Wonderful storyline that makes you feel you are with them on the journey. Who cares if it's not historically accurate - it's fiction. I'm looking forward to the reading the rest of the series.

I don't usually read fiction but every once in awhile it is good to try something different. After having this book recommended to me by several Wilbur Smith fans I found the time to read it. I am glad I did. It is a long book but Wilbur can sure transport you back in time to another world. Well worth reading.

As a person that loves historical fiction, I was intrigued by the title, when it said that it was a novel set in Ancient Egypt.There seems to be so few books that are written in this time period.
I picked it up at my local library, one day after work ,and decided that I would read a couple of pages to see if I wanted to check it out or not.I ended up reading three chapters, before I could pull myself away. This was a book that was next to impossible to put down.
It is a story of Ancient Egypt, told through the eyes of a eunuch slave and the girl (who would become a future queen)that he is sworn to protect. It is the story of someone who sees the rise, fall and eventual rebirth of the Egyptian Empire and the part that he played to help shape it. The hero, Taitha ,goes to any length to protect two lovers, sways the opinions of a Pharaoh, witnesses the Egyptian war with the Hyskos, lives with an Ethiopian king and much more. The main point of the story that was so moving to me was, throughout all of the lies and the manipulation and power struggles, Taitha never loses his humanity. He never loses his compassion, he never loses sight of the fact that his duty is to the woman that he has sworn his whole life to, he never strays from undying devotion and love for the people that mean everything to him. Taitha sacrifices everything, even his own personal feelings, to save and protect his Queen. I have never read any Wilbur Smith books before. This was my first one, but I will have to say that this novel brings to life the world of the Ancients, stirs the emotions and leaves the reader wanting more. A rare and dazzling entertainment that I did not want to end.

Well this book is OK. I bought it due to others reviews. My first and most important thing that I did not like was the fact that it was told in first person perspective by the slave Taita. He was very annoying in the fact that he was a slave yet seemed be the smartest man in Egypt history. He was the best at everything from medical situations to warfare to architecture. The story of Lostris and Tanus was beautiful and fulfilling. Yet it was stuck in the middle of a lot of other filler. There were many times when the story teller sidetracked his main idea. I would say to myself, what he is talking about, where is he going with this, and why is he talking about this. I enjoy lots of dialog and this book has much much more just straight story description. It was a good story and I'm glad I got through it. But I'm not sure I want to read another book like this.

Well this book is OK. I bought it due to others reviews. My first and most important thing that I did not like was the fact that it was told in first person perspective by the slave Taita. He was very annoying in the fact that he was a slave yet seemed be the smartest man in Egypt history. He was the best at everything from medical situations to warfare to architecture. The story of Lostris and Tanus was beautiful and fulfilling. Yet it was stuck in the middle of a lot of other filler. There were many times when the story teller sidetracked his main idea. I would say to myself, what he is talking about, where is he going with this, and why is he talking about this. I enjoy lots of dialog and this book has much much more just straight story description. It was a good story and I'm glad I got through it. But I'm not sure I want to read another book like this.

"I love brave and honest men, they are so easily manipulated."

Except for the last parts of this 528-page hardcover published in 1993, I found myself mostly captivated by Wilbur Smith's RIVER GOD: A NOVEL OF ANCIENT EGYPT. The book silhouettes a compelling tale of Egypt in 1780-B.C. embroiled in bitter war and eventually giving rise to a line of princes and pharaohs that lifts Egypt to the peak of its glory. Entirely written in a very unique first-person, we journey through two generations with our main character, a boastful and vain eunuch slave narrator. Although I can't say I really liked his character, Taita's first-person narration strikes a very fresh appeal: he's a eunuch slave, he's vain, he's brilliant, he's artistic, he's compassionate, he's vengeful, and he loves like a man. Ultimately, he's very human. In the epic RIVER GOD, we're privy to political intrigue, conspiracy, love, war, violence, kingdoms lost, despair and triumph. We read about an Egyptian civilization turned upside down with the advent of a new technology (wheel), and the introduction of a new animal (the horse). I enjoyed the battle warfare and the passionate moments of love between Lostris and Tanus. The book can be violent at times, and if you're sensitive to slavery, you may not like this historical tale of ancient Egypt.

Possible SPOILERS ahead.

Although Wilbur Smith packs some page-turning enthralling moments, I found the last 50 pages overwhelmingly melancholy. After a heart-wrenching love story spanning most of the first half in this novel, I couldn't take the sad ending. Taita's self-aggrandizing commentary wearied me and his love for his mistress Lostris as a man irked me. Granted, these are very human emotions especially for a handsome, brilliant man castrated after he's enjoyed a woman's passion, but I was begging for some other perspective in this 528-page Egyptian epic. I especially wanted Tanus' perspective. From Taita's point-of-view, everyone else is too one-dimensional: Tanus the redoubtable honorable warrior, Lostris the stubbornly passionate Queen, Kratas the jocular ruffian, and even Prince Memnon seems drab. For most of the novel, Lostris affectionately considers Taita her father and brother. At the end, Lostris wishes for a different kind of love with Taita in the next life. Considering the fact that Lostris and Tanus had to hide their passion and love for each other in this life and they never knew each other as husband and wife, I found this last wish of Lostris' especially sad. More so than the deaths. Did she love Taita more than she led on in the beginning? Had Taita not been a eunuch, would she have eventually cast aside Tanus intimately? After a gripping battle in the middle where the invading Hyksos thoroughly rout a well-trained and disciplined Egyptian army, I found our protagonists' retreat back through the cataracts south of the Nile very, very protracted. Only to arrive at a very unsatisfying conclusion. But alas, such is history.

I'm not sure who is the River God in RIVER GOD. Ostensibly, it may refer to Tanus' role in the first half when he's acclaimed Akh-Horus, an Egyptian God. However, our narrator's influence overshadows all other characters here and his love for his mistress Lostris eclipses that of Tanus' love for Lostris... at least from Taita's perspective. The book firmly belongs to our eunuch-slave narrator Taita: playwright, inventor, surgeon, economic investor, astrologist, architect, singer, scholar, and most of all, devoted slave to his mistress Lostris. Since Taita appears to be behind every vital event and innovative thought for Egypt, if there's any god here, it's Taita. What else can you expect from the author of these scrolls?

Mostly captivating and enjoyable warfare/love, I could have done without the second half and the sad, overwhelmingly melancholy conclusion to this novel. Yes, I'm probably a sucker for some semblance of a happy ending.

More ramblings...

One of my biggest problems had to do with the plot device that has Taita scheme to pass off Lostris & Tanus' son as Lostris & the Pharaoh's son. First, I didn't like how Lostris was so amenable to sleep with the Pharaoh after she and Taita discover she's pregnant. I had hoped she would recoil from going to the Pharaoh's bed after her dreamy lovemaking with Tanus, . Eventually, Taita could convince her that sleeping with the Pharaoh would best serve the unborn child's interests and she could begrudgingly acquiesce. As it is, she's too ready to go to another man (the Pharaoh) after Tanus. Secondly, you would think one of Pharaoh's hundreds of other wives would have already attempted to pass off another man's son as Pharaoh's! Taita notes how the sexual appetites of some of Pharaoh's wives knew no bounds, so you're telling me not one of them thought to pass of another man's son as Pharaoh's? Seriously, why does it work for Taita and Lostris?

Worst, the second time Lostris is pregnant, Taita divines a dream to explain her condition without implicating Tanus. Taita dissembles that he dreamed the old Pharaoh resurrected from his sarcophagus in spirit form to impregnate the Queen Lostris. First, it seems ludicrous that this deception wouldn't work on the late Pharaoh during Lostris' first pregnancy yet will work like a charm on a hundreds of others. Secondly, I love how Tanus is too proud and honorable for kingship yet will consent to passing off illegitimate children of his as the previous Pharaoh's. Talk about hypocrisy, I didn't see how Wilbur Smith is able to credit Tanus' character. He won't even marry Lostris after her second pregnancy and assume regency for a short while until Memnon is of age. Tanus' character reeks of a duplicitous air of self-important morality. I just don't get how Tanus justifies deceiving the Egyptian crown with his own children yet won't take a temporary regency? He doesn't care that he'll never be able to acknowledge his own children, and that nevermind other people, but even his own children will not know their own true father? It's actually quite sad, to his last dying day, none of Tanus' children know him as their true father and Tanus makes Taita promise not to reveal it.

A most egaging novel. I have just ordered the next two books in the series. I couldn't get enough. Taita, the eunich, a genius in arts, mechinations, life and the other world beyond ours guards and influences Lostris and Tannis a couple destined to be together but seems to be at odds with what the "Gods have planned". Linked with the evil Lord Intef and the Immortal Pharoah, their lives are filled with war and love. The author brings us into the life of ancient Egypt as if we have actually been there. The descriptions of everyday life and death are startling lifelike. I was unexpectedly impressed and hooked.

A friend gave me a copy of Elephant Song when I was a teenager, and I was immediately hooked on Wilbur Smith. I bought River God when it first came out, ostensibly to do a book report in my grade 12 English class when I started going to night school. But I really just wanted to read the book.

This is the first book in the Egyptian trilogy, and, in my opinion, the best of the three. While all three are excellent novels, River God shines. I fell in love with Lostris, Taita, Tanus... These characters really came alive for me and I missed them horribly once I had finished reading the book. While these characters are featured in the other two books as well (The Seventh Scroll and Warlock), they're not as vivid or as real in the latter volumes.

Taita is a politician, economist, chemist, physician, servant, and mentor in his various guises throughout the book. It's impossible to dislike him. The rich descriptions of Egyptian culture, art, and costume are breathtaking, and I also learned a lot about their strategies, agriculture and politics.

I would definitely recommend River God to fans of historical fiction, adventure, and mysteries.

I'm not really a big fan of audiobooks because I get distracted too easily to pay attention to the reading. I listened to River God while I was at work and it is the only book I've ever finished through audiobook format. This is first the book I've ever "read" by Wilbur Smith and I'm looking forward to reading all his other books.

Although the story is historically inaccurate as everyone has already mentioned, his writing style and descriptions are absolutely amazing! I could not stop listening to the audio book even though they're not really my thing. I had to listen to it at work, in the car, at home and get very into the story. Smith's descriptions are very vivid and I felt immersed in the story. It's a wonderful, exciting, creative adventure with a good balance between romance and violence. I feel fascinated by this book because there aren't very many stories based on Ancient Egypt.

The main character is an Egyptian eunuch who is in love with the pharaoh's daughter who is in love with the eunuch's student. Somewhere in the third chapter he starts talking about how the pharaoh "likes" boys. It also describes a scene where the main character gets his bits cut off in great, graphic depth. These are only some of the many interesting parts of the book.

The only thing I have a problem with is how the main character seems to be some kind of a genius, always coming up with brilliant ideas to solve every single problem. It a little hard to believe that one person would be able to come up with so many inventive solutions. However, this little annoyance can be easy to overlook. This book is completely worth the price and time spent reading.

This is literally the best book i've ever read. I felt so personal and close with all the characters that at the end, I was sad, not just that I had finished it, but that I had to say goodbye to these wonderful characters. I have also read the sequel, and though it is based far far in the future from ancient egypt, it was JUST AS, if not more of a good read. Especially since if you have read River God u are in on all the little secrets that the books characters are not. But, I would even recommend reading the sequel to those who have not read river god. These books are great fun, and full of every element a good story should have. I laughed, I cried, I read them both AGAIN!!

...due to the detailed sadistic torture/execution/mutilation scene. Not at all what I expected in a book with so many rave reviews.

The narrator of this book is an amazing all-in-one product, a mastery of the human race. He's the Leonardo da Vinci of his day, a self-proclaimed doctor, architect, priest, tutor, charioteer, playwright, painter, cook, tracker, astrologist, marathon runner, and all-around scholar. The only things he isn't, really, are two: a soldier (even he admits he's a coward), and a man (he's a eunuch).

Taita, the slave, singlehandedly changes the course of ancient Egyptian history - more than once. He is the reason for failed revolts, the downfall of gangs of thieves, various brilliant surgical techniques, the mastery of the wheel, improved naval tactics, and oh yeah, you know those flower pillars in Egyptian temples? He came up with those.

By the time I'd reached the middle of RIVER GOD, Taita had already come to be like an old friend - I could always trust him to bust out some adventure and suitable knowledge or craftiness to save the day. In fact, everything in this book is extremely Taita-centered. He never fails. Not once. What Taita the slave sets out to do, Taita the slave succeeds in doing.

Whether that's good or bad is up to you. But if anything, this character serves as a vital tool in being able to fully experience every facet of ancient Egyptian life. The amount of detail packed in illuminates Egypt remarkably, and I'd recommend this to anyone looking to get a feel for every day life back then.

Despite Smith's vivid detail, however, the endless episodes of war and hunting began to weary me. It seemed that every dozen pages someone would die, but the main problem? I didn't care for any of them. The characters are flat as the Earth was in the year 1407. There's the dazzling prince, the beautiful maiden (or two), the coldly nefarious villain, etc. etc. They each do exactly what's expected of them. And the only refuge from this is, well, the action.

RIVER GOD is a daring book that sets out to breathe life and adventure into times of political uprising, intrigue, and brutality. It's a well-researched, relatively exciting jaunt through ancient Egypt, but at the core of everything, it takes on the tone of the obligingly violent action flick. For ancient Egyptian literature with mind-boggling political intrigue and great characters, check out works by Pauline Gedge such as Child of the Morning. For just another enjoyable day reading, RIVER GOD will do the job.

Let me say first that the plot and the idea Smith had was "good" but familiar. It is a "forbidden love" type of story. There were dramatic moments and excitement. There were also moments of that were quite boring.



When I read a book the most important part of it for me is how believable is it. I do not have to like the characters, but I have to believe they are real. Same for the plot. Even in a science fiction/fantasy setting the plot itself must be believable within the setting. This book is far from that.



You might enjoy this book if you can get past the main character. The book is written in first person, narrarated by a "slave" who, simply put is not a believable character whatsoever. In addition to being a slave, he is also a doctor (including brain surgery), an accountant, a gardener, an animal trainer, ship builder, expert swordsman, architect, and sexual therapist. All this and he in only in his early thirties and very arrogant on top of all this.



If you can get past the main character you will also have to look past things that are not very credible in the plot. Things like an army that is running out of food just happens to come across a herd of gazzelles in the middle of the desert. Or vast homosexuality and pedophilia in the book. Such as in the middle of a battle scene two opposing men in battle drop swords and start kissing because one finds the other attractive. Now how real is that?



Most of the book was just not believable or credible to me. Most of the reviews on here give praise to this book which was my reason for buying it. I wish I had paid more attention to some of the reviews more closely because some of them warn about same things I have just discussed. I hope this review helps some of you decide whether or not to read this book.

Right up there with The First Man In Rome: fantastic story, characters you love to hate, hate to love, I couldn't put it down, and and was exited to read the next book (which you should skip btw). Just plain fun!

Really fun read and some of the battle/gore was so well written I was a little queasy sometimes...but never could put it down.

Skip book two (painful painful painful) and go on to book three. Book three doesn't require knowledge of book 2 in any way (just book)

I have read this novel 3 times now- it is so wonderful! There are only two books that make me so sad to reach the ending, "River God" and "Lonesome Dove". Two very different books set in two very different times, but the characters become your friends, and you become so involved in their stories.

You must read this book... atleast once!

I have read this novel 3 times now- it is so wonderful! There are only two books that make me so sad to reach the ending, "River God" and "Lonesome Dove". Two very different books set in two very different times, but the characters become your friends, and you become so involved in their stories.

You must read this book... atleast once!

A good story with strong characters lures the reader's imagination, inspires excitement and anticipation of what happens next. This is not one of those stories. It's not a bad book by any means. Shining moments appear. However, Taita is a character hard with which to sympathize. All the other characters are as translucent as the page held up to a strong light, and the heaped action reaches a point of banality in its lack of specificity. Did I mention it's predictable? You should have expected that.

Pick up a Clavell or Jennings instead. This is Soap Opera history.

A good story with strong characters lures the reader's imagination, inspires excitement and anticipation of what happens next. This is not one of those stories. It's not a bad book by any means. Shining moments appear. However, Taita is a character hard with which to sympathize. All the other characters are as translucent as the page held up to a strong light, and the heaped action reaches a point of banality in its lack of specificity. Did I mention it's predictable? You should have expected that.

Pick up a Clavell or Jennings instead. This is Soap Opera history.

This is an extraordinary book. The story is Epic. The characters are likeable, loveable, tragic, human, profound, wise, and even humorous.

The story includes so much imaginative detail and presents such a unique (and rather large) slice of history. It's one of the few books that has made a lasting impression on me. I have read it twice (so far). It has forever changed the way that I understand history and the lives of ancient people. Not only that, but it's one of those rare stories that keeps you turning the pages (even the second time you read it).

If you like historical fiction, then you should definitely read this book.

Three words the sum it up "LOYALTY, LOVE & EXCILE" which is printed on the book itself or something like that... amazing story one of the best love stories ever written I love it and recommend it to anyone..

Three words the sum it up "LOYALTY, LOVE & EXCILE" which is printed on the book itself or something like that... amazing story one of the best love stories ever written I love it and recommend it to anyone..