Customer Reviews

The Quest

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

River God, the first in the series, is a solid 5-star book, eminently
re-readable. Seventh Scroll gets 4 stars, Warlock 3. There seems to be
a trend here. I get the feeling that Smith took a lot more time in the
conception and the writing of River God than he did with this book.
There's just too much that doesn't hang together properly and which often
leaves a bad taste in your mouth--like biting into a spoiled part of an
apple.

The Nile in Egypt has dried up--the result of machinations by the evil
Eos, so Taita takes a very small force upriver to locate the problem.
It turns out that Eos has dammed the Nile where it leaves Lake Victoria.
Bizarrely, that does not seem to have raised the lake level at all, but
never mind. I kept thinking about how if someone dammed the Mississippi
close to its source, would the riverbed be dry at St Louis, New Orleans,
etc? The Nile does have other tributaries (such as the Blue Nile, etc),
but not as many as the Mississippi, of course. The plot device seems
weak.

A much weaker plot device--which carries the book through over 100 pages,
involves stem-cell therapy carried out by Eos' minions. Pregnant women
are killed and their bodies are fed to crocodiles. Taita is horrified
by this, but he is perfectly willing to reap the benefits--the restoration
of his genitals. Helping people restore lost genitals, eyes, limbs, etc,
seems quite out of character for the evil Eos. In fact, the sole reason
for this whole device is that Taita benefits and can now enjoy sex again.
He has sex with Eos (unnecessarily graphic--did Smith want to sell the
episode to Playboy or something?) and more importantly, he now can have
sex with his 12 (13?) year old companion. If Anna Nicole Smith's marriage
to a 90-year-old bothers you, try a 150-year-old Taita and his 12-year-old
mistress (I kept thinking that Taita shouldn't date anyone younger than
130 or so...).

Another puzzle centered around Taita's force of 100 troops--which quickly
shrank to about 20 or 30--not very much for such a long dangerous journey.
Fights with native tribes accounted for many of the losses: one of the
world's greatest magicians seems content to use his bow and arrows in
these fights--why not quick bloodless victories using his magic? There
are too many things that just do not feel right in this book--and this
is in very marked contrast to River God, where the action and plot hangs
together well and makes sense. River God has the feel of a carefully
crafted novel--which is in contrast to this book.

i have been an avid fan of Wilbur Smith for close to a decade and anxiously awaited to read his lates tome . unfortunately this book has been a complete disappointment. almost feels like it was ghost written by someone else ! the plot is weak , the storyline is dragging and the climax is wanting .
i just wish he had never written this book . warlock itself was not spectacular like River God but this one misses its mark by a mile . the picture that he draws of Africa and its many tribes is riveting but the rest of the story plods on to its inevitable encounter. there are no surprises , no sudden plot twists.
i am gutted !

I have read and enjoyed Wilbur Smith's books. Couldn't wait to get my hands on The Quest. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I realized the book is in no way historical fiction. It is fantasy. It's filled with magic and spiritualism that made it impossible for me to suspend my disbelief. Perhaps his young wife liked Harry Potter and asked her husband to write her a book about wizards; or maybe in the early-going where he describes that lobotomy-like operation where Taita gets a knitting needle stuck behind his eye socket is actally a recounting of a procedure performed on the author. Supernatural nonsense has no place in historical novels. I put the book aside and started The Religion which IS historical fiction and is everything WS's books used to be.

Who was the ghost writer of this pseudo Wilbur Smith novel? Granted there are a few parts with that famous Wilbur Smith touch; wonderfully descriptive action that fairly leaps from the page with its realistic imagery. But, alas, most of the book is filled with fantasy, mysticism, and a sad attempt to re-do our beloved eunuch, Taita, into a rather unbelievable character. I have always rather liked Smith's flawed heroes, the eunuch, the hunchback, and characters with human frailties that bring a superb realism to his books. That touch of raw realism coupled with his superb imagery that compares with Conrad always put Smith's books on the top tier. But this exercise in magic, mysticism, and eroticism is a real let down from the superb series before.

Skip this one.

Having re-read River God so many times I've lost count, and enjoyed both Seventh Scroll and Warlock fairly well, I was so excited for a new novel involving Taita. Unfortunately, this book is such a departure from the focused adventures of Taita's past it hurts the series and the characters we've come to know.
Continuity is one huge issue in this book - suddenly Lostris' baby name isn't Lanata, it's Fenn. Suddenly Taita met her at a different age in her life (around age 12 versus knowing her from when she toddled behind Tanus as a child). Suddenly her hair is blonde, rather than raven's wing black. Just these items, without the fantastical plot line, were enough to destroy the credibility of the story and make you wonder if Wilbur Smith found a ghost-writer or just thought no one would notice.
The plot itself isn't terrible, it is just such a complete departure from the reality-based storylines of the past novels. The sex scenes become boring and gratuitous, quite frankly, and the word choices (e.g., "manroot") are better suited to Playboy than an author of Smith's calibre.
All in all, for those of you who loved River God & Warlock, avoid The Quest at all costs - it destroys your recollections of the characters as it becomes mired in its own plot devices. Sorry, Mr. Smith.

Spoiler alert!

I've read quite a few of Smith's books, and all of his Taita novels. I loved "River God" and "Warlock", and had high expectations for this book. This book disappoints me in so many ways I don't even know where to begin. First off, Smith pulls the whole "magic" thing waaay to far. In "Warlock" it was fantastic, but still believable in some way. Not so here. What really puzzled my, by the way, is that after Taita becomes "the most powerful man in the world" he still has to use a sword to fight off his enemies. And this affair with re-born Lostris. What the hell is that. Gave me some very bad associations indeed. If you read the book I'm sure you know what I mean.

Dont't buy it, pretend it doesn't excist.

Wilbur Smith spins quite the outlandish tale here in "The Quest," all full of swords and sorcery. Much more sorcery, in fact, than any of his previous Egypt novels. But while this book cannot measure up to "River God," I feel it is superior to "Warlock" and even "The Seventh Scroll." It's actually quite a readable, ripping tale that will keep you entertained for many hours.

At the beginning of this book, our hero Taita is pretty ancient - something along the lines of 150 years old. If this immediately causes you to scoff with disbelief, then you probably won't like the rest of the book, because his advanced age is probably the most believable thing you'll find therein. This isn't strictly a work of historical fiction. It's more of a hybrid of historical fiction mixed with liberal doses of fantasy.

Few authors can write action and adventure like Wilbur Smith, and this novel doesn't disappoint in that area. Some of his previous works suffered from turgid prose, strangely formed sentences, and odd word choices that distracted from the story, but not "The Quest." The action fairly flies off the page.

Aside from Taita, none of the other characters are very richly drawn, and the dialogue is oftentimes simplistic and laughable. You won't be seeing this title on any literary society's "100 best" list any time soon. And unlike "River God" and "The Sunbird," this one won't be finding a permanent place in my library. But it's a ridiculously enjoyable tale, full of energy and action. Relax and enjoy.

I am a 30+ year fan of Mr. Smith's books...

That being said, IMO it appears Mr. Smith has abandoned good writing for what reads like a kinky novel with a mediocre plot. In addition, he seems to be underscoring some of his own personal beliefs (issues) in respect to dislike and/or loathing of strong, powerful older women as portrayed in many sections of this book. He also uses, as a critical element in the story the issue of young fertile impregnated women who are sacrificed for the needs of older and consequently more evil women (as it appears most of the physicians in the "Cloud Gardens" are female...and older). Does this example correlate with something that is happening today in modern society? Perhaps he is expressing a concern about the uses of aborted fetal tissue in cosmetic research and medicine? This type of use of fetus tissue can be seen as is evil, to be sure. And, most of the civilized world is in agreement with that belief.
Mr. Smith uses this as a device to substantiate Taita's rage which leads to his annihilation of Eos and all of her realm. What about the starving families and other horrors he left in his "very Egypt"? In addition, never once does he allow Taita to use his sharp inquisitive mind to question the need for restoration of his "manly parts" other than a brief moment of personal debate. This "restoration" becomes a necessity in order to have sex with Eos which the story indicates is the only method of her destruction. Surely there could have been other ways. Let's face it...though...sex sells...right?
How convenient. The method of her destruction also becomes the source of his greatest pleasure. Now, he has the means to fulfill his own ultimate wish, sex with Fenn. He is soon to be rewarded for destroying such a terrible foe.
In the last chapters of the book, he can now celebrate his victory by having sex with his child companion/reincarnated queen. Almost as an afterthought, prior to the destruction of Eos, the story allows Taita to restore his youth through a mystical means. Maybe Mr. Smith realized that, essentially (as an afterthought) having the visibly aged 150 year old Taita have sex with this barely mature teenaged female was going to take it simply too far for most of his readers. Good for him. However, the truth of it, this part of the book still comes across tale of child lust/molestation (this at least legally from a modern standpoint) from most points of view since Fenn is still not of age to be having sex (according to today's standards) whether Taita looks more youthful or not. It is true in ancient culture prepubescent females were often married off to old men, and perhaps this sort of thing would not have been an issue. However, you would think the ancient sage and magus would be more sophisticated, educated, worldly, and have more character than to allow himself to lust for such a young female, reincarnated queen or not (or at least question the age difference).
However, the entire book, especially toward the end, comes across as one huge ode to the Lolita complex (a condition that appears to be reaching worldwide epidemic proportions.)

And now it appears (according to what I read in previous reviews) Mr. Smith has succumbed to this trend. That of course explains this book.
How the mighty have fallen. It is a sad inclination for men of such caliber to be so easily swayed.
(Be careful Mr. Smith, although one hand may have a firm grasp on the "Man-root"...the other hand is dipping into a bank account).

Let's hope his next book will find Mr. Smith in the mood to tell a real story instead of porn novel.
Read his other books, they are truly masterful and real examples of his skill in telling a tale.

Okay, first I'll start off with the good things, the reason why the book recieved a two instead of a one. The plot got kinda interesting at points and the depiction of Africa was neat.

Now the bad. I know this will sound harsh but it's true. However, I should premise this by stating I have enjoyed Wilbur Smith loving, River god And the Seventh Scroll. But this book like Warlock misses the mark, but to a whole greater level. First, is the writing. This is the most truly embarrassing part of the novel, and why the editor didn't say something i will never know. While I didn't expect a literrary masterpiece, this book's writing is abysmal. Instead of illustrating emotions it merely states them, in cliche and simplistic terms, reminding me a my freshmen highschool class feabling attempting to write a story. Numerous times i found myself laughing at the "corniness" of certain statements. Second is because of this character development is severely hampered. By the end of river god taita had been fully developed, at least on the path Smith was chosign. At the conlucsion of The quest he has become a simplistic ridiculous powerful magi. This leads to a stagnant dialouge where the only interesting events occur through the journey itself not the characters. The third problem, if one can call it this, is Smith's obsession with young girls. First in the Triumph of the Sun (which i did like) and now in the Qust smith lusts after girls who "have just completed their first moon" and who hook up with ridiculously old guys. While he may have some allownces due to these cultures, his detail and selection of it, illustrate maybe more than a story....

Overall if ur a rabid smith fan read it, it's not that bad and the plot and lack of nuances in the story will allow u to fly through it, but if your a first time Wilbur Smith reader or kind of had a mixed reaction to one of his other books. Don't read this one, read River God and Seventh Scroll, where he weaved an intelligent, and intriguing story.

I bought this book the moment I saw it without even reading the cover----- (My reaction was---Oh my God!!Another Taita book!!!!!)
That's how much I loved his books------HUUUUUUGE MISTAKE. Started to read it the same day, but did not like it. However I have been a loyal fan of all Taita books-----so I kept reading, hoping that the book will MAGICALLY transform itself into something remotely readable-----ALAS, I gave it up after the unnecessarily, protracted, disgustingly graphic sex scene between Taita and Eos.I cannot even call it soft porn---atleast that serves a purpose---but this!!!!???? I was reading it after dinner---another mistake!!! WHAT WENT WRONG!!!!!!!! What a waste of my $25---wish there was a refund!!!!