The Quest: A Land Without Horizons. An Adventure Without Limits.

Wilbur Smith has shown he is writer who can spellbind you on any subject.In this book he departs from his usual writing about actiion adveture to transport the reader into a land of magic and fantasy.From start to finish, unputdownable.

Too good as ever. Unputdownable. The travel into the world created by Smith is mystifying and engrossing, with a very fine line cutting between historical reality and fantasy.

Can't wait to read the next book in the series...engaging and fun ...wilbur smith is my favorite novelist by far

A wonderful story,all stuff you once enjoyed in fairy tales is there.Magic,ghosts,fear,wise man who conquers evil and touching romance.Adult Wizard of Oz.

Great book ,if you have already read the earlier books in the Egyptian series.

excellent

Not quite the usual Wilbur Smith

BORING.COULD NOT GO BEYOND 60 PAGES.

I have been reading Wilbur Smith for decades and until now the worst I could say was "that was a tale well told". Even if not entirely engaged I have at least been entertained.Not in this one. Old men leching after girls, grooming them. The puke-inducing sycophancy, "Oh Taita, you constantly amaze and delight me!" The wooden dialogue - while no expert on ancient Egyptian speech, "Thank you - you have saved us from vile durance!" being called out from a crowd doesn't ring in my ears any more than it trips of the tongue!I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous books in this series but this I found shockingly poor. I skimmed great chunks of this book and am pretty sure I missed nothing - put myself out of my misery sooner in fact.Disappointing stuff and really one to avoid.

Smith’s books are always hit or miss, and this was a resounding miss. A bad rip-off of Rider Haggard’s SHE, right down to the fountain of eternal youth inside a volcano. SHE, however, did not have a a 156-year old capable of all-night rapes. And that was before he became young again. The whole story was unspeakably silly but worse, it was also very boring. Long before the end I was skimming through pages, wishing it would just end. Dreadful.

It's really hard to criticize this book without using lots of ***SPOILERS*** so don't read on if you care about that sort of stuffOK so the whole "True love thing, spanning across time"... hmm actually it made me feel like Taita was grooming Fenn.When Aquer threatens to break the young girl "she's young enough for me" it's supposed to have sinister implications, but then Taita is there only a couple of weeks later and this is fine?Also the whole pedophilia/grooming thing... I don't really see how rejuvenating the body somehow makes it all ok, it's still an old experienced person grooming a minor and manipulating themRight - that aside.... what's the final battle about... we've done swords, we've done arrows, we've done explosions... I wonder - has anyone done a final battle by copulation?very very bizarre - however it's the usual wilbur smith well written page turner and kept me entertained but I wouldn't read it again nor recommend it

Take a 150 year old eunuch, send him into darkest Africa with a small band of his chums to find out why some evil force has stopped the Nile from flowing. Give him all sorts of spicy adventures along the way, have him rescue a small scruffy looking child from the jungle who turns out to be the reincarnation of a dead Pharoh's wife, give them a few more adventures until they reach the lair of the evil one. Then get the eunuch back his "manhood" and the gift of eternal life in the surgery of mad physicians and let him loose with his new "manhood" upon the Evil One, from whom he sucks all the knowledge of the universe until she dies. Conjur up a volcano to destroy her and all her followers, sail back to Egypt, where your mates are given huge rewards by an eternally grateful Pharoh's and then ride off with your new wife, the grandmother of the present Pharoh, to find the fount of eternal youth so that the two,of you can live together for eternity.That's about it really, quite a tale!!

This book has all the ingredients of an exciting adventure story, without actually engaging the reader at an emotional level, which results in disappointment. In parts, it read like the old "Tarzan" novels. Given that the story timeline is set several millennia ago, the language used by the characters and the battle strategies often seem like it is 18th/19th century British Army, using rifles and guns instead of the bows and arrows the characters were using, a disconnect, which causes irritation while reading, as visualisation switches to the more modern era. Alas, the true quality of the Author's writing skill is displayed only in the Author's write up about his inspiration for the Egyptian series after the end of this book. That part is beautifully written!