Krishna
Well, I place this book in the middle just to follow the order in which the books were written but this is not the chronological order. Warlock is the sequel to River God but this book tells the story of modern times where an archaeologist and his archaeologist wife are investigating the treasure buried with Pharoah Mamose’s tomb, using
Taita’s cryptic clues in a scroll (The Seventh Scroll). That way this is no trilogy at all, in the commonly understood sense of the word.
Now, back to the review. Duraid and Royan Al Simma are an archaeological pair, wedded through an arranged marriage and he is much much older than the young and lovely Royan (hey this is a Wilbur Smith book!) who is half Egyptian and half British. Powerful forces are after the scroll and the treasure and her husband is murdered and the scroll stolen, and Duraid, in his dying breath asks her to seek out the gallant, talented, and adventurous (this IS a Wilbur Smith book!)
Sir Nicholas Quentin-Harper in England.
They both go in search of the treasure, and must overcome the machinations of the evil and utterly ruthless van Sciller, who would stoop at nothing, not even mass murder to get his hands on the treasures…
It has all the ingredients of a Wilbur Smith book but it is more like his other potboilers (think Monsoon) than the Egyptian series of the other two.
It is funny but Wilbur Smith, for the first time, cannot resist the urge to make a cameo in the story in the style of Hitchcock and there are actually scenes where Royan and Nicholas discuss the serious historical merits of the facts in the novel The River God. Rather than adding weight to the story, it made me irritated as I considered it a pompous insertion into the book. The story did not need such self eulogy.
However, as a pure entertainment (read fluff) it is on par with most other Wilbur Smith books, and so, let us say a charitable 6/10
— Krishna (Mar 2012)