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Title: Blackbird

Author: David Crookes

Narrator: Derek Perkins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-08-13

Publisher: Big Indian

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

The early wealth of Queensland depended on slavery, known in Australia as Blackbirding. South Sea islanders were tricked or forced aboard slave ships, then sold to the highest bidder and forced to cut cane on the northern sugar plantations. Beautiful young Kiri, destined for slavery, is rescued from her fate by half-breed Ben Luk, a prospector who plans to become a respectable businessman in Brisbane after aquiring wealth in the Palmer River goldfields. However, racial predudice runs high in the colony and Ben and Kiri make ruthless, unforgiving enemies who will stop at nothing to bring them down. Ultimately their refusal to bow to tyranny, and their love for each other, carry them through their many turbulent adventures.

Critic Reviews:

"David Crookes is a natural storyteller." (Sunday Times)

"The stylish plot twists will satisfy the most avid reader." (Who Weekly)

"Writing popular historical fiction is a tough balancing act, finding a medium between an entertaining yarn and illuminating a period of history. Crookes pulls it off with aplomb." (The West Australian)

Members Reviews:

Not bad

"I suppose there are isolated cases where the Kanakas don't fully understand all the details, but you must realize, we really are doing them a great favor by bringing them here, away from their lives of sloth, and giving themthe (sic) chance to perform honest, character-building labor."

This novel focuses on events in Queensland, Australia in the late 1880's. The colony is growing by leaps and bounds, but cheap *labor* is needed to keep things running, and a healthy profit can be made by blackbirding -*recruiting* natives into indentured servitude (a rose by any other name is still slavery). Kiri is one of those natives, although her great beauty gets her a life at the high-end whorehouse and not the sugarcane fields. Kiri's story is intertwined with that of Ben-Luk (half English/half Chinese) along with those involved in Stonehouse, a prominent trading house in Queensland.

I did enjoy this book, and I'm glad I read it as I don't know much about Australia's history, but I'm having a hard time trying to categorize it. I can't figure out if this should be more of an action/adventure type of guy book, a straight historical, a romance or something else. I never felt fully engaged in either the story or the characters, just more like a mildly interested observer, and I suspect the abrupt POV switches contributed to that. The Kindle edition I read has some odd formatting issues, plus a few more typos than I care to see - free e-book or not.

"I Áfind it a very stimulating divergence from the office."

That odd little character after I showed up in all kinds of strange places.

"carriagereturned"

There were a lot of words without spaces between, and periods.

"Your looking wonderful."

I could be wrong again, but I think that should be you're...

A good "popcorn" read

...like popcorn, you pick it up and can't put it down until you've consumed it all... If you like historical fiction, this one will take you to the late 1800's, the time of laborers being "recruited" (or "blackbirded") from the islands to work in the sugar cane plantations of Queensland, Australia. You'll visit gold mines, brickworks, and castles, and you'll be taken aboard ships both as a prisoner and as a privileged passenger.