Shepherd
4/5
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About this ebook
When Shep participates in the student exchange program, he finds himself in the body of a man on a rustic colony planet. Then a native sheep comes to the door. It seems Shep must become a literal shepherd, to his dismay. These are very special sheep, deadly, telepathic, and precognitive, and their will governs.
They also recruit a Vulture, a Python, and a lovely Elf girl for a dangerous journey. Then things get interesting. Soon Shep is deep in adventure and love. But he can’t marry a native girl by proxy. Or can he? The most important thing he learns is to trust the sheep, no matter how wild it gets. Even when he returns to Earth . . .
Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony is one of the world's most prolific and popular fantasy authors and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. His Xanth novels, including Esrever Doom, Luck of the Draw, and Well-Tempered Clavicle, have been read and loved by millions of readers around the world. While he is best known for his science fiction and fantasy, Anthony incredibly versatile, having also written several novels in other genres, including historical fiction and horror. He lives in Central Florida.
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Reviews for Shepherd
129 ratings11 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I much appreciated The Day of the Jackal which I read 6 Feb 2010 so I decided to read this slight fiction by Forsyth. It tells of an RAF pilot flying home in 1957 from Germany for Christmas. He loses his radio and other aspects of his plane. It is fearsome, but since the story is told in the first person we know he will survive--and he is guided to safety by a World War II plane piloted by a long dead flyer. So, I never having much use for fantasy, the story is not so noteworthy. Maybe if his being saved had been supernaturally aided the story might have been more acceptable to me. But it is a pleasant and at times exciting story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Forsyth wrote this story as a Christmas present for his wife, Carole. It tells of a 20-year-old RAF fighter pilot returning from Europe to England on Christmas Eve 1957. When the electrical system fails on his Vampire jet over the North Sea, his training is brought into use to find the way. Unfortunately a thick fog bank obscures everything below him and he is forced to fly in triangles in an attempt to attract attention. The 'Shepherd', a WWII Mosquito guides him to a safe landing, just in time. Forsyth has written a simple story with intelligence and expertise. This short book, filled with fabulous illustrations by Lou Feck, is a perfect Christmas story, one to read again and again. At nineteen, Forsyth was the youngest fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. His knowledge of flying is manifest in this excellent story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5-- This slim novel (123 pgs.) is a quick read. Lou Feck's illustrations inhabit whole pages. Forsyth is a pilot as well as a writer. Charlie Delta is a Royal Air Force pilot flying alone at night when he realizes his Vampire compass & radio aren't working. How Delta lands the plane makes Forsyth's novel fascinating. --
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not what one might expect from Frederick Forsyth, this is a slightly spooky Christmas story about a young pilot who gets lost flying home on Christmas Eve. I think pilots would like it, and although I'm not one, I enloyed it. This is the story read by Alan Maitland on CBC Radio every Christmas. (Available on YouTube.)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I enjoyed reading this short story but it was a little bit underwhelming in the end.
It's probably a half an hour read at the most, padded out a bit, in the version I read, with stylised black and white illustrations which, to be fair, were nicely done and added to the atmosphere of the story.
The problem is, the story itself is a bit slight. It was obvious to me what was happening (though the author does his best to offer rational explanations as he goes until the supernatural 'twist' is revealed) and I must admit I was expecting there to be a bit more to the story.
The supernatural 'twist' as presented is the obvious ending almost as soon as the situation is set up and so it was a bit disappointing - I thought there would be some kind of clever subversion or expansion of the idea in the last few pages.
To be honest, I wouldn't recommend paying full price (it's £6 on Amazon, which is definitely not value for money) for The Shepherd, but if you happen to find it in a friend's bookshelf, a library or a charity shop it's worth reading. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I stumbled across a Frederick Forsyth interview on TV one day (it was about gravel pits encroaching on his Bedfordshire village) and thought, if the man speaks like this he has to be worth reading. Then I discovered the average length of a Forsyth novel, and wavered a bit.
Then I discovered The Shepherd. It's a gem of a tale, beautifully told, nicely revealed, and short enough that there's not much more I can say about it without giving something away.
If you don't want to start on a Forsyth doorstop without a little reassurance that his voice is one you can live with for the duration, this is an excellent starting point - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A novella by Forsyth which is a quick read and much unlike his other works.
There are sketches included as well. Read this if you get your hands on it. It won't take much of your time and the story is simple enough. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A short, simple fable in the tradition of the Christmas ghost stories of Dickens, though transposed to the late 1950s, The Shepherd is a departure for Forsyth, normally a writer of international thrillers. Elements of Christianity imbue the story - is there a ghost? A higher power? Easy to read, it goes down lightly with a nice twist, just as the best tales of Dickens.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I get goose-bumps and a few tears every time I read this wonderful little story of a pilot, flying a Vampire aircraft across the North Sea to get home for Christmas in 1957, and the 'Shepherd' who appears, flying a WWII Mosquito, to guide him home through the fog when the electronics in his Vampire die and he has no compass or radio. It is also amazing to me how the truly excellent writers, of whom Forsyth is one, can tell such a story in so few words. He so exactly depicts the thoughts of the pilot when he realizes all is 'not right'.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flying back home one night for Christmas in his single-seater fighter-plane, a pilot suddenly finds himself struggling for his life: lost in impenetrable fog, without working instruments or radio, how can he find his way to safety? Another plane, of a strangely old-fashioned design, appears out of the mist on his wing to guide him. But is his rescuer really all he seems? This novella's approachable length and lavish, atmospheric illustrations make it more than suitable for almost any age-group. A haunting story with a proper twist in the tail. Brilliant.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A short (55 page) Novella, illustrated really well by Chris Foss. It is a very good Christmas ghost story which I read every year with great enjoyment. Highly recomended.