A novel with the common theme of The White Man entering a primal jungle and finding himself succumbing to his primal instincts. This one is a bit different. The protagonist Thomas, loves butterflies. I mean he really loves butterflies "When he caught sight of his first Morphos, their blue wings shining in the sun like stained glass, he felt a familiar stirring in his trousers. This was something he couldn't explain and had long ago given up trying to. Ever since he was a young lad, his body had occasionally--only occasionally--reacted this way to the excitement of spotting and catching butterflies." ( )

I was attracted to this book because the protagonist goes to the Amazon to study butterflies, and I wanted to read a book with a nature theme. However, this book is more romantic fiction set in an vague/non-specific Victorian-esque time about a naïve man who witnesses atrocities while collecting butterflies who then loses his voice and about his even more naïve wife who tries to figure out why he's lost his voice (ie will to talk). The characters are rather flat, despite attempts to give them depth. The dialogue is trite, the story predictable/transparent. Butterflies are mentioned by colour and scientific name, but nothing is added about their actual natural history or habits. It's not a good book just because it includes some serious subject matter. I might have liked it when I was 16 and didn't know any better, but my tastes have developed well beyond this book. ( )

Perfectly good read, interesting historical colour about the Amazon, but I never felt truly grabbed by the characters. Pacing was a little slow at first, but a nice air of foreboding, and the switch between two different viewpoints allows for unexpected twists. Annoyingly from a natural history point of view, the rare butterfly one character is searching for—with different-coloured left and right wings—would almost certainly be a gynandromorph, a rare male/female mutant, something known of since the 1800s at least, and certainly to any butterfly collector. ( )

Interesting story of a man who leaves his wife at home while he travels to Brazil to study butterflies. It begins with him coming home after his trip unwilling to speak. The story weaves between present day and the recounting of his Amazon trip. The book held my attention but had some bizarre turns. ( )

*An Incredible Debut*
Wow! I just finished the last page, and that was the word that came out of my mouth. For a first novel, this author should be proud. This is an incredible story of one man's harrowing journey through the intense Amazon jungle to pursue his dream, collecting rare and unidentified butterflies. As you begin the story, you think this is going to be the main theme, a group of male naturalists battling the sweltering heat and bombardment of stinging and biting insects extraordinaire, enduring all hardships to capture their prized specimens. But oh how wrong that assumption is. This story starts slow, and rather meandering, increasingly getting eerier and eerier, the suspense building quietly and with a level of intensity that has the reader constantly on the edge. It soon becomes apparent that there is more than meets the eye out there for our hero Thomas, in a jungle ripe with not just the flora and fauna these men seek. We find much much more than colorful butterflies and howling monkeys. Oh yes,..mischief, mayhem, mysterious and monstrous acts unravel. I liked the back and forth strategy that the author puts in place by alternating what is happening both in Brazil for Thomas, and back in England with his lonely wife Sophia. It sets the pace to keep the suspense and allows both characters stories to become interesting. If you are tired of the same old plot lines and mundane novels that you pitch half way through, try this innovative and creative debut. You will not be disappointed. It's writing style finely crafted, and plot well rounded in story line and character depth. Bravo! ( )