The Quest (Hardcover)

by Wilbur Smith (Author) "Two lonely figures came down from the high mountains..." (more)
Key Phrases: dhurra meal, mighty magus, revered magus, Nefer Seti, Colonel Tinat, Inner Eye (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Fans of bestseller Smith's ancient Egyptian series will welcome the fourth book in the saga, which picks up where Warlock (2001) left off. The powerful magus Taita and his loyal ally, Col. Meren Cambyses, have returned to Egypt after a journey of many years only to find the country beset by a series of plagues that include giant flesh-eating toads and river water turned to blood. Pharaoh Nefer Seti asks the pair to find—and eliminate—the source of his country's torment, a mission that sends Taita and Meren on a perilous quest in which they must contend with fierce creatures both natural and supernatural. Once again Smith deftly blends history, fantasy and mythology, but newcomers should be prepared for grisly deaths and mutilations. 225,000 printing.(May)
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From Booklist
The latest book by best-selling adventure novelist Smith is the fourth volume in his series of historical novels set in pharaonic Egypt, tracing the adventures of eunuch and mystic Taita. Its immediate predecessor was Warlock (2001). The quest of the title is just as much a spiritual one as an actual one as Taita, out of a deep devotion to his country and his pharaoh, seeks the identity and the quashing of the "menacing force" that is threatening the very existence of the kingdom; the "land of Egypt quailed, and the population gave in to despair." The Nile has refused to rise and bring fresh, fertile soil to the river valley; the shrunken river runs with blood; and huge, poisonous toads arise from the bloody water and overrun the land. Taita must go deep upriver, far into Africa's interior, to discover the reason. Ancient mysticism and mythology swirl through the narrative as swiftly as the Nile waters when in full flood. Smith has always been long on action, and his new novel won't disappoint his fans in that regard; he's always been graphic in depicting violence and death, and his new novel certainly fits the mold. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312318421
• ISBN-13: 978-0312318420
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #110,267 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars read (or re-read) river god instead, May 28, 2007

By	David W. Straight (knoxville, tennessee United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars possibly the worst book written by this author so far !, May 28, 2007

By	V. Kodunthirapully "history ninja" (Orlando, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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 !

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Harry Potter Goes Up the Nile Without Credibility, June 26, 2007

By	J. Arthur "Cineluxe" (Tampa Bay) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.