Book Review: River God by Wilbur Smith

I've been carrying this book around with me for a while, but I'm finally glad that I've taken the time to sit down and read it.

River God is a story about ancient egypt set four thousand years ago in the Rein of the Pharoah Mamose and is told from the perspective of the eunuch Slave Taita. If this story was set in modern times, Taita would almost certainly be a professor or other learned scholar, but in ancient Egypt he is regarded as one of the best healers, engineers and teachers in the land.

Taita is appointed as teacher and guardian to the warrior Tanus and later to the Lady Lostris who ultimately is betrothed to the Pharaoh. The story covers the life of the Lady Lostris, her love for the warrior Tanus, and of their ultimate struggle to retake their beloved cities from the invading hoards from the Lower Kingdom of Egypt and the invaders from the desert to the west.

The Nile plays a large character in the story and the passing of years is marked by the annual inundation of the lands that brings life to the region.

Overall I'd give the story 8 out of 10.

I am now reading the sequel to this first story: The Seventh Scroll - a modern day tale where archaeologists find the actual scroll that Taita conceals in Lostris' tomb.