You can see the appeal of this to John Milius - the white man becoming king of the jungle, fighting a noble war, the allusions to Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia (this feels like it was written as a vehicle for Peter O'Toole).
The character of the Botanist isn't much but the one of his boss, Colonel Fergusson is intriguing - tormented by what he must do to Learoyd, but willing to do his duty. Written in a nice brisk style. The Borneo characters are caricatures. The death of the wife and child probably could have happened earlier.
The story lacks something... maybe a developed female character,or a subplot or something. Easy to read though.
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