usbsticky's review against another edition
5.0
I must have read this book 10 times and it's one of my favorite. However, it's only one this last reading that I've found fault with it. First a synopsis:
This is a book on ancient Egypt based on history, the background is the Hyksos invasion of ancient Egypt and per the epilogue is based on actual scrolls found in an Egyptian tomb. The central character is Taita the slave. He is a brilliant engineer, artist, politician (in his own words) able to design build any structure, a master warfare technician, engineer able to build and design mechanical devices of any kind, able to draw murals, write songs, etc. He is the loyal slave to an aristocratic princess. He guides her from a young girl through the Hyksos invasion, marriage to the Pharaoh, retreat to the land of Kush and subsequent return as well as her love life. Taita makes the whole book and sets the tone of the whole book (based on the writer of the scrolls) and I think Wilbur Smith did a fantastic job of it. The whole book is a saga and is full of love, intrigue, exploration and battle.
I loved the book the first 9 times I read this. This last time however, I seemed to have developed a more critical eye. Many things are too pat and unrealistic. For some reason I seemed not to have noticed or cared before. Still as I kept reading, I fell in love with the book again like I did before. The book doesn't really end here. You have to read the sequel The 7th Scroll to really enjoy it as this book is really a 2 book set. Forget about the other 3 books in the series, they are rubbish. But if you like Wilbur Smith's books and you like ancient Egypt and sweeping sagas, I would highly recommend this one.
This is a book on ancient Egypt based on history, the background is the Hyksos invasion of ancient Egypt and per the epilogue is based on actual scrolls found in an Egyptian tomb. The central character is Taita the slave. He is a brilliant engineer, artist, politician (in his own words) able to design build any structure, a master warfare technician, engineer able to build and design mechanical devices of any kind, able to draw murals, write songs, etc. He is the loyal slave to an aristocratic princess. He guides her from a young girl through the Hyksos invasion, marriage to the Pharaoh, retreat to the land of Kush and subsequent return as well as her love life. Taita makes the whole book and sets the tone of the whole book (based on the writer of the scrolls) and I think Wilbur Smith did a fantastic job of it. The whole book is a saga and is full of love, intrigue, exploration and battle.
I loved the book the first 9 times I read this. This last time however, I seemed to have developed a more critical eye. Many things are too pat and unrealistic. For some reason I seemed not to have noticed or cared before. Still as I kept reading, I fell in love with the book again like I did before. The book doesn't really end here. You have to read the sequel The 7th Scroll to really enjoy it as this book is really a 2 book set. Forget about the other 3 books in the series, they are rubbish. But if you like Wilbur Smith's books and you like ancient Egypt and sweeping sagas, I would highly recommend this one.
greyathena's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
readers_block's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of my dad's all time favorite books, and I picked it up for traveling.
At first I thought I might have to put it down because the first 100 or so pages are gorrrrrryyyyy. I thought I genuinely might not be able to stomach it, but I'm glad I stuck it out. This books is long but not difficult to read and very entertaining. There's love, science, and more than a few battle scenes. I really enjoyed it but by the end I needed something light and relatively trashy in order to recover. I was genuinely stressed at some parts. Life in ancient egypt was grueling and merciless, and Wilbur Smith does an incredible job conveying it.
At first I thought I might have to put it down because the first 100 or so pages are gorrrrrryyyyy. I thought I genuinely might not be able to stomach it, but I'm glad I stuck it out. This books is long but not difficult to read and very entertaining. There's love, science, and more than a few battle scenes. I really enjoyed it but by the end I needed something light and relatively trashy in order to recover. I was genuinely stressed at some parts. Life in ancient egypt was grueling and merciless, and Wilbur Smith does an incredible job conveying it.
cedw's review against another edition
3.0
This is the story of an Egyptian slave of many convenient talents. It was fun to lose myself in the world of ancient Egypt for a while, but sadly it didn't inspire me to read any other books from the series.
khaleesimod93's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.5
Usually, writing reviews come easily to me. In this instance, I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts into words. On one hand, this book was beautiful. The world of ancient Egypt was vivid and brought completely to life. I adored that portion. Diving into the history and magic of the world regardless of how fictional aspects of it were. On the other hand, I found the writing somewhat cringy, and the main character is a pretentious ass. Everything Taita did was perfect. He was good at everything. No, not just good, the best. And he made sure to mention it in every other paragraph. I got so annoyed with his narration. The sex scenes and the description of the women, like Lostris, made me so incredibly uncomfortable. I get this was published a while ago, but it was still cringy. While I somewhat enjoyed it, there were some aspects that I just couldn't ignore
andrewm4708's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.75
reviewsfeedblog's review against another edition
5.0
I love historical fiction and am reading a number of books in this genre at the moment. This particular book is set in Ancient Egypt and is set in a period much before all other historical fiction that I have read before. I found the culture and technological advancement fascinating as much of the things Taita creates or modifies are things that we take for granted everyday.
Taita is a slave. He is also a eunuch, a confidante, an architect, a military tactician, an artist, a doctor, a holy man and a seer into the future. He is skilled with carpentry, he can sing, write, direct theatre productions, learn a new language in days and teach his charges all subjects. In short, the only thing he is not very good at is being humble about what he can do and at times this royally got on my nerves. Nobody is this perfect, not even a slave to some of the most powerful men and women of nobility in Egypt.
Taita has been a slave almost all his life and considers himself born to serve. His master is the Lord Intef, the Pharaoh's right hand man. War against the Pretender cripples Egypt of its wealth. At the festival of Osiris the Lord hosts his Pharaoh, a weak man compared to his ancestors. To better secure his position, Intef arranges the marriage of his fourteen year old daughter to the Pharaoh with the promise that she will become the principal wife if she gives him the male heir he needs to continue his line. Lostris despairs as she has eyes for another, Tanus, an officer in the Pharaoh's army. At her request Taita works the mazes of Ammon-Ra and foretells that in five years the Pharaoh will be dead. In this secret knowledge, Lostris lives on in the hope that after his death she may join Tanus.
Five years later Pharaoh has his son and heir; war continues to ravage the land and a new threat comes to Egypt. An enemy far beyond the technological advancement of the Egyptians sweeps over the lands and conquers cities. Events unfold as Taita has predicted, and the Queen Regent Lostris is forced into exile with her son and her remaining people in order to survive. Twenty years they spend away from Egypt, relying on the Nile and the goddess Isis for safe passage.
Lostris inters the late Pharaoh safely as promised to him on his deathbed. Her people meet new civilisations, learn from the horrific losses of their previous battles and Prince Memnon grows into manhood. Finally they return to Egypt under their new Pharaoh to overthrow the Tyrant that turned them out.
Aside from my occasional dislikes of Taita when he brags about how much he is God's gift to the planet, I think there is a lot to love about this book. For me reading is a form of escapism and the great thing about historical fiction is that you can learn in a fun way without getting bogged down in dates and particulars. I wish I had studied history more at school... I think there is a lot we can learn from previous mistakes.
Taita is a slave. He is also a eunuch, a confidante, an architect, a military tactician, an artist, a doctor, a holy man and a seer into the future. He is skilled with carpentry, he can sing, write, direct theatre productions, learn a new language in days and teach his charges all subjects. In short, the only thing he is not very good at is being humble about what he can do and at times this royally got on my nerves. Nobody is this perfect, not even a slave to some of the most powerful men and women of nobility in Egypt.
Taita has been a slave almost all his life and considers himself born to serve. His master is the Lord Intef, the Pharaoh's right hand man. War against the Pretender cripples Egypt of its wealth. At the festival of Osiris the Lord hosts his Pharaoh, a weak man compared to his ancestors. To better secure his position, Intef arranges the marriage of his fourteen year old daughter to the Pharaoh with the promise that she will become the principal wife if she gives him the male heir he needs to continue his line. Lostris despairs as she has eyes for another, Tanus, an officer in the Pharaoh's army. At her request Taita works the mazes of Ammon-Ra and foretells that in five years the Pharaoh will be dead. In this secret knowledge, Lostris lives on in the hope that after his death she may join Tanus.
Five years later Pharaoh has his son and heir; war continues to ravage the land and a new threat comes to Egypt. An enemy far beyond the technological advancement of the Egyptians sweeps over the lands and conquers cities. Events unfold as Taita has predicted, and the Queen Regent Lostris is forced into exile with her son and her remaining people in order to survive. Twenty years they spend away from Egypt, relying on the Nile and the goddess Isis for safe passage.
Lostris inters the late Pharaoh safely as promised to him on his deathbed. Her people meet new civilisations, learn from the horrific losses of their previous battles and Prince Memnon grows into manhood. Finally they return to Egypt under their new Pharaoh to overthrow the Tyrant that turned them out.
Aside from my occasional dislikes of Taita when he brags about how much he is God's gift to the planet, I think there is a lot to love about this book. For me reading is a form of escapism and the great thing about historical fiction is that you can learn in a fun way without getting bogged down in dates and particulars. I wish I had studied history more at school... I think there is a lot we can learn from previous mistakes.
smokeywokey's review against another edition
4.0
lots of fun, but i did find one aspect of the setting to be a little implausible. so this civilization had a formalized writing system and complex sociopolitical hierarchies, practiced large-scale agriculture, and had an advanced knowledge of medicine, metallurgy, astronomy, and mathematics, but they didn't know what a fucking wheel was??? the only example in the whole book of sloppy world-building on Smith's part, imo. otherwise it for sure seemed like a setting made with love & care. almost made me feel like this 'Egypt' was a real place!
illusie's review against another edition
1.0
I did not finish this, because I didn't like the writing.