Books

Expedition:
Adventures into undiscovered worlds

Shine a light into the unknown

There are still dark corners of our planet that are yet to be explored. In this remarkable book, Steve Backshall offers an unflinching account of his adventures into these uncharted territories around the globe, in search of world firsts. Each location brings its own epic challenges – whether it’s the first climb of an arctic ice fall in Greenland, the first recorded navigation of a South American river, or the first exploration of the world’s longest cave system in Mexico. But all of them represent new tests of the limits of human endeavour.

Accompanying a major 10-part series on BBC and Dave, Expedition is a breathtaking journey into the unknown, and a brilliantly written celebration of the pleasures of genuine discovery.

Shark seas:
The falcon chronicles 4

Saker and Sinter have worked together to save tigers, wolves and orangutans. Now, Saker wants to take down the biggest enemy of all – the Clan. The Clan are a group of boys, trained from birth to be thieves, fighters, and assassins. Saker once was one of them, until he met Sinter, and realised that the Clan was working for evil, rather than good.

Sinter wants nothing to do with the Clan. On the other side of the world from Saker, she is trying to forget her own painful past. Travelling on a ship called the Shark Saviour, her purpose now is to try and protect the creatures of the sea from huge fishing boats devastating the ocean.

But Saker needs Sinter to defeat the Clan, and so the two young eco-warriors will come together one more time. Using cunning, cutting-edge technology and pure daring, they will defeat their enemy – once and for all.

Mountain:
A life on the rocks

Steve Backshall has been climbing since his teens and has a genuine love affair with the mountains and with an environment that has the power to make a human being feel very small, very vulnerable and very alive.

MOUNTAIN – A LIFE ON THE ROCKS is the dramatic account of a life of daring, a narrative peppered with memorable anecdotes. In 2008 Steve broke his back climbing in Wales. It gave him the motivation to contend with his devils and seek new challenges. His gripping memoir flashes back to his advanced Himalayan mountaineer qualification with the Indian army, surrounded by soaring lammergeiers (which the Tibetans use to crunch down the bones of their dead and bear their spirits skywards), chough and ravens. 
It also describes the first ascent of Mount Kuli in the Bornean rainforest in search of new species of animals, and tells of the traumas and near-death experiences Steve went through summiting this menacing peak. He tells of Karakoram, and the foothills around K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, and the other Himalayan challenges of Lhotse and Cho Oyu, and of his climbing companion’s fall into a crevasse on the trail of a snow leopard. Another marvellous episode is the first ascent of the Venezuelan sandstone massif, Tepuis, and sleeping out on the rockface for five days.

MOUNTAIN – A LIFE ON THE ROCKS is both a quest and a wonderfully absorbing autobiography by one 
of Britain’s most intrepid climbers. Available October 8th 2015

Tiger wars:
The falcon chronicles 1

Saker is a member of the Clan, a clandestine group offering child renegades for hire to the highest bidder. The Clan are like brothers, but once you’re a member you can never leave – ever. Each member of the Clan 
has their own animal identity and corresponding tattoo, each is an expert in jungle law, survival and the ways 
of animals in order to make them better spies, thieves 
or assassins.

Saker’s latest assignment takes him to India to bring down the men who protect tigers. He’s being employed by a Chinese overlord who specialises in poaching for tiger farms and tiger organs for high priced medicines. But something happens to make Saker change sides and now he’s on the run from his predatory brothers. They’re hunting him down and they’re professionals.

He meets fifteen year old Sinter, a spoiled rich girl, who 
is running away from an arranged marriage and their uneasy friendship will eventually form an unshakeable bond, as together they face adventure and danger as two young eco-warriors in a truly threatening world.

Saker and Sinter are on a quest to right some of the horrific wrongs perpetrated against wildlife around the planet. As they rescue tigers or mountain gorillas, thwart shark finners and cyanide fishers, rainforest exploiters and canned hunters, they come face to face with the world’s most fascinating, majestic and lethal creatures.

Ghosts of the forest:
The falcon chronicles 2

‘Ghosts of the forest’ is the second instalment in the thrilling ‘Falcon Chronicles’ trilogy.

Saker and Sinter have split up. Sinter is nursing in 
the shanties of Ho Chi Minh City. Saker is with the 
peace-loving Penan helping them protect the orangutans and save their own forest homes, as unscrupulous loggers wreak destruction. But they 
are being watched. And hunted. T

he Prophet has not forgiven their betrayal. Escaping 
the Clan takes Saker and Sinter on a deadly, dangerous journey through Vietnam, over the South China Sea back to Borneo. Deep in the jungle, they’re reunited 
on their most daredevil and audacious mission yet, 
to save the endangered orangutans before they become ghosts of the forest. Beware the wooden 
bullet. The Clan will take their revenge…