River God: Ancient Egypt, Book 1

From the first book, The River God, thru the entire series, Wilbur Smith's portrayal of how ancient Egypt during the era of the pharaos will enthrall you. If you close your eyes you can easily imagine living on the river Nile, through palace intrigue, wars, the entire era of a civilization long lost. Smith's imagination makes one wonder if the long lost libraries of Alexandria may have contained secrets that we still to this day have yet to re-discover. And he has other multiple novel series that are well researched, well written, and difficult to put down. Each one read leaves you for a longing for more. One of my favorite authors! You can buy the first four of the series in this bundle, or one at a time. And there are two more. Check them out! You won't regret it!

I feel as though I was there in ancient Egypt. My family had planned a trip to Egypt in 2020 but it was cancelled by Covid. This book helped me understand their civilation's roots so that when we can go I will appreciate it even more. Great book Mr. Smith.

Wow, Wilbur smith’s skills has not diminished despite over 50 years of writing. Another awesome book. If I have one complaint is that the books on his site are not listed in chronological order.

All I can say is the book is excellent and is hard to put down. The stories really do come to life and they pull you from verse to verses. An outstanding book and highly recommended.

River God fails to deliver on two fronts that I look for in historic fiction; well researched history and character development. The invasion of Hyksos and the introduction of the horse to Eqypt is historic fact but outside of that all history falls apart. The characters of the book were formulaic and predictable. Every one was either good or evil. The slave Taita was too perfect and became annoying. But in spite of all these flaws, the book did carry me through. I was tempted many times to throw it in the trash; but Smith's writing kept drawing me back to it.

I ve read this book years ago in Portuguese, when it wad released in Brazil. Because I've just read Pharao I wanted to get reminded of Taita's story.This is not just a simple book. It is a masterpiece of the greatest historical author .It is a narrative of more than 30 years in the story of the slave Taita and the saga of the Egyptian people before and during the invasion of the Hyksos. It is a novel worth reading .If you' ve read it, it is worth reading again.

An Entertaining ReadI suppose I have read everything Wilbur Smith has ever written and have enjoyed most of it. RIVER GOD was no exception although he has deviated from his usual stories that have Africa as their theme, to Egypt – and ancient Egypt at that in the time of the pharaohs.The story is related through the eyes of a slave, Taita, a brilliant and compassionate man who is the advisor to Queen Lostris. The book contains all the old favourites of Smith’s novels – revenge, bravery, love, and slaughter interspersed with swathes of facts that must have sent his research team into paroxysms of despair. All well worth it as the reader will learn much of the customs and culture of ancient Egypt.An excellent light read although the editor needs a slap on the wrist (I read this on Kindle so I don’t know if that makes a difference) as there were many typos and spelling errors. Words were joined together (no space between them) and this was especially noticeable in the second half.However despite this annoyance, RIVER GOD was a good read and Smith has lived up to his reputation yet again.

Not a fan of Egyptology, but Mr. Smith transports the reader via the characters and story and in the process, replaces ambivalence with genuine interest.

My original physical copy which Ive owned since I was 14 and read about 5 times and falling appart was signed by Wilbur Smith himself when I met him in Bath Waterstones.I bought the digital copy to protect the original as its very fragile.This book is brilliant and was one of the first books I ever read as a kid as I used to hate reading. If it wasnt for Wilbur Smith and his Egyptian series I probably wouldnt have taken it up. (I now have so many books I cant fit them anywhere lol)The flow of the story is great and the sex and violence dosent overpower it and tells the story instead of 'just because' like many other books. really love the characters and love the next one 'Warlock'His newer books that have been released in last few years are very disappointing so if you pick up the Egyptian series just read River God, Warlock and 7th Scroll.

When I was an adolescent I read lots of books about perfectly formed, kind but manly heroes, perfectly beautiful but clever, doe-eyed heroines and inordinately talented and beautiful people of lower cast/social order making good. I also read millions of pages of warriors slicing, chariots flying, swords and arrows made better than ever before, largest monsters, hottest deserts, longest journeys and valour and love conquering all. And all that.So Wilbur Smith delivers if that's what you want. And there's plenty of interesting historical background and detail (if you can believe in it when every main character is either beautiful or hideous). And indeed there's a lot of fascinating stuff about how they moved the boats up the River Nile. I definitely got a strong feel of the Great River and the journey along it (no idea if this journey ever really happened?).Overall if this kind of big semi-historical pageant with great heroes and beautiful heroines is your cup of tea, go for it.I enjoyed the historical information but in general prefer something a little less Hollywood and more subtle.

River GodThe first in Wilbur Smith’s Egyptian series which according to the preamble is based on the findings from a tomb containing an unknown Egyptian Queen believed to have ruled around 1760BC. Smith according to his comments was a member of the dig team and from that involvement he developed the character of Egyptian eunuch slave, Taita.Taita is a member of the household of Lord Intef a senior member of the Egyptian nobility. Lord Intef is a man of distinct tastes and avaricious needs. Taita is highly talented which makes him extremely valuable to his master who uses him in a range of ways. Principal amongst his responsibilities is the welfare of his master’s daughter Lostris a young girl who Taita has known from her birth.Despite having many wives Pharaoh has failed to father a son and sees in Lostris his last opportunity to preserve his dynasty. Lostris however has her eyes on Tanus the soldier son of another noble family who have fallen on hard times. Lord Intef was instrumental in bringing down Tanya’s family and will not consider a match with Lostris and Tanus. Instead he marries her to Pharaoh but has to accept the price of losing Taita who Lostris insists accompanies her to her new home. Intef is not happy with this outcome as he believes Taita knows to much about his affairs.Egypt is invaded by the Hyksos a war-like people who have developed significantly the art of war. They sweep the Egyptian Army aside forcing the nobility and the remaining army segments to flee up the Nile. Forced to travel in the wilderness Taita uses the time to build up their armed forces and develop their military skills before returning to Egypt and attempting to win back their country.In a tale that moves at remarkable pace Smith creates a picture of Taita that is not always positive. Vain, arrogant and full of his own self-Importance the tale comes through Taita’s eyes. There appears to be nothing he cannot turn his hand or brain too. Despite his slave status he carries a sphere of influence not normally associated with someone in such a position. Indeed when Lostris offers him his freedom through the book he regards it as being something he should abhor.I really enjoyed this and intend moving on to the second book in the series at some point in the near future.

Takes a while to get going, the first 20 pages or so are spent going into great detail about a hippopotamus hunt. The two main characters are clichéd, the hero is broad shoulders and handsome, the heroine an outstanding beauty.The book has it all, forbidden love, power struggles, epic fights etc. The story is told in first person singular by the main character a slave. Though this is no ordinary slave, he is also a surgeon(one of the finest in Egypt) a military tactician, weapons designer, political adviser, expert lip reader, a brilliant horseman even though he had never even seen one since adulthood, horse breeder, vet, wheel designer, astrologist, the list goes on.The book is quite graphic at times, goes into detail describing torture,castration and animal cruelty. There's not much wrong the main characters can do. Can the hero and his men defeat a group of bandits when outnumbered ten to one?A good read for someone who likes 650 page novels about ancient Egypt.

This novel tells an intriguing story of love, lust, mysticism, corruption, deceit, hatred, war and so much more. The action and adventure descriptions are very vivid and gripping. There is so much going on in the story that it is difficult to pigeon-hole it into any one genre, but I would class it as a fantastic action and adventure tale with betrayal, romance and lifelong love. As a plus (for me, as I'm fascinated by Ancient Egypt) it gives an account of the lives of a range of people who lived 4000 years ago. If you only take one book on holiday with you then this should be it.