότε μην περιμένετε κάποια σαχλή ιστορία ερωτικής αντιζηλίας, εδώ τα πράγματα είναι σοβαρά. Έτσι κάπως εξελίσσεται το βιβλίο και υπάρχουν σε αυτό αρκετές συγκινησιακά φορτισμένες σκηνές αλλά έχω την αίσθηση ότι ο συγγραφέας προσπαθεί να ασχοληθεί με πολλά πράγματα μαζί με αποτέλεσμα να μην εντάσσονται σε ένα αρμονικό σύνολο. Σίγουρα όμως πρόκειται για ένα καλό βιβλίο.

Loved it. A brilliant read.

Απο πυροσβεστης στη Μοντανα ο Κονορ βρεθηκε στη Βοσνια κ στην Ουγκαντα το απολυτο ξενερωμα. Ισως να φταιει το τριγωνο. παντα τα αντιπαθουσα αυτα τα σχηματα..

I loved the first half of this book. The second half of the book, while connected, should have been a totally separate book by it's self.

It took me a long time to finish this book, mainly because the text was small and so I only read it during daylight hours. Recommended it by Robyn. I can’t really decide whether I enjoyed the story or not but it has resulted in my googling various topics raised and uploading a book about a woman captured by a Sioux tribe during the 1880s. The fighting in Rwanda and conflict in Uganda describing horrendous persecution and murder during the civil wars did not make easy reading. The ‘plot’ of the book is a classic love story with the complication of two best friends loving the same woman, who is also torn. The end is satisfyingly happy if unlikely.

Knjiga je je zaista divna, ljubavna, zivotna, tragicna ali sa srecnim zavrsetkom. Ali... ovo nije prva knjiga u kojoj je pisac 'morao' da se dotakne teme rata u Bosni i 'krvolocnih' Srba - pa molicu lepo zar su u tom ratu samo Srbi bili krivi!!! Pa i dogadjanja u Ruandi i Ugandi kao da su samo prenesena iz nekih novinskih izvestaja, a ima slicnih prica i u jos nekim knjigama koje sam citala. Za mene, samo su pozari bili nesto novo sto do sada nisam procitala vec negde.
I pored ovih zamerki, knjiga ipak zasluzuje svih 5 zvezdica!

3.5 stars! It was an enjoyable read overall. Very slow start for me and took a bit to get drawn in.

There were times I was holding my breath but the ending is pretty dang predictable. I was almost expecting the author to crush our hearts and throw a plot twist in there but he didn't and that's ok!

Firmly in my top #3 books of all time ♥️