The Quest (Egyptian Series Book 4) by Wilbur Smith

Book Blurb
Renowned magus Taita is now over a hundred years old and has ascended to a new level of wisdom and understanding about his world. But he must prepare himself for the biggest threat Egypt has ever faced: the great plagues and the failure of the Nile.

Taita must find the cause before Egypt is ruined, but he has no idea of the terrible enemy that awaits him: the fire witch Eos, an ancient force of sheer evil. Taita must risk his soul to battle her, or his homeland and everything he has ever loved will be lost forever. But there are other reasons for Taita to fight – since success could also mean rewards he could never have thought possible . . .

My Review
The Quest starts about twenty five years after the ending of Warlock. Pharoah Nefri Seti is ruling a kingdom set with plagues, the most frightening being the drying up of the Nile. Taita, after spending years traveling to different countries, takes on the Quest to find the source of these plagues and the beginning of the Nile, only to face an adversary that rivals the intelligence and skills of the magus himself. Adventure, magic, and of course good versus evil mix in this fabulous fourth book.

To say I am loving Wilbur Smith’s Egyptian series is a huge understatement, I wish I could just sit and read them back to back. It is always a worry with series that the author won’t be able to keep up the momentum of the story and of course the characters, but Wilbur Smith just keeps on surprising me. So, Taita is back, now over a hundred years old but still in good health and traveling the world looking for new cultures, new landscapes and new learning. Now, after a trip to Babylon, and a gruesome procedure, Taita has the ‘Inner eye”, he is able to feel the worlds suffering and joy, able to read people and their auras, and is open to wisdom and knowledge. These skills set him up to take on the fearsome Eos,a witch with untold power and the reason behind Egypt’s plagues. This is a real battle of the minds, of learning and of power and their opposite personalities rub along together causing an electriicity that jumps off the page. I loved their interaction, seeing Taita with an adversary worthy of him. Wilbur Smith brings a new character, Fenn, into these books which again shows a different side of Taita. I’m not going to say any more about her as it will spoil the book, but I hope to see her in future books.

There is no doubt that Wilbur Smith is a masterful storyteller, his imagination, characters and plot draw you in and never let go until the end, and then you are rushing to start the next book. I personally thought this was the best in the series so far. I loved the adventure side, the wonderful descriptions of the places they visited on their way to the soure of the Nile, the tribes they encountered, some very hostile, and the battles they faced. His visceral writing made it like reading a painting, the attention to detail, the colours, sights, smells opening up the senses, making me seeing and feeling it all in full technicolor . There are some pretty graphic and gory depictions in this book, that may not be for the faint hearted, but again they fitted in to that particular scene, were just part of the story and not sensationalised. My only very minor complaint is that there is no stated timeline so I was never sure how much time had passed on their journey, how old Fenn was at the start and the end, but this is me just nit picking.

Did I enjoy The Quest? I didn’t just enjoy it I adored it !!! I was completely hooked, literally coudn’t put it down, was going to bed earlier and earlier to fulfil my Egyptian fix, and reading later and later. It’s not a book you can speed read due to the amount of detail, but I savoured every word. I can’t recommend these books highly enough, they are amazing ! I am now excited about reading Book 5, Desert God. You can read my review of the previous books by searching my blog.

I’d like to thank Head of Zeus and Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Readers for inviting me to read these books in return for my honest review.