"Chase your dreams," people say. A less popular maxim is, "You really need to know when to quit it." The "it" in this instance is the mythical El Dorado. The people who didn't know when to quit were mostly Walter Raleigh (or Ralegh or...well even he didn't know how to spell his own name right) and a bunch of other people. We can add another saying which should be more well known. "The Amazon is trying to kill you and it's very good at it."

Paradise of the Damned by Keith Thomson is a wonderful character study of people who think they are just one more mile from that last big score. The score they can retire on. The score which will make them immortal. In the case of Raleigh, he would become immortal, just not in the way he intended.

Most of the narrative is focused on Raleigh and his life once he made his multiple bids for El Dorado. This is not a full biography of Raleigh, but it is a very enjoyable recounting of parts of his life. Along the way, Thomson also mentions the multitude of men who thought they could tame the Amazon and it never goes well.

I should mention that Thomson has a hysterical way of infusing this dark story with witty asides which are always welcome. After all, there is an inherent hilarity in how many of these men kept falling for stories from indigenous people. "Gold? Sure, it's somewhere that is not here. Just keep going and leave us alone. Yeah, my cousin told me all the gold is that way. Yes, we are totally best friends. Now go."

It's not a lie if you want to believe it.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company.)

Paradise of the Damned is a fantastic read that feels like an adventure film and a thriller all thrown into one. Keith Thomson is a master of writing weaving a true story of adventure, intrigue and madness while searching for El Dorado. Thomson closely emulates David Grann and his masterful work The Lost City of Z and I am excited for Thomson to become a writer on the same level as Grann.

A book chock full of gold! This is the tale of the many runs at El Dorado in Guiana by the English (and all the other European nations that could get up a team ready to trade blood (not necessarily their own, but maybe. . .) for the shiny stuff. Trouble was there was a rather fierce defending team on the ground in the southern part of the mysterious continent where rivers are filled with crocs, cannibals and folks who didn't understand who ruled the world. A challenge, for sure. However, Elizabeth I had her favorites, and ones who needed to make up to her for perceived wrongs. . .at the front of the line was that cape-tosser, Sir Walter Raleigh - or as he signed it Walter Ralegh.

I found this to be a very interesting, wide-ranging story of Sir Walter Raleigh's many runs at the gold, and those with whom he was in competition for England's money and love in his many tries at it. The narrative wandered long and widely for little, but never failed to keep me with the minutiae, and did hit the high points in Raleigh's timeline. Those who were hosting the event, however, didn't get equal consideration and I would have liked that.

Otherwise - if you have a blank on what England was doing around 1500 - 1550, this will shed some light.

*A sincere thank you to Keith Thomson, Little, Brown and Company, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review.* #ParadiseoftheDamned #NetGalley

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Little, Brown and Company for an advanced copy of this book looking at the history of the legend of El Dorado, the many, many different explorers, that searched, gave their lives, and enhanced their reputations pursuing undreamed of riches.

The lure of gold and wealth has lured more explorers to greater exploits than any ideas of claimng territory for God, King and/or Queen or country. How many have looked at a map and saw, Here be Dragons, and thought and here be lots and lots splendid treasures. The New World, well new to the Europeans, was rift with legends of places were gold was worn by the commonest of people, gems decorated the lowest of hovels. And wealth, status, and even more power might be behind that tree, that waterfall, if we only went a few more steps. Added to the danger were the many warring navies that were fighting for the wealth of this undiscovered countries. The Spanish, the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the English. Wars need money to keep them going. And rumors of a city of gold, El Dorado was too much to be ignored. Paradise of the Damned: The True Story of an Obsessive Quest for El Dorado, the Legendary City of Gold by author, journalist and historian Keith Thomson, is a history of the many famous names who searched to the fabled city, their actions, results, and in many cases death in varied ways.

Sir Walter Raleigh, had as many different spellings for his name as he had schemes to make money, gain power, and stay in the good graces of his Queen Elizabeth I. However even a man as smart as Raleigh would run out of luck and a marriage, without permission, resulting in a child, caused the Queen's smile to turn into a frown, resulting in his imprisonment and his wife's banishment. The Queen, like many monarchs was always in need of money, for her own use, and to fight the many wars that were happening on the Continent, and in the New World. Raleigh's years as a privateer, a pirate with government backing, had given him quite a bit of knowledge about the West Indies, ie the Caribbean and a lot about the legends of lost cities full of gold, especially El Dorado. Based on the dying last confession of Spanish gunner, El Dorado has people sprinkling gold on themselves, with gems and jewelery a plenty. Enough to get him back in the good graces of royalty. However others, including English explorers, and merchants also knew of El Dorado, and Raleigh was soon racing to catch up.

Another very interesting and fun book of history by Keith Thomson, this time dealing with exploration in the Caribbean and the lure of money. There is a lot of history, as well as a lot of derring-do, piracy, land battles, and indigenous people fooling the explorers from Europe. Thomson is quite good at writing acting scenes, making this sieges of cities exciting, as well as describing court life, and the travails of crossing these vast oceans, and the risks these people took based on rumor and legend. What I liked most was that Thomson goes into a novel idea that Raleigh had for finding this lost city. Being nice to the indigenous people, which it seemed was something no one had tried before. In fact Raleigh was most upset about being so to leave England for the fact that he was afraid the other English explorers were going to make the people so mad, they would never help. The little stories are what makes this book so interesting, the look at history form different views. Many of the names will be familiar to those who have read other histories, as will some of the barbarity. Still this is a very exciting bit of boy's own adventure, with a lot of interesting history.

Recommended for people like myself who grew up playing both Seven Cities of Gold and Syd Meier's Pirates!. Many of the names will be familiar, as will the local. Fans of history, and nautical tales will also enjoy this. As will role players, as this book has a lot of good ideas for campaigns, and adventures.

Paradise of the Damed is a nonfiction book about explorers looking for El Dorado, the city of gold. The book talks about a lot of different explorers and their expeditions. It also has some pictures sprinkled throughout.

This is a topic I’m not super familiar with. However, I did find this book very informational and interesting. I liked all of the different explorers and the different expeditions explored in this book. I would recommend this to people who like learning about explorers.

I do feel like it was just a bit boring at parts. I feel like some of the writing was just too dry and informational. However, it still kept my attention and I did enjoy it.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Little,Brown and Company for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

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