The Diamond Hunters - Wilbur Smith (Book)

The Diamond Hunters - Wilbur Smith. The first book of Wilbur Smith Omnibus that I picked up last year after reading first of his "River God" series which I totally loved. Although I am yet to read the remaining five of the series and looking forward to the same very eagerly in near future. I am now totally sure his period dramas are way better than contemporary fiction that he has written, guess I can say that after reading this one which didn't excite me much. First heart-break for me was its size, only 250+ pages :( as that is something which excited me very much thinking how much one can wrap in that short size and I wasn't wrong enough. On top of that the title is pretty intriguing as my imagination started working while I was making my first mug of tea for the day before starting the office work (I usually read first 50 pages on day 1 of any book that I pick before starting my regular day). I assumed it to be based out of Africa (not wrong there) with a good guy finding some awesome diamonds and bad guys chasing him not only for those precious stones but for the love of his life too :). But on horses with some wild dogs and our good guy leaving no stone upturned in beating them, killing them with his sword or some sort of period weapon before living the rest of his life full of love, laughter and lot of diamonds to spare :). Although a few facts and figures thrown about diamonds, the entire extraction process and where to find them was pretty interesting but even that wasn't enough for me to love this book. And the actually story turns out not totally different from my imagination but more modern touches (which were a turn off from Wilbur Smith's standards). An orphan trying to prove his love and devotion towards the one who takes care of his childhood needs after he loses his parents. Falling in love with the man's daughter and making her brother jealous right from the start when it comes to taking over the family business of Diamond extraction from family mines, acquiring new business. It all turns out fiercely competitive once our good guy designs and amazing titanic kind of ship which will find diamonds from the depth of the sea and which promises to make them rich at the drop of a hat. As expected, it doesn't turn out to be a cakewalk for the man who is about to not only lose his own wife but his love interest too in the quest of proving his loyalty to the big man after an earlier misunderstanding which screws his life almost for good. The story although revolves around the three lead characters, brother, sister and her lover but never becomes a great story from any standard but just about remains a good. Wilbur Smith's detailing of the Diamond extractor too was just about average and not at all thrilling and I found that heart which is always there in all his stories totally missing from this one. Totally forced love triangle of sorts which wasn't needed but was a pretty lame attempt at proving some twist that too at a time when its already too late. Or may be I had too high an expectations based on his earlier books that this one didn't work for me the way I expected. Have you read "The Diamond Hunters"? or any other contemporary fiction from Wilbur Smith which worked for you. I love his period dramas already so I guess I will stick to them only and hope that the second of the Omnibus works for me big time (A Falcon Flies). Do let me know which one is your favorite Wilbur Smith book.