Zimbabwe Falcon


Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
316 Pages
Reviewed on 01/09/2019
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

David Maring loves all types of history. He has especially been interested in reading historical fiction. That is why he wrote Winyah Bay, Jefferson Davis Before He Wore Confederate Gray, and Zimbabwe Falcon. He has written other types of novels such as The Serpent's Seed, Carolina Justice, and The Mullahs. Maring has also published a collection of short stories titled Southern Stories. Many of his novels have been recognized in international competitions.
Maring has served his community as a public school teacher, lawyer, city court judge, adjunct professor of business law at Coastal Carolina College, family court judge, circuit court judge, department head of criminal justice at Horry/Georgetown Technical College , and as of counsel to a law firm. He also served in the Marines and National Guard.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lucinda E Clarke for Readers' Favorite

The Zimbabwe Falcon by David Maring is a historical novel based in the time of the push northwards from the Cape in South Africa to realize Cecil Rhodes’ dream of securing for Britain a swathe through Africa to Cairo. We meet the Howard girls as they arrive by sea at the Cape and then continue north to Messina, the interior, where their parents have secured land. In time, both girls meet young men who are closely connected to Rhodes, Jameson, Selous and other leaders of the time. They are involved in the Matabele Wars, when the Ndebele people rose up against the white settlers and also practiced genocide against the Shona.

I was attracted by the title, The Zimbabwe Falcon, as I love books about Africa and I’ve seen one of the remaining stone birds at the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. The story of the early settlers is told from the point of view of the English, the Afrikaners, French Huguenots and an African, Joswa Kimbo, a member of the Lemba tribe. Their fortunes are interwoven against the backdrop of the early days of the colonization of Rhodesia and the Boer War in South Africa. I loved the book, although there were a lot of battle scenes in the latter part and I would have preferred more information about those characters I had grown to love. I think the author has done a lot of research into the place and period and incorporated this well into the story, such as Rhodes ordering the delivery of one of the falcons to Groote Schuur. Well worth reading.