The Quest by Wilbur Smith

From the Publisher

A stunning, heart-pounding, journey into the lost world of the Pharaohs.

Wilbur Smith has earned international acclaim for his bestselling River God, The Seventh Scroll, and Warlock. Now, the unrivalled master of adventure returns with the eagerly awaited sequel to his thrilling Egyptian series with his most fantastic story yet. The Quest continues the story of the Warlock, Taita, wise in the lore of the gods and a master of magic and the supernatural.

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. The waters that nourish and sustain the land dry up.

Something catastrophic is taking place in the distant and totally unexplored depths of Africa, from where the mighty river springs. In desperation the Pharaoh sends Taita, the only man who might be able to find his way through the hazardous territory to the source of the Nile and discover the cause of all their woes. But not even Taita can have any idea of what a terrible enemy waits in ambush in those dark lands at the end of their world.

No other author can conjure up the violence and mystery of Ancient Egypt like Wilbur Smith. The Quest marks his stirring return to the acclaimed series and proves once again why fans such as Stephen King praise him as the world’s “best historical novelist.”

Publishers Weekly

Fans 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)

Library Journal

Smith 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.

David Faucheux - Library Journal

Popular 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.

Kirkus Reviews

A 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.

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