Rating: 
Summary: Warlock: A Novel of Ancient Egypt
Review: Great! The wonderful historical data along with the fictional characters, made you "see" the action. Wilbur Smith is one of my favorite authors.
Rating: 
Summary: The Audio quality of these tapes is unacceptable
Review: I am a big fan of Wilbur smith. He is a master of the historical novel.The audio cassette editions of his books, manufactured by Billiance audito, however are so poor in their quality as to be unusable and annoying to the listener. Brilliance audio's technical reproduction of books is the poorest quality of any that I have purchased- I'm an avid user of books on tape. I purchased this book to listen to on a cross country drive. The uneven audio necessitated a constant adjustment of the volume level. At moments the audio was so low that it was virtually unintelligible. If you increase the volume another portion would be so loud as to be painful (usually spoken segments by characters). This requisite constant adjustments in volume made this excellent story a real pain to listen to. I thought that this might just have been an anomaly with this one particular tape. I purchased another unabridged novel "River God" also by Wilbur Smith and manufactured by brilliance audio - it was the same. I was so angry after investing a significant sum to purchase these tapes that I called the manufacturer, Brilliance audio's national customer service manager. She apologized and shipped me a replacement book on tape that she assured me had good production quality. I was shocked to find it the same as the previous books. My car stereo is manufactured by Bose and is high end. The same problem exists when attempting to play these tapes on a sony walkman cassette player. My conclusion is that Brilliance audio has no quality control or is using a cheaper tape or reproduction method than all of the other audio tape manufacurers. I wish Wilbur Smith had hired Jim Dale the reader of the Harry Potter books and had his novels recorded at another studio because those books are performed and reproduced magnificently. The audio renditions of both Warlock and River God, however, are simply poor quality and not worth their cost and unless you don't mind adjusting the volume continuously as you listen - don't buy them.
Rating:
Summary: It's Great
Review: I bought this book for my birthday and fromthe first page I was hooked. This book is a real page turner, but I recommended for people that have read River God, only because of the characters. I love all Wilbur Smith books. I started reading them last year when I was 15. One of my mum's friends was astonished to find that I had read River God, and the Seventh Scroll, which he only just heard about, and had just started reading river god.
Wilbur Smiths books are full of action adventure romance death and much much more. This book is a must for all Wilbur Smith fans, Plus anyone else.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I love everything about ancient world and this book is simply
great !
Thanks to great story telling- you are there inside Egypt with the characters.....
Rating:
Summary: Its Like ice cream
Review: I am a Great Fan of this writer .he should be Given a Noble Prize. he like A.Dumas .he has broght back the Habbit of Book reading in present time May God Grant him Many many more year of sickness free years so that he is able to Boil our blood with all the exitement .Amen Jetley
Rating: 
Summary: my review
Review: In this last chapter in the Egypto series that started with the Seventh Scroll and River God and now Warlock, we find Taita, the one everyone calls "magus" who has to come to help the grandson of her beloved Queen Lostris to recapture his throne from two usurpers. The quality in the characters, the settings and the plot are the author's usual trademark. The way he makes us understand the feelings and the thinking of the time are incredible and a joy to read. Great book, I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Stink, stank, stunk
Review: River God ranks on my list of all time favorite novels. But Warlock is not only a bad book - it cheapens the legacy Smith created in River God and Seventh Scroll. Several errors of judgement have been made in crafting this novel. River God, through it's first person narrative, and the conceit of being an epic translated from ancient scrolls had truly mythic depth. It completely worked, and arrogant as Taita was, he was also deeply endearing. Warlock's 3rd person narrative never comes together, and makes Taita both irritating and unsympathetic as a character. As well, making Taita a caster of magic spells actually takes away from the magic that existed in River God. Wilbur Smith has no clue how to write fantasy. A sad addition to what was a brilliant pair of novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Uninspiring
Review: What happened to the magic of River God and the suspense and intrigue of The Seventh Scroll? Reading this book was like watching paint dry. Wilbur's heart and passion in not to be found in his latest book.
Rating: 
Summary: Phantom Men-itis Strikes Back
Review: Anyone will tell you when you do something great, it's hard to top it. Sequels rarely exceed their parents, Empire Strikes Back being an exception ;-) Warlock, however, follows the rule rather than the exception. Taita was great in River God. He may have been a eunich, but that made him more than a man. In Warlock, he now has become somewhat of a Jedi Master, able to create illusions in others minds and read people's thoughts. One of the things I liked about River God was that there was not much magic and it was more of a historical fiction than fantasy. Taita just seems too powerful here.
I also was having trouble knowing who to root for at the book's beginning as several of the characters get killed too soon.
And where are the daughters of Lostris and Tanus?? Who knows? I want to say that I did somewhat enjoy this book, but after River God, it's not what I had expected.
Rating:
Summary: What happened to the captivative qualities of River God?
Review: What happened? I was facinated by River God, captivating storytelling, real characters. It seems Mr. Smith ran out of ideas for the sequel. After a promising start, his new book "Warlock" turns sour after 100 pages. How many times can one read about the 'perfect' Taita and the Hollywood dreamboy Nefer?
How many overdrawn mutilation scences does it take to portray Trok as a villian? The book reads more like the ancient 'Theogony', in which outnumbered chariot squadrons massacre entire armies on a regular basis and blood-thirsty tyrants simply go through the motions of butchering in-significant characters.
The small number of thought out personalities in this book makes you wonder what kind of kingdom Nefer actually rules. Does anybody have a brain in this place, or is it a herd of cattle that swears allegiance to anything that sparkles under the sun?
Not that there aren't chances to save the story. The priestess at Hathor could give a great view into the clerical life in ancient Egypt. General Prenn provides a chance for a conflict of interest episode. And Heseret's character could be a great depiction of creeping madness. I am not an author, but numerous occasions in this book would have provided me with a chance to write a better version than I read.
For those of you how wish to read about unimaginative battle after battle in a semi-biblical tone (which in itself was not a bad idea), and who get a rise out of mutilations descriptions, this is your book. Anybody want to read a good story: I suggest re-reading the orginal River God.
| 
