paul_cornelius's review
4.0
Another thoroughly enjoyable adventure from Arthur O. Friel. Once again, his two favorite Amazon adventurers, Pedro and Lourenco, appear in a quest down rivers and streams to dethrone a would be king of the jungle, Black Hawk, who is gathering an Indian army to challenge the rest of the Amazonian basin. Joining Pedro and Lourenco, once again, is Thomas Mack, an American explorer whose exploits with a handgun and background story implies he is from Texas. Of course, Black Hawk is overthrown. But in the process, too, a captured American young woman and two Indian allies are also saved from fates worse than death at the hands of Black Hawk.
This shortish "novel" originally appeared as a contribution to the magazine, Adventure, almost one hundred years ago. Not only are its characters familiar but so is its quest mechanism, whereby the mythos of the earliest of tales, Gilgamesh and The Odyssey finds itself transplanted to the jungles of South America. Episodic adventures punctuate the story until its predictable, albeit satisfying, conclusion. As usual with Friel, the atmosphere feels complete. You become one with the time and the place. Always fun to read Friel.
This shortish "novel" originally appeared as a contribution to the magazine, Adventure, almost one hundred years ago. Not only are its characters familiar but so is its quest mechanism, whereby the mythos of the earliest of tales, Gilgamesh and The Odyssey finds itself transplanted to the jungles of South America. Episodic adventures punctuate the story until its predictable, albeit satisfying, conclusion. As usual with Friel, the atmosphere feels complete. You become one with the time and the place. Always fun to read Friel.
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