Customer Reviews

River God

5 star:		(202)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

One can quibble about the historical innacuracies in Smith's The River God and be a bit put off by the the lead character's propensity to be smarter than anyone else in the story, but really - is this a great story, or what? A departure for Smith, whose previous books focused almost exclusively on his native South Africa, this book deals with Egypt 4000 ago. But as typical of his novels, this one speeds along with great action and wonderful characters.

Taita, the brilliant eunuch slave who narrates the story, is an inspired creation. Larger than life while being, as a eunuch, somewhat removed from the passions that move many of the characters in the book, he is the perfect spectator/participant. He sees and understands everything and his inventions and interventions move the plot in unexpected ways. The book meanders a bit because it follows a whole life and its many turnings, but it is fascinating at every juncture.

This simply is one of the most FUN books I have read in years. Being transported to an unfamiliar time and place, and having that milieu come alive so vividly - to be able to vicariously experience the rise and fall of pharohs, cities, kingdoms, suffering and success - this is the best kind of vacation from the ordinary world we inhabit.

I highly recommend this book. It is intelligent, exciting, creative and memorable. What more could one want?

River God is one the best books that I have ever read. It is a wonderful example of the imagination of Wilbur Smith. I have read three of his books so far, including the sequel to River God, and River God is the best of the three. The book is a combination of love, fear, desperation, leadership, and triumph. The main plot is the love between Lostris, the wife of the Pharoah of Egypt, and Tanus, a commander of an army of Pharoah and a trusted friend of the narrator. The story is told from the perspective of a lowly, yet loved and respected slave named Taita. His mistress is coincidentaly Lostris and he helps to maintain the love between her and Tanus. All through the book, the two lovers try to secretly share their love. The story goes on through battles not only between nations but between individuals. It is not only another "love conquers all" book with mushy, romantic love scenes, but is also a book that offers a historical perspective of ancient Egypt. It is obvious throughout the novel that the author went to great lengths to research the topic and make it sound so truthful you would think it wasn't fiction. One of the best aspects was that it held my interest more than any other book that I have ever read. I was not able to put it down. Wilbur Smith is an expert at making the reader seem that he or she is actually a character in the book. The emotions of the characters were explained wonderfully with the use of metaphors and similes. They were portrayed throughout the novel and it was as though I was actually there seeing the battles and landscape and experiencing the love and hate. I laughed and cried and just plain thouroughly enjoyed the entire book. I strongly recommend it for anyone old enough to handle detailed war scenes and love scenes.

River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt by Wilbur Smith is an exciting book of adventure, love and war. Having never read any ancient Egyptian stories before I found River God to be a refreshing experience. I cannot vouch for the historical accuracy used in the story but I find that to be of lesser importance than the over-all plot. Remember this is FICTION. As a matter of fact, its pretty good fiction.

Smith paints a picture of an ancient society that is fascinating. The reader can visualize the Nile flowing in ancient Egypt and see the importance of their deities and customs. Furthermore, justice is carried out swiftly in ancient Egypt and the punishment is usually not pretty. People are routinely executed for misdeeds. As the reader is drawn into Smiths world you feel that you were part of the scenery. This is where Smith excels. This is my first book by Smith but it will not be my last.

The storys main character and narrator is the eunuch slave Taita. I will not give away the whole storybut in nut shell Taita helps his mistress the fair Lady Lostris maintain an illicit love affair with Tanus, a General in the Pharaohs army. During the course of the story Taita is beaten, starved and nearly killed by a host of enemies. Taitas old owner the evil and twisted Lord Intef (the Pharaohs Grand Vizier), desires to rule the empire. It becomes Taitas job to foil his old boss and struggle to remain alive.

Only a few times did the story lose itself. Taita is truly a Renaissance man (or person), in the book he invents a toilet, concocts a home pregnancy kit and creates penicillin-like drugs. He is a virtuoso singer, painter and writes books. He is an accomplished spy-master and maintains his own informer network. Additionally, he was awarded the Gold of Praise which is highest award given to any Egyptian citizen (even though he is a slave.) I can go on and on but you can get the picture. He was so perfect that while I was reading the story I sometimes I pitied his enemies. However, this is a minor complaint to an otherwise great story and fun read.

I don't typically read historical novels, finding them to be rambling, overly lengthy works of stylized prose by "accomplished" novelists with little entertainment or educational value.

"River God," however, proved me wrong. It's 500+ pages are as riveting and fast-paced as any book I've read in any genre. Never mind the inaccuracies resulting from Smith's blending of fact with fiction in his historical account of Egypt's Middle Kingdom; this is still fiction. Never mind that Taita the Slave, as the novel's main protagonist, can humble even the great Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci; protagonists are by nature larger-than-life. And never mind all the other shortcomings in style or substance this book may have had; Smith is after all still human. These can all be easily overlooked given the book's final result: it's ability to engross and entertain us throughout.

I don't think it's a stretch to call "River God" a masterpiece of contemporary fiction. True, it may be manipulative in its sometimes shameless attempts to elicit the range of human emotions, but it is still a sweeping and powerful epic. Though I strongly disapprove of certain social mores portrayed in the story, such as the wanton fornication during the annual Festival of Osiris, I did find the ancient battle scenes against the "Shrikes" and the Hyksos immensely enjoyable. If you're looking for a good summer escape, this book has my full endorsement.

David S.

River God centres around three characters. Taita, a eunuch slave and the storyteller, Tanus, the warrior hero, and Lostris the Princess. Tanus and Lostris share a forbidden love which Taita helps them to fulfill. Taita narrates the story, taking the reader through his life, how he serves his master and, subsequently, his mistress. The book is a combination of historical fact and 20th century invention, but the result is a superb account of the rise and fall (and rise) of an Egyptian kingdom.

I don't think it's stretching a point to call River God a stylish masterpiece. It is a powerful, awe-inspiring epic that narrates historical facts whilst eliciting the full range of human emotions. The characters are BIG. The battle scenes are monumental and epic, even on the scale of a Cecil B. de Mille. The descriptions are breathtaking. The narrative (though there is little of this) is credible. River God has the ability to amuse, engross and entertain us throughout. Wilbur Smith succeeds as never before in transporting the reader into ancient Egypt with his amazing imagery and action packed plot. River God is a book to which I am happy to give five stars (more if they were available).

I've been obsessed with Ancient Egypt for years, and when I read River God I was able to imagine what life during this amazing age must have been like. Smith has written a fabulous novel which focuses on the actions of the eunuch Taita and his love for his mistress Lostris and her beloved Tanus.
Taita is one of those chracters you cannot help but love, and you feel all of his emotions as if they were your own.
I have read the following books in the series, The Seventh Scroll and Warlock, and while I did enjoy them a lot, the latter more. They never had the same magic that River God did, for this is truly Smith's finest work.
If you wish to be taken into a world of intrigue, beauty, love, as well as pain and suffering, then take the time to read this novel. You will not be disappointed!!

So some people may quibble that the historical facts are inacurate, but when the book is as stirring and as emotional as this who cares! It centres around three characters Taita; the eunuch slave with a notourious reputation and a heart of gold, Tanus; the mighty warrior hero and Lostris the Princes and, what you could call the "star" of the novel. Smith takes us on a journey through Egypt; which are depicted with such astonishing detail that after a while the setting almost surrounds you and thus are able to feel every heat wave and hear every chariot or dessert bird that flows from the fictional surroundings. From here Taita narrates you through his life and makes you feel for everything he describes about. Never has there been such a monumental character invented; you feel and breath for him, you eventually will feel as you have known him all of his life...which you have!

It would take an eternity for me to say to you how magnificent each sentance and paragraph is, so I'll just say this: You will end up knowing the characters so well that you'll feel everything they do. You get to know the land so well that you will be emersed in the atmosphere. And because of this, you will be taken on an emotional rollercoaster of Godzilla like proportians.

It has one of the most emotional scenes I have ever read. But if it wasn't as well written or as brilliantly portrayed as this IS than you would never feel such kind of emotion. So I have to say a massive thumbs up to Wilbur Smith for such an awe inspireing novel and two thumbs up for anyone who has the sense to take the time out to read one of the best books ever written!

Ancient Egypt is one of my hobbies. I collect books, non-fiction and fiction, that have anything to do with it. I picked up Smith's River God and gave it a try. I was horribly disappointed. The storytelling is decent, although there are not enough characters to sustain believability (a pharaoh's entourage was never *that* small!) and the main character, Taita, is just unsufferably smart --he invents everything short of the microwave oven.
The history is atrocious, and that is where the book condemns itself. Not only are there numerous anachronisms (glass-blowing, shadoufs, etc), but this is the first time I've seen an author not use the rich tapestry of Ancient Egyptian history: this book is about a dynasty that never existed. Not only are the Hyksos represented as a tidal wave (borne on the innovation of the war chariot), which is nothing like what actually happened, but we see, in the course of the story, an entire city's worth of Egyptians uproot themselves and travel upstream along the Nile to somewhere in Ethiopia and back. What is unforgivable is that Nubia is shown as uninhabited, a wilderness, whereas in reality it was a vice-royalty of Egypt, nearly as heavily settled (in the Late Period, there even was a Nubian dynasty), that would later give rise to the great civilizations of Meroe and Axum.
When compared to the books by Silverberg (Thebes of the Hundred Gates), Jacq (The Judge of Egypt), Montlaur (Nitocris, Imhotep), Pratchett (Pyramids), Prus (The Pharaoh), Norton (Shadow Hawk), Morris (I, the Sun), Tarr (Lord of the Two Lands), Powers (The Anubis Gates), Saberhagen (Pyramids) and, above all, Gedge (her Scroll of Saqarra is a masterpiece!), this book deserves to be relegated to oblivion.

In literature, sagas of ancient Egypt have been told by archaeologists, detectives, ancient kings and wariors, but now we witness this luscious and violent land through the eyes of a slave, Taita. As an advisor to royalty, Taita's life is an epic tale of violence, beauty, war, betrayal and victory. Down the Nile from Luxor to Thebes to Nubia and beyond, we are taken on a stunning adventure through a land where life is cheap and man is cruel and barbaric. In the midst of this Hell that is his everyday Egypt, Taita invents the fantastic, builds the great and beautiful and demonstrates that there is goodness and compassion in the human spirit. I read this book in Dec. 1996, and have just read this excellent book again. This review at the time nor any review since, could do this great book true justice.

Well this book is OK. I bought it due to others reviews. My first and most important thing that I did not like was the fact that it was told in first person perspective by the slave Taita. He was very annoying in the fact that he was a slave yet seemed be the smartest man in Egypt history. He was the best at everything from medical situations to warfare to architecture. The story of Lostris and Tanus was beautiful and fulfilling. Yet it was stuck in the middle of a lot of other filler. There were many times when the story teller sidetracked his main idea. I would say to myself, what he is talking about, where is he going with this, and why is he talking about this. I enjoy lots of dialog and this book has much much more just straight story description. It was a good story and I'm glad I got through it. But I'm not sure I want to read another book like this.