Guy and I enjoyed this series and have read each in the series twice. ( )

This book is by far my favourite. It has everything a good story should! I have read the other books by Wilbur Smith that followed from this book, but they can't compare to this one! ( )

A decent story about life in egypt around 2000BC is marred by hamfisted writing. I didn't hate the book, but i sure hated parts of it. In general the story isn't bad, but the writing made me cringe at best, and annoyed or angry at worst. It is full of 2-dimensional characters who never change (or change from one flat personality to another), constant deus ex machina (in the form of actual egyptian gods) and somewhat creepily sexual writing that is out of place and excessive.River God is narrated by a slave Taita, who, the way the book tells it, is the pinnacle of human life. He is amazing at everything he does and touches - writing, invention, music, invention, military strategy, architecture, sculpture, invention, painting, invention, science, weather prediction, cartography, astrology, fortune telling, invention, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. He is more annoying in that he's in no way modest; since he's narrating, he constantly tells you how good he is at everything, not that he's trying to brag. And i shouldn't forget to mention how amazingly beautiful he is, irresistible to men and women. Basically if Taita had not existed, Egypt would have collapsed 4000 years ago.The writing is better than the DaVinci Code, but not by much. ( )

The first time i attempted to read it I couldn't get into it. I picked it up a year later and couldn't put it down. Taita is one of my favourite character in a book EVER. The second book in the series WARLOCK is amazing, and I got into it straight away. Wilber Smith has a way of bringing to life Egypt. I was never into books set in this era, but I have been converted. Peter Jackson should make the movie! ( )

Smith churns books out by the dozen, but as churners go, he's hard to beat. His books remind me of glorious B-movies: full of colour and drama and sex. In short, they seem much better when you're reading them than they do in retrospect.

But I mention this one because I have a protest to make - something in my view absolutely disgraceful. At the end of the book, the author speaks directly to the reader in his own voice, talking about an archaeological discovery that partially validates his fiction. On investigating this, I found it to be a lie. What on earth possessed the man? I shall never read another book of his again. ( )