A review by mepresley
The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was definitely surprised that this book doesn't continue with Taita as narrator / take place in ancient Egypt. Instead, we begin with Duraid and Royan, two Egyptologists who work at a museum. I was in no way tired of Taita, but I found myself delighted at the unexpected change of framing.

The Seventh Scroll was packed with action and tension. I enjoyed the moral ambiguity of the protagonists and their project. I also really liked having multiple villains--

Boris, Col. Nogo, Jake, von Schiller, Nahoot.

I loved the concept of Nichalas and Royan playing

bao

with Taita across 4000 years and was super amused at the meta stuff about River God and Wilbur Smith.

I didn't really care for the apparently obligatory

romance plotline between Nicholas & Royan.

It did make it much more impactful when

they betrayed each other, though.

 

I also ultimately found that even with my willingness to suspend disbelief,

I wanted to roll my eyes at several moments, particularly when Nicholas got swept down the Nile again and when there was a second hand-to-hand battle to the death between two men in the Nile.

 

And for such a dark book, it was a little disappointing

to get a sort of fairy tale ending, where all the "good" guys win everything they've ever wanted, and all the "bad" guys are punished with violent death.