This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Fiction inspired by events that took place in the Congo in October 2004 when Congolese troops ran amok pillaging, raping and killing villagers and miners. More than 70 innocents were massacred and two years elapsed before anyone was charged and this only after pressure from the international community.
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
When Joseph Muamba, the eldest of nine children, was “sold” by his Congolese parents as an adolescent to an American couple looking to adopt, nobody understood the impact this young man would have one day on the strife-torn, poverty-stricken African nation. Blood Gold in the Congo by Peter Ralph sees Joseph initially struggling to adapt to life in the US, until the young man discovers he has a natural talent for all sports. After being convinced he was perfectly suited for the Decathlon, Joseph aims for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. To everyone’s surprise, Joseph is determined to compete for the country of his birth rather than his adopted country and he returns the first Olympic Medal and a Gold Medal, to boot, for the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A national hero, Joseph sees his new status as an opportunity to work for the empowerment of the poor, downtrodden Congolese people in this mineral-rich country. Rich, powerful, and corrupt businessmen and politicians all want Joseph to work for their interests, to secure their wealth and power in the Congo, but Joseph feels he is pulled by a greater destiny to restore dignity and fairness to a country wracked by civil war and a brutal, murderous regime.
Author Peter Ralph was inspired by true events in the Congo to pen his novel, Blood Gold in the Congo, and his rendition of this tale is truly wonderful. From the very first pages, the reader is drawn in and rooting for this little boy, uprooted from his family and everything he knows, to be transplanted into an alien setting, albeit a very gilded one, in the United States. The story is an action/adventure worthy of “Boys Own” magazine and yet also has great undercurrents of social comment and extremely relevant issues of corruption of power that are well worth discussing and rereading. I enjoyed this book immensely and found the author's style easy and captivating. The secondary characters are developed and imbued with realism equally as well as Joseph Muamba was, especially his two boyhood friends, Maya and Yannick. Probably the saddest thing about this story is that it could have been written and equally applicable to almost all of the colonized African nations of the late twentieth century. The powers that ruled Africa for over a century inevitably left behind a legacy of corruption, violence and a power vacuum that would spur racial, ethnic and clan wars for decades after their departure. The recent revelations by CNN of child labour exploitation in cobalt mining in the Congo merely confirms the premise Ralph used for the basis of this novel. This is an outstanding read and simply a wonderful action/adventure story.
