| The Quest by Wilbur Smith |
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| Written by Book Reviews | |
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Fourth in Wilber smith’s Egyptian series the novel “The Quest” is all about the kingdom of Pharoah Nefer Seti. Taita, the Long Liver, who has the power to live several human generations, and Warlock are the two principal characters around whom the story revolves. Taita also has several the supernatural powers. He has the gift of the third eye; he can sense the aura of people and shrewdly assess the vibrations they emit. He can also tell whether they are good or evil. However his life is also a strange tragedy. He has been disfigured and turned into a eunuch while he was still a young man. His secret sorrows include the fact that he can neither show himself to any woman nor sire a child. He has been the right hand man of several generations of Egyptian emperors and he holds sway over the twin kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. When the novel opens Taita’s twin Egypt is on the verge of destruction. The river Nile, on which the entire civilisation of the kingdom depends, has dried up and Pharoah Nefer Seti has to send his trusted lieutenant Taita to the source of the river to find out what has stopped the life giving flow of the sacred river. The Quest is about this search till the end of the civilised world where river Nile takes birth. After fighting and winning battle after blood gory battle Taita finally enters the lair of the great witch Eos, the ethereal lady of the Devil. Taita’s brave soldier Meren loses an eye in a battle and Eos manages to get a seed planted in wound that grows into a new ‘third eye’. Can Eos do a similar medical magic to restore Taita’s manhood and, also, looks? The end provides the answer. Trackback(0)
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I agree with the other commenter. The character changed from my memory of earlier books. Now Taita has become far more ruthless and uses vengence to justify what you imagined he would consider uncivilised. I haven't finished the book yet but I have been expecting the character to realise that vengence isn't a good reason for murder and genocide.
i think that it was a mistake to continue the series beyond teh river god. That book was realistic and believable even though it included magic. Now its just getting a bit ridiculous.
Well,,
I picked it up at the neighbourhood book store , the moment I glanced it. It is decidedly different in flavour, without revealing the plot, I must say that Wilbur Smith was always loved for his realistic plots and geographic discriptions, I have never visited Africa, but always felt when reading his novels that I am there,,, This time however, he has weaved a story of occult, borrowed from the bible (plagues, river of blood,). This is a fantasy, while River God, Warlock, The Seventh Scroll still were accurate in history with some credible imagination thrown in, this novel really takes the flight.. (astral planes),, and while it is nice to see the tragedy of Taita turned around by the tide of fate. The initial chapter with transfer of knowledge by having sexual intercourse was ridiculous, especially with Indian references got me a smile while reading it,, Anyways, wont spoil the plot for your dear reader,, If you are a die hard fan of the Taita series you will like it ,, as I have, it was a good read Amen. - Amlan  |
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My favourite memory of RiverGod,was the realistic, tragic, though loving conclusion.
Thank you for reading, sorry for me sounding hopelessly pathetic.Fortunately I have actually moved on with my real life.
Nice day!