Crest of Eagles

Jocelyn Howe
A Better Be Write Publisher (2005)
ISBN 0976773252
Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (5/06)

Sometime during the Rhodesian War, a group known as ZIPRA, The Zimbabwe Peoples' Revolutionary Army freedom fighters, attacked the Elliott Mission, killing the missionaries and fifteen African children, all under the age of thirteen. The other children, including Mandhla Ndhlovu, deemed big enough to handle the grueling march through the jungle to the ZIPRA's training camp, were forced at gunpoint from the mission.After reaching the training camp, they undergo intensive brainwashing to ensure they remain loyal to the ZIPRA and are then sent out on raiding missions, their only objective to kill as many of the ZIPRA's enemies as possible. Mandhla, thoroughly indoctrinated to the ZIPRA creed, turns out to be the best fighter the ZIPRA have ever trained.

Meanwhile, the Selous Scouts, a unique and highly skilled group of terrorist fighters, who were credited with killing 68% of the terrorists during the war, are tracking the ZIPRAs. The second-in-command of the group is Kuru Ndhlovu, determined to find his younger brother, Mandhla, kidnapped from the Elliott Mission.

This story gives us a look at the Rhodesian War from both sides of the fighting, as well as a third, objective, view from a visiting American journalist.

Another story is woven through the war chronicles; the story of a 13th Century leader, who fought her own war of independence from a religion that routinely mutilated their women with the practice of clitoral circumcision. We follow her life for only a short period as she is circumcised, marries and is sentenced to death for her treason against the ruling government, her new husband's family, but you will never forget her.

There is a lot of brutality in this book, terrible scenes of death and destruction, but then, what can you expect from a book about a war?

The story is thoughtful, and though provoking, written by an author who grew up in Africa and served in the Rhodesian forces and so has an insider's unique view.

I highly recommend it.

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