I found this book through the GoodKindle site, read the free excerpt available on Amazon, and decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did, although not without some reservations (which I'll discuss below.) BLUF: The Last Eagle is an adventure novel in the style of Clive Cussler or Ted Bell (two of my favorite writers). The author has a great story going, with interesting characters, and has obviously done his research. Overall, I recommend it.
So what was good? As mentioned before--the characters. The main character, Christopher Sheppard, enters the plot through the time-honored genre convention of being the unexpected last choice to go on a dangerous mission. With him goes his driver (and former wartime subordinate), Harry Campbell. Sheppard has grown up with the sort of Continental upbringing that all good 20th-century adventurers should have, and he takes to the mission like a natural, although not without many (realistically portrayed) reservations. Along the way, he meets people who help him, who hinder him, and still he prevails. The plot moves fast and furiously, and the reader can't help but be swept up in the ride. There are enough predictable turns to satisfy genre conventions, and enough unpredictable twists to satisfy readers who read a lot of adventure stories (such as this reader!) I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say, the book caught and held my attention to the very end.
Fourth Book in the Southern Swallow Series finds the Academician Li K'ai-men in exile on Hai-nan Island. China has a new invasion threat. A showdown between ingenuity and technology explodes as the Sung Dynasty tries to preserve itself.
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