Customer Reviews

WARLOCK

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

In 'River God' Wilbur Smith created magic, intrigue and character with Taita - the slave, eunuch, Pharoah's confidant, artist, architect and bombast. Readers could not get enough of him, and salivated at the prospect of his return, finding glimpses of him in 'The Seventh Scroll'.'

In Warlock, Taita returns : ancient, arcane and mystic from his hidden desert cave, where he'd been communing with his beloved mistress Lostris-she's now a Goddess in the pantheon and his protector. She wants him to return to action and save her grandson, Nefer Memnon-the boy pharoah from the turmoil and intrigue that will arise with the assassination of her son and present pharoah Tamose.

It's open season for the slaying of gods as both Tamose and Apepi, the Hyksos pharoah are brutally murdered by rivals who plot to rule both the upper and lower kingdom and rule the world. From this turmoil, Taita extricates Nefer and Mintaka-Apepi's daughter and smoothens their ongoing romance, even as they rebuild their lost kingdoms in the deserted city of Gallala.

In the midst of the battles and the political intrigue, Taita's formidable new weapons of magic and his shadowy presence overlook all the principal characters: he is 'the magus'- the warlock and adversary to his enemies, and 'Tata'- the father figure to his friends.

The 'River God'is by far, the best book that Wilbur Smith has written and you can see him trying hard to replicate his success by building on the character of Taita. But without Tanus and Lostris-Taita's god and goddess, he struggles to find inspiration. Or, did Wilbur Smith make the fatal mistake of forgetting that we liked Taita when he told us his story in a first person narrative, so that we could laugh and cry with his charms and foibles?

Wilbur Smith's fans all over the world will find it strange that 'Warlock'is the first book that is not dedicated to his wife, Danielle. Instead he has a new love in his life, and I suspect that his present romance kept him from fleshing out the characters of Nefer and the villain Naja in better detail. Still, a page-turner for all of us Taita fans and Egyptologists. Let's just appeal to Wilbur Smith and say : 'Make Warlock the second part of your trilogy (ignoring 'The Seventh Scroll'which is set in modern times) and we'll ensure that it is compulsory reading, before he comes out with the concluding book in the Taita series.

What a great summer read. I took Warlock everywhere I went, including my daughters wedding to be sure that when I had a free minute I could slide off somewhere quiet and read. I found Warlock to be a suspenseful and intriguing read. While I am still somewhat new to Wilbur Smith (I've read Birds of Prey, Monsoon and River God) I feel like I've just watched a Errol Flynn movie when I've finished with his books. All of the books I have read are full of high adventure. Warlock is the best one yet.

The young Nefer orphaned by the underhanded assassin Naha. The old Warlock's work is cut out for him. The book is comprised of one adventure after the other until the new king is victorious and settled in his throne with his young queen.

Great characters. Plot is wonderful and finely spun like a spider web. Scenes are so well described that you can taste the Nile or feel the heat of the desert.

I'll read it again.

It seems I await every new Wilbur Smith novel with an increasing level of expectation, probably since his last few books, starting with 'Birds of Prey' are some of my favourites. In 'Warlock', WS takes us back to Egypt and most importantly to Taita, one of his most beloved characters. Once again, treachery threatens to overthrow Egypt and the House of Tamose, built by Tanus and Queen Lostris of 'River God' fame. Taita is back and ready to serve his long dead Queen, however this time his powers are stronger than ever.

To be in the "presence" of Taita again, as well as the descendants of Lostris and Tanus, was a pleasure, and I relished every second spent imagining the vital, thriving world of ancient Egypt under the strong guidance of WS.

Full of convincing heroes (like always), hissable villains, entertaining plot twists and a swift narrative, 'Warlock' is the epitome of adventure fiction and demonstrates Smith's gift for creating interesting characters and exciting stories. Go buy it and see for yourself.

PS I loved the plot point involving Heseret - it seems there is always a bad egg in Smith's families.

After reading RIVER GOD, it became one of my all time favorite novels, and made me discover the great story telling capabilities of Wilbur Smith. But WARLOCK takes Taita, the wonderfully developed character from RIVER GOD, and turns him into an all powerful sorcerer. This would not have been a problem if Smith had started the series with magic in mind. One of RIVER GOD's best qualities was the realism of the characters. But all of a sudden Taita is casting spells and magical webs. On a literary note, Smith composed RIVER GOD in the 1st person, giving Taita's charcter an astounding sense of depth and believability. But WARLOCK jumps into the minds of all the characters and doesn't allow the reader to truly understand Taita. It was as if someone else wrote this novel, and Smith attached his name. The bottom line: If you enjoyed RIVER GOD, steer away from this novel, as it will disturb the wonderful story that Smith left us with his first book.

Wilbur Smith returns to the ancient Egypt of "River God" for this one. Unlike "River God" this one is not told from the standpoint of the slave Tatia, but in the third person. Tatia, now a old man and the warlock of the title, is advisor to pharoah Mamose, the son of Queen Lotsris. However both Mamose and his Hyskos rival are murdered through some complicated plots, (even a writer of Smiths caliber has trouble pulling this off, since Mamose most trusted advisor, and assasin, is a cousin to one of the hated Hyskos) The two new "false kings" decide to cement their new union with interstate marriages and the plot becomes far more complicated from there. As I said, even a master wordsmith such as Wilbur Smith has trouble keeping all this straight, let alone readable, but somehow he does it. The rapid pacing that is the hallmark of a Smith novel is there, although it is a bit slower, action-wise, than is usual in one of his books. (River God was also like this.)Any Wilbur Smith is worth reading, since at his worst, Smith is better than 90% of the other writers out there, and Warlock is far from his worst. This book totally stands alone from "River God", not being a sequel so much as another book using a few of the original characters. For what its worth, of the three "Egypt books" I would read them in the order they were written... "River God", "Seventh Scroll" (which takes place in modern times oddly enough), and then "Warlock" since I think you will enjoy "Scroll" a lot more if you read it immediatly after "River God". (Those two are far more "connected" that "River God" and "Warlock" are.) "Warlock" is an excellent Wilbur Smith, which in itself is reason enough to check it out.

Jedi Master Taita- oops- the warlock Taita- returns in the third installment of Wilbur Smith's Egypt series. In this book, Taita, now an elderly and influential man, is asked by the spirit of his deceased mistress Lostris to care for and protect her young son Nefer. This proves more difficult than it seems because Nefer is heir to the throne with some powerful (and sadistic) enemies.

I really enjoyed the first half of Warlock, even if Smith deviates a bit from his first novel by employing supernatural elements. (Not a problem in itself, but inconsistent with the first story). Taita was lovable as always, Nefer, much like his father and his Nefer's girlfriend much the same as queen Lostris.

Negatives: be prepared for some truly gruesome descriptions of rape, torture and mayhem as well as human cruelly which at times was so severe I felt nauseated. Particularly the sacrifices to the Babylonian god Marduk and the fate of the Babylonian women at the hands of the pharaoh Truk.

I also thought the 'running the red road' ritual was really unbelievable. How conceivable is it that the a warrior brotherhood would condone killing so many people. just to initiate two boys into the guild? Silly. Especially in a time of war.

This was a fine work, but it was marred by senseless violence, and some fantastic elements, not in keeping with the first in the series.

I've read Wilbur Smith's novels, "River God" and "The Seventh Scroll", and although I thought both went on too long and tried to do too much, I loved them for their originality and the excellent drawing of the principal character, the eunuch Taita.

In Warlock, as in the two "Taita" novels mentioned above, Smith again tries to bite off just a smidge too much scope but where the earlier stories were so strong I found myself able to overlook this flaw, now the novelty of the setting has worn off and this time the characterization is less satisfying - much like Hollywood sequels that fail to measure up to the original films because they slavishly try to mimic the elements that made the original a success.

Additionally (regrettably), Warlock grants POV's (points of view) to a veritable slew of characters, and the resulting stew ends up as a multitude of mid-paragraph POV swaps, pat dialogue, and thin characters. There's Taita, of course, but I much preferred him as the egotistical, lustful-but-incapable, boasting genius in River God and Seventh Scroll. There, his flaws glared but you couldn't help but love him. Here, he is boringly perfect no matter who or what the opposition.

Of the others, Young pharaoh Nefer is perhaps the most rounded. He experiences setbacks and tries harder the next time. Although we never really know him well enough to make the transfer into his skin, his character arc rings true as he grows toward manhood. Less convincing are the shallowly drawn love interests and the two bad guys. Between the antagonists they don't do a single redeeming thing in the entire story. Sorry, but I've come to like characters with a little depth, and here there isn't much to enjoy.

To his credit, what Smith does give is a strongly imagined story painted in broad, colorful strokes. Smith is expert at setting the scene and Warlock holds the reader while trying hard to exploit the presumed familiarity of the reader with Taita. Sorry, it just doesn't convince. The plot is convoluted enough, but each "homestretch" is easily predictable, and I guess the broad strokes are to be expected when the writer is cranking out a 650 page novel every year.

In my experience with his works, Wilbur Smith is best when he uses his rich imagination to tackle an entirely new theme with fresh characters and an exciting original hook. The Courtney's come to mind. The initial novels were by far the best of the lot. Of course, as an author myself, I know starting fresh is also the most difficult way to write, and not the kind of thing that lends itself to the one-a-year pace this author has been keeping of late.

In the end, I'm still a fan. I'll be reading the next one, and the one after that.

If Wilbur Smith lived on the great lakes, he'd have written "The Secret Ever Keeps". He lives in Africa, so I had to do it for him. If you like Wilbur Smith, you'll love "The Secret Ever Keeps". Here's the Amazon page. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601640048/ref=cm_arms_pdp_dp/104-6302050-9055104

Ok, if you haven't read river god - read that first, and then warlock. Warlock speaks of the tale of nefer seti - Tanus' grandson. The book is fast paced, violent and terrific to read. Wilbur smith has a way with his words and paints the pictures of ancient egypt.

This book is in the third person unlike River God which was like a story narrated by taita - I preferred that but it doesn't hurt the narrative in any way. The book is pretty violent, and can gross out some people. If you are squeamish about blood and torture then this book isn't for you. But if you're looking for a rollocking adventure - you shouldn't miss this.

Wilber Smith has done it again. His sequel to River God was done in an incredibly smooth sequel novel. The third person narrative was crafted in a smooth transition from the first person narrative of the novel River God. My awe at the once slave, eunich Taita, now a Magus (magician, etc), from his humble first person narrative in River God, to his third person narrative in Warlock, has only increased ten fold. The book is brutal, savage, sweet, and a lot more. Wilbur Smith is a great artist, crafting his characters over 3 generations with superb detail to chronology, history and detail. I only hope that there will be another sequel...I still have 70 pages to read in Warlock, and hope that Taita survives to tell another tale in his long 200 year life.!!!! Bravo Mr. Smith...you are a master of storytelling!!!!

River God is actually one of my all-time favorites! I really fell in love with the characters. Every time Warlock mentions these characters, I feel like the author is talking about some old friends of mine.

Although Taita is back in Warlock, Smith hasn't made me fall as much in love with these new characters. One thing that particularly irked me about this novel was the fantasy angle. River God was very much (as I remember) anchored deeply in fact, or what could easily be believed within context. Here, Taita has morphed from an inventor and strategist to a mystic who performs magic tricks. That's where Smith lost me. Although the very notion of ancient Egypt is steeped in mysticism, it always remains just that. Here, we're almost expected to believe Taita is running around in a cape with a big "S" on it!

I am looking forward to any further novels by Smith that involve Taita and those he takes care of but I'm also looking forward to more reality.