Ancient Egypt, a world full of magic and a little bit of wonder. A place we return to in Warlock, the second book in the Ancient Egypt series by Wilbur Smith. It opens a few decades after the end of the previous book when Taita is training Nefer, the grandson of Lostris and son of Tamose, in order to prepare him to be the pharaoh. While they are out in the desert to find the godbird, as part of Nefer’s preparation for ruling, Tamose is murdered by his close friend Naja who then proclaims himself regent due to Nefer’s young age. Due to the ongoing war with the Hyksos, Egypt has also become divided with the ruler of the Hyksos, King Apepi, claiming one of the kingdoms. Trying to arrange a peace between the two groups Nefer is betrothed to Princess Mintaka, daughter of Apepi. However, Apepi’s advisor Trok overthrows Apepi and forcibly marries Mintaka around the same time that Naja marries Nefer’s younger sisters and arranges Nefer’s death. Taita helps Nefer rescue Mintaka and together they flee into the desert where they work on raising the necessary forces to overthrow the two imposter pharaohs and attempt to restore all of Egypt as one combined kingdom.
This is a continuation of the life of Taita who we met in the first book, River God. However, the Taita that we meet in this book is rather different than that Taita. In River God Taita was more of a scholar and engineer than he was a mystic. I am not saying that he did not have his mystic qualities but he relied more on his knowledge of various scientific fields for a lot of what he did. In this book it plays up his mystic abilities a lot more. There is a reason he is referred to as a warlock. It really seems like there is more of a mystical or spiritual element to Taita that was not as prominent before. I don’t necessarily know which version I prefer but it is different enough I noticed. There are other elements of Taita’s character that remained the same though. Mainly his overbearing confidence. Taita is entirely confident in his abilities both in regards to navigating the spiritual or mystical realm but also in navigating the politics of the court and of life in Egypt. He doesn’t come across as cocky or arrogant like he did in the first book though as this time it is more of a quiet confidence. I think the main reason for that is the difference in viewpoints though. The first book was almost exclusively Taita’s viewpoint and there was rarely any other narrators. This time we frequently see other narrators in the form of both Nefer Seti and Princess Mintaka with occasionally others as well. In doing so, we see Taita more frequently from an outside perspective than from an inside perspective. This means that less of his thought process gets revealed to the reader. In terms of the overall plot of the story there was remarkable complexity and development, especially in regards to the timeline of the story. I think the book takes place over about ten to fifteen years altogether so there are various points where there is a lot of things happening at once that show incredible levels of detail and then there are others where there is minimal detail to narrate the passage of time. Despite that the plot is developed at a good pace with just the right level of complexity for the length and pacing. Overall, a good book and one that gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.
This book is a great example of historical fiction and would probably appeal to readers who enjoy that genre, especially readers who are fascinated by Ancient Egypt. It also deals a lot with political intrigue and warfare so it would probably hold some appeal to readers who are fascinated with those subjects or themes as well. The book is primarily aimed at adult readers and I would certainly agree with that age range as there is considerable violence and other mature content that may make it difficult or unsuitable for younger readers. In my opinion, it should probably be read by older teenagers at best and no one younger. If you are able to handle those issues than I would certainly recommend this book as it was pretty good overall. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.