Krishna
Really? Don’t get me wrong, I like Wilbur Smith books, and have reviewed many here, including Assegai, Elephant Song, or the earlier Taita stories starting from the first one, River God. But the best historical novelist? Come on! He can be perhaps the best living historical novelist with the initials WS. Because if you include dead ones, even there William Shakespeare will beat him hollow with Henry VIII or King Lear. He has some history but mostly it is fluff, with no depth in it.
Interesting to see the book dedicated to his wife. He has dedicated all his books to his wife, but the name changes from time to time. I think this is the third name I have seen?
The Taita stories, though interesting, are insufferable in the all excelling God-like qualities of that man and in the first person, it looks like Wilbur is fondly imagining himself as a demi-God through Taita. If you consider the insufferable Seventh Scroll where Wilbur Smith, instead of the surrogate Taita, is the all knowing, and famous historian of the Egyptian history, you understand Wilbur’s urge to continue self praise through Taita. The pity is that the story stands by itself and is interesting in its own right without the self praise running through all Taita books. I will now get off my soap box and look at the book itself.
This is the next installment in the widely popular Taita series. Two things about the story immediately stand out. One : It has a greater tie in to the original story than all the sequels so far. This brings us back to the Hyskos defeat and Pharoah Tamose, and the subsequent revenge of the Hyskos. Second: The story takes off almost from the first sentence.
Egypt is staring at annihilation and Tamose is old. Hyskos are kicking their butt repeatedly (my phrasing) in battles. Tamose is dying and his eldest son, Utteric Toro is to inherit the throne, such as it was. He is jealous of Taita and after sending him to defeat Hyksos, he then arrests Taita as a traitor. The brother of the kind releases him and escapes with him to the sea. He meets up with his erstwhile friends.
He meets Bekhata and Tehuti from his earlier book and Tehuti’s brilliantly beautiful daughter falls in love with the younger brother who came with Taita. When a surprise attack is waged by a weasel-like representative of Utter, Taita tries to put him to death but Serena saves him.
When they go hunting for a boar, King Hurotas, whose horse was gored by the beast loses consciousness, Queen Tehuti suffers a broken wrist and it is Serena who kills the mighty beast, cementing her reputation among everyone.
When she is kidnapped with Bekhata’s son being the victim, the story takes off again. When Taita and Rameses go to rescue her, the story takes off again, Wilbur style. The way they rescue Serena and how they free the prisoners in the dungeon are good.
Then Serena tries to create a rebellion right from inside Egypt. They collect an army and have Hurotas also come with an army. There is a great reunion. They thwart an enemy attack as well as take charge of Utteric’s horses in a night raid. However a fish tile intrigues him and Taita finds part of the answer in one of the four islands at the mouth of the river.
When she faces a demon enemy called Terramesh who comes in a chariot drawn by unicorns (yes, don’t laugh) and with its axle adorned by sharp blades that tears through enemy army (which in this case is Taita’s) and seemingly impervious to arrows, Taita is confused. His pet goddess Inana tells him of a way to kill Terramesh. That involves stories like you would find in Brothers Grimm tales, where they travel to a concealed cave where there is one specific weapon to kill. They find it through magic and Inana’s guidance and then find another hidden and secret cave, protected by magic as well (I said, stop laughing) to lure and destroy Terramesh with some lude and raunchy display by Serena involved in the honey trap.
Then Taita explores the hidden passway below and finds a way to overcome Utteric, who is hidden behind three formidable walls. Also one of the people captured is a ‘good’ one and can even tell between Utteric and his myriad doubles.
You get the feeling that this is too easy for Taita. The last few Taita books have been totally one sided and the feeling that these are hastily crafted books to cash in on the fame of Taita deepens.
“One of the best historical novelists”, says Stephen King. In my opinion, Wilbur writes very well, that is undeniable, and bases it on history of both Africa and, now, Egypt specifically. But they are simply very thin backdrops to adventure stories. The research is not deep, the history is not even slightly emphasized but serves as a backdrop for gory killing and womanizing.
Engrossing? Yes. Historical? Even for his prior books, no. For this particular book, “Hell, no.”
Anyway, Taita solves the mystery of the tunnels. They go right inside the camp of Utteric, bypassing the walls. Easy, peasy, when you have the help of Goddesses like Inana to help out.
Typical but less complex fare from Wilbur. Entertaining but lacks his usual complexity.
5 /10
– – Krishna (Dec 2018)