Desert God
Wilbur Smith
Morrow, Oct 21 2014, $28.99
ISBN: 9780062276452
After a century of civil war, the adversarial Egyptian kingdoms
face a deadly invasion from the Steppes.
The Hyksos horde defeated the Northern Kingdom and begun the assault on
the Southern nation driving the people away from the Nile into the wilderness. At Thebes, the Egyptian army defeated the Hyksos
stopping further incursion, but the invaders occupy all of the North and parts
of the Southern Kingdom preparing for King Salitis to renew the conquest.
Desperate Pharaoh Tamose turns to his top advisor, former slave Taita
the eunuch, for guidance. The geographical
edge resides with the enemy as Taita realizes his kingdom controls no Great Sea
ports. Thus he informs the Pharaoh that
the only way to beat the enemy is an alliance with the Sumerians and Cretans;
though the latter already is allied with the Hyksos. To anchor the pact, Taita persuades Tamos to
offer in marriage his royal daughters, sixteen years old Tehuti and her
fourteen years old younger sister Bekatha, to Crete’s Supreme Minos. Accepting the plan, Tamos assigns Taita to
safely escort the princesses to Crete.
As they travel the dangerous bloody trek with external and internal
threats assaulting them, Tehuti informs Taita that there is a slight problem.
Desert God continues the engaging adventures of Taita (see River God and Warlock, etc.) in a fast-paced storyline that combines a strong sense of
time and place with plenty of gory action.
The lead eunuch and princesses are fully developed with Taita somewhat a
father figure to the royals; while he ironically misses the obvious that the audience
will anticipate. The well-written ending
is a fine mystical finish to another pleasurable Novel of
Ancient Egypt.
Harriet Klausner
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