RIVER GOD

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Summary: Compelling, Smith's best book ever !
Review: The story of River God sucks you into ancient Egypt and is so compelling that you find it very difficult to put the book down. Whilst reading the story, you ARE in Egypt and one of the players.

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Summary: Powerful.
Review: I really like books set in the ancient world and this is one of my favorites. Others have criticized its historical accuracy, which I cannot comment on, but I do know that this book was extremely well written, and deserves to be read for that alone. An excellent read!

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Summary: "River God" is pseudo-fiction that flows quite nicely
Review: There are those who will criticize this enjoyable little novel for its deviations from "true" Egyptian history. One might as well fuss at Columbus for missing his target and bumping into America instead. Sometimes a book's most endearing feature is its readability, and River God has that in surplus. From the tongue-in-cheek humor of Taita, the narrator of the tale, to the archetype romance between the high-born daughter of the Vizier and the lowly soldier (with a great deal of intrigue thrown in), this delightful story is guaranteed to get your attention. Its very unlikeliness makes it all the more fun to read - like reading a grocery store tabloid without the guilt. Smith is a gifted writer with a wonderful sense of humor, and though a few technical points may get knocked off here and there, I would not hesitate to recommend the story of Taita, Lostris, and Tanis to my dearest friends (but they won't get MY copy!). You certainly don't have to be a fan of ancient Egypt to enjoy this book - anyone who likes to read a good adventure story ( a la "Raiders of the Lost Ark") will appreciate its excellent pacing and classic hero/villain conflict - plus the wry humor sprinkled throughout will make you grin when you least expect it. The two lovers are perfect to a T, while the scurrying slave makes up in hubris what he lacks by his master's hand. And like the river it echoes, the storyline waves in and out of rocky spots, hits whirlpool eddies of action, and (only rarely) stagnates. While the end may not be satisfying in the happily-ever-after sense, it left me content in the knowledge that no one's future was a mystery. Wilbur Smith wraps up each loose end with all the care of a royal embalmer. And yet there are a few questions to be answered in the sequel... hmm... guess I know what's next on my reading list..

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Summary: The Leonardo of Ancient Egypt
Review: Taita is truly a Leonardo and Michelangelo combined into one and transformed 3000 years back to ancient Egypt. This slave of Pharoah is a physician, engineer, artist, architect, philosopher, poet, and military strategist - just to name a few - one of the most remarkable characters you'll come across in historical fiction

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Summary: River God - Wilbur Smith's best in years
Review: It was wonderful to find a Wilbur Smith book that lives up to the standard set by two of his previous books - 'When the Lion Feeds' and 'The Sunbird'. While I have enjoyed other Wilbur Smith books this was the first in years to hold my attention from start to finish. The story was gripping and beautifully told - I felt at times that I was the narrator, the slave Taita. I found myself resenting the time I had to spend away from the book and couldn't wait to pick it up again each time I put it down. My only complaint is that it did finish - I wish it could have gone on for another 300 pages

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Summary: Great Adventure
Review: 'River God' will sweep you up as if you where in the clutches of the flooding Nile River! The book sparks the imagination and the characters are simply endearing. Dont be fooled by the epilogue, that is a clever piece of fiction setting up the next book 'The Seventh Scroll'. Wilbur Smith uses this twist of fiction/non-fiction to draw you into the story line as if these events have actually taken place. I have never experianced a book like this or the premise in which they were written. I recomend this book very much as long as you dont mind the current in which you will be swept

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Summary: Fiction ? Maybe, but it's real to me.
Review: River God is excellent reading material. I bought this book in Chicago just before boarding a flight bound for London. From the first few pages I realized this was going to be an excellent flight. This was my first Wilbur Smith novel, and though it was mostly fiction with some fact, as the storyline progressed Mr. Smith was able to eliminate any doubt in my mind that what he wrote did not actually happen. When the flight attendant arrived, and saw what I was reading, she said that this novel was good but not as good as his previous novels. I was amazed, could this book be bettered? I did not let go of the book until the last page. If you do get this book, make sure you have enough free time

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Summary: Fascinating story! A great opportunity to learn Egypts hist.
Review: I bought this book recently just because I got a bargain price. It turned out that it is a wonderful, fascinating story of ancient egypt which is based more on fact that fiction. The original writer of this story actually existed in ancient egypt! His name was Taita and he was a slave for the Queen Lostris. He wrote her life story on ten scrolls and placed it in her ancient tomb as a tribute to her. In 1988 it was found and translated so that we can appreciate and learn from these words still today. I simply can't recommend this book enough. Amazon sells it at a great price and it is definitely a must read! You WILL love it

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Summary: Good-to-average storytelling, atrocious history
Review: Ancient Egypt is one of my hobbies. I collect books, non-fiction and fiction, that have anything to do with it. I picked up Smith's River God and gave it a try. I was horribly disappointed. The storytelling is decent, although there are not enough characters to sustain believability (a pharaoh's entourage was never *that* small!) and the main character, Taita, is just unsufferably smart --he invents everything short of the microwave oven. The history is atrocious, and that is where the book condemns itself. Not only are there numerous anachronisms (glass-blowing, shadoufs, etc), but this is the first time I've seen an author not use the rich tapestry of Ancient Egyptian history: this book is about a dynasty that never existed. Not only are the Hyksos represented as a tidal wave (borne on the innovation of the war chariot), which is nothing like what actually happened, but we see, in the course of the story, an entire city's worth of Egyptians uproot themselves and travel upstream along the Nile to somewhere in Ethiopia and back. What is unforgivable is that Nubia is shown as uninhabited, a wilderness, whereas in reality it was a vice-royalty of Egypt, nearly as heavily settled (in the Late Period, there even was a Nubian dynasty), that would later give rise to the great civilizations of Meroe and Axum. When compared to the books by Silverberg (Thebes of the Hundred Gates), Jacq (The Judge of Egypt), Montlaur (Nitocris, Imhotep), Pratchett (Pyramids), Prus (The Pharaoh), Norton (Shadow Hawk), Morris (I, the Sun), Tarr (Lord of the Two Lands), Powers (The Anubis Gates), Saberhagen (Pyramids) and, above all, Gedge (her Scroll of Saqarra is a masterpiece!), this book deserves to be relegated to oblivion.

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Summary: Magnificent, superb, loved it
Review: As a classics major (and there aren't too many of us) I enjoyed this book tremendously. It doesn't seem like it has over 600 pages, it flows so quickly! I've read a large number of novels set in the ancient world, and this one ranks up there with I, Claudius and the earlier Mary Renault novels