Quest
Egypt has been struck by a series of terrible plagues, killing its crops and crippling its people.\ Then the ultimate disaster befalls the kingdom: The Nile fails.\ In desperation, the Pharaoh sends the warlock Taita, wise in the lore of the gods and a master of magic and the supernatural.\ But not even he could have imagined what terrible enemy waits in ambush in those dark lands at the end of their world. Now it’s up to Taita to save Egypt—before the end of the world’s most glorious...
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A stunning, heart-pounding new addition to Wilbur Smith's blockbuster novels of Ancient EgyptPublishers WeeklyFans 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)Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
\ Publishers WeeklyFans 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)\ Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalPopular novels don't always fit neatly into a single genre (e.g., mystery, romance, or sf) but rather combine elements of several genres and straddle categories, creating interesting hybrids. The Questis such a book, encompassing fantasy, adventure, and historical fiction via concepts both mythical and New Age. The eunuch and magus Taita, last seen in Warlock, is back with companion Meren Cambyses. Egypt is struck by plagues of flesh-eating giant toads, and the annual flooding of the Nile fails. Pharaoh Nefer Seti sends the pair on a journey to discover the cause of the plagues and drought believed to originate at the source of the Nile, unaware of the terrible enemy who lies in ambush. Malign sorceress Eos, nearly as old as civilization, will tax Taita, Meren, and Fenn, a reincarnation of Lostris. Eos's evil supporters attempt to beguile Taita in the enchanted Cloud Gardens, where they promise to make him whole again by means of the diabolic procedure known as seeding. Audie Award-winning narrator Simon Vance brings a modulated English-accented sensibility to this story; his voices add extra vitality to the narration. Recommended for libraries with large popular fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, and swashbuckling adventure collections.\ —David Faucheux\ \ \ \ Library JournalSmith brings back the warlock Taita, who finds bad news when he's compelled by the pharaoh to discover why the Nile has failed. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsA perceptive Egyptian eunuch who starred in Smith's 1994 River God returns, 100 years older and wiser, ready to take on the stinking bitch goddess who has brought ruin to Egypt. The Egyptian magus Taita, castrated more than a century previously at the peak of his virility, has traveled to the Indian subcontinent with his trusty younger companion, Meren, seeking new wisdom. Undergoing a ghastly operation at the hands of a lady colleague, Taita acquires a handy second sight that lets him see the auras we all throw off, radiances that tell whether we're straight shooters or lying dogs. On the way back to Egypt, Taita and Meren team up with Demeter, a savant even older and wiser than Taitu, who has a whale of a story for them. It seems that an ancient she-devil, who's taken the name of Eos, is gunning for them. She's a liar. She can change herself into anything, and she can suck the goodness right out of you while you are having sex with her. When the two wise men and Meren finally reach Egypt, they find their beloved homeland reeling from the effects of a seven-year drought. The Nile is down to a trickle where nothing lives but giant flesh-eating toads that gobble poor old Demeter, but not before Taita has picked his brains for every scrap of magic wisdom. The drought is the doing of Eos, of course. Taita's friend the pharaoh sends him and Meren and a small army with orders to travel to the source of the Nile, find Eos and put a stop to the misery. Their journey, told in the breathlessly epic Smith tradition, takes years and costs the lives of hundreds of men and thousands of beasts. Taita runs into some really good magic in Eos's horrid lair, and finds love with a reincarnated beauty. Atough slog.\ \ \ \ \ From the Publisher\ Praise for Wilbur Smith:\ "Best historical novelist: I say Wilbur Smith, with his swashbuckling novels...the bodices rip and the blood flows."--Stephen King\ "Smith is a master."--Publisher's Weekly\ "The world's leading adventure writer."--The Daily Express, UK\ "Only a handful of 20th-century writers tantalize our senses as well as Smith. A rare author who wields a razor-sharp sword of craftsmanship."--Tulsa World\ \
