Wilber Smith is a master story teller. Building history into his tales of adventure is just one of the benefits of reading his books. I am a history buff, particularly that of Egyptian and Roman history, and I knew where this tale was headed as soon as I recognized the setting time period and the involvement of the Minoan empire. Excellent place narrative. Very entertaining and compelling book, with some subtle fantasy adding intrigue to the storyline. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads, and am grateful for the opportunity to read and review it.The book, while an entertaining read in the end, was confusing and a little irritating at times. I almost abandoned it early on as the first 50 pages or so are rather boring and lackluster. It seems as if the author was trying to get back into the flow of writing after a long hiatus of sorts. Eventually the plot picked up and moved along fairly well, but nowhere near the standard that had been set by earlier novels. In my opinion the author missed important opportunities to elaborate on characters or plot. It almost seemed as if the book were written by several authors arguing over what they felt was most important to include.This novel would serve as an appropriate introduction to the world of Taita, but not as a sequential story in the Egypt series as it attempts to do. Important character developments that occurred in “The Quest” were omitted in this book, so if you have already ready the other novels, this one will leave you slightly confused. Near the end of the novel I thought that I found myself getting irritated at how many times the narrator felt it necessary to remind the reader of just how fond of horses he was. That trait was covered thoroughly in the first 50 pages, there was no need to drag it out for another 380 pages. It would seem that the entire novel can be summarized by a few simply points:1. My name is Taita and I am the greatest at almost everything. If there isn't something that I'm the best at it is either because I don't care about it or because it is still so new to me that I have not had the opportunity to become the best.2. I have a strict duty to Pharaoh and Egypt, unless it concerns the "darling little princesses" under my care, in which case even though I have lived for over a hundred years and have developed in maturity and common sense the entire time, I'm going to let a couple of teen whelps dictate what I do.3. Even though one of the main plots of the novel is crushing the Hyksos invaders and reuniting Egypt, the narrator spends more time talking about himself and how great he is than how he actually plans to expel the invaders. The book fails offer any sort of resolution on the war and alliance and instead focuses on rescuing the princesses, who by the end of the book are only slightly more mature and regal in their manner.
What do You think about Il Dio Del Deserto (2014)?
high adventure, action, romance and excitement. Highly recommend!
—Bonnie
Not as good as I had wanted it to be but still OK.
—Draya1
