Time to return to the world of Ancient Egypt with The Quest, the third book in the Ancient Egypt series by Wilbur Smith. Taita is visiting a remote sanctuary where he is getting his second sight ability unlocked when he first starts hearing rumblings and rumors of a highly evil sorceress that serves the Lie instead of the Truth like himself. After leaving the sanctuary Taita, still accompanied by Meren, returns to Egypt under the rule of Nefer Seti and discovers things are not good. The Nile has practically dried up and has not flooded in several years leading to some rather harsh conditions for the people of Egypt. It is here though that the rumors become more than rumors with the appearance of Demeter, another warlock, who warns Taita about the evil sorceress known as Eos and his suspicions that she is behind the drying up of the Nile. Finding out that Eos is sending forth minions to spread a religion worshipping her makes Taita even more suspicious about her plans for Egypt. He quickly talks Nefer Seti into letting him and Meren lead a troop of soldiers up the Nile to its headwaters in an attempt to find the problem and also confront Eos while doing so.
This book is a pretty good read if you are looking for adventure and intrigue. The plot is highly intriguing and does a good job of drawing you in right from the beginning. It is rather complex and does has some rather unusual elements not frequently seen in this genre but it still rather enjoyable nonetheless. I will say that the further into this series you get the less it feels like historical fiction. In many ways I would consider this to be more of a thriller than of historical fiction as there are very few verifiable historical events in this particular book. At the same time the depiction of the historical setting of Ancient Egypt and its neighboring territories is incredibly detailed. It really feels like the book brings it to life which is nice and rather refreshing. Having always been fascinated with the time period I am enjoying learning a little bit more about the culture. Definitely one of the better elements of the book and a redeeming feature for me. One of the big things that I didn’t like and one that I have commented on for the previous books is the characters. The main character that drives the entire series is Taita who is an Egyptian mystic and warlock. However, I genuinely feel that he is remarkable overpowered for a character. He knows something about everything and masters new fields and knowledge extremely quickly which makes all of his obstacles and issues supremely easy. I feel like there is nothing that is an actual challenge or struggle for him which greatly lessens my enjoyment of the story. He is an interesting character and he does have his character flaws but they are all in terms of his personality and inner thoughts so they don’t really affect what he actually facing. I would like to have seen him have to put forth more of an effort than he did but maybe this just me as well. While it is a good book and a good addition to the series I am only giving it three out of five stars.
If you enjoy historical fiction of books about Ancient Egypt than you should probably consider trying this series. However, you really should read the previous books to fully understand the story in progress. I highly doubt this book would hold a lot of appeal for readers who don’t enjoy historical fiction but if it sounds appealing or interesting than I suggest you try it anyway as you never know. This book is primarily aimed at adult readers and I would definitely agree with that. Due to the culture and conflicts being depicted there is a lot of violence present throughout and there is some mature content as well due to the specific conflict present in this book. Parts of it are somewhat explicit so it should not be read by younger readers. I would hesitate to recommend it even to older teens or young adults. This does not detract from the story though and I hope you will still consider it anyway. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.