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Summary: River god
Review: I could not put this book down. My dad turned me onto Wilburs books and I've loved everyone I've read! But this was the best!
Any interest in ancient Egypt, kings, gods and slaves and what life was like for them? It's harsh in part's (probably how it really was in those times) but so good, You'll LOVE this book!
The Courtney series is wonderful too!
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Summary: Steeped in beautiful History
Review: I have just finished RiverGod and although I must say I absolutely adore Wilbur Smith's writing style (The depth of his characters and landscape). Taita is one of the best characters I have ever had the pleasure of journeying with. Slave though he may be he is certainly rich in many other forms. Anyone who is interested in Ancient Egypt really should read this and the other 2 Egyptian books by Mr Smith (Warlock & Seventh Scroll). The culture is absolutely amazing and in a lot of ways it reminds me of Jean Auels books in the way that new things are discovered and used. The most amazing thing to me was when I reached the end of the book and found that it was based on an archelogical find (10 Scrolls). Fiction is definately my forte however finding even the smallest truth in such an amazing story just makes it even better.
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Summary: The River God
Review: This story is epic in scope. It has forbidden love, overwhelming strife, a daunting enemy, and an exodus into an unknown land. Readers will enjoy Taita, the eunuch slave, who is a universal genius. His storytelling gives us a richly painted picture of ancient Egypt.
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Summary: Response to bamahony review
Review: I loved this book. On July 24 'bamahony' commented "Many reviewers seem to forgive Taita's utter perfection and endless accomplishments and talents - this eunuch single-handedly invented, saved, or otherwise was responsible for every single aspect of Egyptian history and art that has survived the ages. How anyone could claim realism with this character is beyond me..." This is what truly made me feel a sense of realism: many writers of ancient history enlarged their own parts in events. I found Taita to be intelligent and creative, but a braggart. This story is Taita's tribute to himself and those he loves. I doubt that anyone would have accomplished all these things, but I believe that someone would CLAIM to have done so. Smith's writing was beautiful and majestic. The scenery was fantastic, and I was choked up at the death scenes towards the end. I can't wait to read Warlock September!
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Summary: Taita gets old, fast...
Review: Many reviewers seem to forgive Taita's utter perfection and endless accomplishments and talents - this eunuch single-handedly invented, saved, or was otherwise responsible for every single aspect of Egyptian history and art that has survived the ages. How anyone can claim realism with this character is beyond me - better Smith had just called him a living god or alien or something; made River God some surreal mystic fantasy. Then Taita could manipulate Egyptian culture with impunity. By making him an utterly powerful, perfect human, Smith destroyed all ability to draw me into the story or create empathy for his characters. I was actually hoping that something, ANYTHING would go wrong for Taita. Lose a bet, make a bad decision, break a fingernail, anything; but this supercharater eventually won every time. His other characters were even more shallow and less memorable. But at least Smith can write complete sentences and coherent paragraphs (Anne Rice, please take note), so River God gets 2 stars instead of one.Also the follow-on, seventh scroll, is an utter waste of a tree. If you did enjoy River God, skip 7th scroll so that the storyline doesn't get destroyed for you.
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Summary: Absolutely captivating!!
Review: This was the first of Smith's books that I have read. It takes a pretty wonderful book to impress me and this one has. Your imagination is treated to images of love, hot passionate sex, betrayal, revenge, hardship, and triumph. Taita the slave is completely devoted to his mistress who leads her fellow Egyptians with dignity and grace. I was impressed with Smith's vivid descriptions of the battle scenes and the tools of war used during the time. For the historical fiction reader, this one is hard to beat!
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Summary: The Only Wilbur Smith Book I Ever Liked
Review: This fast, highly addictive novel may not be historically accurate, but it's a hell of a lot more fun than most historical fiction. I loved Taita. Ok, yeah, he was vain and could be really arrogant (Constantly reminding us of how beautiful he is), but he was so REAL. He was imperfect, he had his faults, and that is what made him real. I admit that he has altogether too many talents for a eunuch concubine in ancient Egypt (surgeon, lipreader, great kisser, architect, inventor, scholar, etc.), but I was willing to suspend disbelief on some of these points. What I don't understand is how the author could have written such a real character, then have all the supporting players flat and boring. I mean really, what did Lostris have going for her? She was sweet and gorgeous. And that's it. Tanus was the strong, sexy macho man. He just had absolutely no personality. And how about Taita's master, whose name escapes me? He was evil, vile, and a child molester, for no good reason. He had no purpose except to make threats to Taita and provide a reason for his castration.
In conclusion, I'll just say that if you like adventure and escapist fiction, this is for you. If you want an accurate history of ancient Egypt, turn and walk the other way.
P.S. I dare you to read this and NOT love Taita. You won't know why, he'll annoy the hell out of you, but you will fall in love with him anyway.
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Summary: Epic? Not an understatement
Review: Wow. I love this book. I've read it so many times the cover is starting to fall off. It's epic, it's fantastic, it's emotive, it's heart-wrenching, it's human, it's gory, it's everything you'd want in a book. Hell, it's so good, I wrote my A-Level music film music composition for it!!! Buy it, read it, read it again, then buy the seventh scroll and warlock and read them and then read the whole lot again! And again! OK, I need help now....
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Summary: Great read!
Review: Just finished the 3rd in the series (Warlock) and still can't get enough. This book takes about 100 pages to get going but then Smith never looks back. This is the first of Smith's works I read and didn't know what to expect. Definitely a page turner, especially if you like history (albeit fiction..?). Go ahead and read 7th scroll. You won't miss anything if you skip it, and the paperback's only a few bucks...then get Warlock!
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Summary: Far-fetched historical adventure, and horrible narrator
Review: Wilbur Smith's River God is about fortunes, romance and war of the ancient Egyptians during the decadent period pre- and post Hyksos invasion almost 2000 years B.C. The story is told by the eunuch slave Taita, who follows the events and life of his mistress, Queen Lostris, her lover General Tanus, and their son, Pharao Tamose (young Memnon). It has been my first book of this illustrious author, and I have to admit, I had a very difficult time to come up with suitable rating and review. The book reads very well and is a real page-turner. It is adventurous, romantic, historical and philosophical in one sense, but short in terms of real historical references, lacking suspense and thrills, and misguided in terms of offered time horizons, and timing of events (sometimes days are described like years, and years like weeks). The main character, the narrator Taita, is bombastic and self-indulgent individual, who thinks, that he is 100% better than Archimedes, Homer, Copernicus, and Michael Angelo put together. I wish Mr. Smith didn't use that style in narrating the book. The novel, despite being far-fetched historical adventure, would be more interesting, if Taita was just normal, maybe a bit talented, server of the Egyptian nobles. In addition, I think, that despite apparent meticulous research done by Mr. Smith, his book's historic background is much less believable, than the one used by novelists like Pauline Gedge or Christian Jacq. On the other hand, the book was paced well and kept adventure unabated for all 650 pages, that I would be tempted to read the next chapters of Taita saga in 'Seventh scroll' and 'Warlock',
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