Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: This great book was first recommended to me by a friend, and has since become my favorite novel. River God is an exciting tale of action, and romance that will keep you entertained with every turn of the book's pages. As for those "historical inaccuracies" mentioned by some reviewers, they should be reminded of the many movies set in New York City for example, which feature a mayor that historically never held office,and situations that historically, never took place. But then, isn't that the nature of fiction folks? It is after all, a NOVEL of ancient Egypt, right? My advice is to ignore each and every one of them, and enjoy this wonderful story!
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is a review of the cassette version and I must say I was rivetted to this story. I sat in my car long after I arrived at my destination listening in fastination.However, the hero Tanus, is just a little too outrageously perfect for me to give this a full 5 stars. You know, never tires during combat, never loses his cool, never makes a fatal mistake. I would have enjoyed a less god-like hero.
Rating:
Summary: Wilbur Smith sure knows how to tell a story!
Review: Within weeks of each other, two people who know of my eclectic interests gave me this book. Neither of them knew that although Wilbur Smith was once (20 years ago) my favourite author, I'd long gone off him (too many dead elephants). For many years, I've affectionately remembered one of his early books, "The Sunbird", as being my favourite of his works. I'm loathe to re-read it, as his story-telling skills have improved over the years, something I realised when desperate for something to read, I grabbed one of the copies from where they sat on my shelves, side by side. It must be remembered that Wilbur Smith is a writer of adventure stories. He is not, and doesn't pretend to be, a historian. That being said, he's masterly drawn from history and complemented it with his vivid imagination in this adventure set in ancient Egypt. The "first person" in this story is Taita, perhaps one of the most capable and arrogant central characters ever developed. Taita was a slave, but that was really in name only - his talents and abilities allowed him to enjoy a large degree of freedom. A stunningly handsome man, among his many skills Taita was a poet, painter, architect, doctor, politician, Svengali. However, first and always foremost, Taita was a eunuch. Taita's incredible abilities and achievements were tempered by the sad fact he could never gain the prize he desired most, the reciprocation of his adoration for Lostris, his mistress. Ironically, his position was only possible because because of his lack of manly parts. The opulent life of the ancient Egyptian nobility and royalty is vividly brought to life - you can almost smell it on the pages. Many witers have achieved that. What sets "River God" apart, however, is when the story takes a turn with the Hyksos invasion, where the Egyptians, their military might long unchallenged, met more than their match. The Hyksos, with their horses and chariots, proved to be an opponent the Eqyptians had no idea how to battle - the Egyptians didn't even have the wheel at that stage. To buy time, they employed that age-old military strategy - retreat. And what a retreat! We all know the Nile is one of the Earth's mightiest rivers, but most of us have never seen it, and perhaps don't realize the true magnitude of the incredible path it has cut through Africa on it's never-ending journey to the Mediterranean. It's almost impossible to imagine the scale of the retreat, the thousands upon thousands of soldiers, slaves and common people who accompanied the court in an effort to find a safe place to use as a platform for a counter-attack. The retreating Egyptians had to drag all their stuff (they were no light packers!) and themselves up the Nile's many cataracts, where the sheer cliffs and savage terrain denied them access to the banks. Fortunately, among his many skills, Taita was also an engineer, coming up with masterly ways to negotiate the river, even as he was designing a better chariot. Horses stolen from the Hyksos were bred and trained, soldiers learned to ride, drive chariots, and learned a completely different way to wage war. Then in the relative safety of the grasslands of the upper reaches of the Nile, they met new and different challenges, bitter losses and desperate setbacks. Thank goodness Taita was always there to save the day. Other authors have come up with these larger than life characters, brimming with unbelievable abilities and incredible talents (Gary Jennings' memorable Thorn, central character in "Raptor" comes immediately to mind) - sort of historical super-heroes. Looking at the evidence that has been left by ancient civilisations, I reckon they must have had at least some people of extraordinary talent and abilities, but the magnitude of Taita's skills, all wrapped up in one man, is pretty hard to accept. Some people cannot look past that, and the historical inaccuracies that this type of fiction engenders. However, I would urge you to suspend disbelief and enjoy this for what it was always intended to be - a jolly good, well written, completely absorbing adventure story, set on a grand scale, when life on Earth was so different to ours. When you've finished, run out and get "The Seventh Scroll" to find out how Taita's efforts protected his secrets for thousands of years; another adventure of mammoth proportions.
|
