Who wrote The Seventh Scroll?

[Michel Souris]

I have read The Triumph of the Sun, and the River God, both of which were well written and enthralling.

I'm about 20% into the Seventh Scroll, the sequel to the River God, and cannot believe that it was written by Wilbur Smith.

The writing is shallow, with no depth, below juvenile, at about a grade 3 or 4 level, no better. It appears to have been written by an illiterate, and I can't possibly believe it written by Smith.

I doubt that I'll be able to get through it, but we'll see. It's the worst piece of garbage that I've read in years.
What's the story on the "author" of this below Harlequin standard pap?

[E-Hoog]

In my mind there is no doubt that this book is written by Wilbur Smith. You get a lot of scenes and tidbits that could be taken out of any of his other works. And, hey, it has the word ethereal :p

To be honest I found this book quite nice. It has action, romance, Africa; all the ingredients really. But to each his own.

[kinko64]

Personally i agree with Michel. I have tried reading it twice and i never finished it......... i just didn't give a rat's ass. I have read over 11 WIlbur Smith books and all of them are absolutely briljant. This one however is terrible.

[mayor]

To each his own, I guess. I'm in the middle of it and really don't want to put it down. The writing is quite real and descriptive. One section, where they are trying to get back to Boris' trucks after the explosion, wore me out, just from reading it.

I have also read River God, and a couple of the Courtney novels and don't feel that the writing of the Seventh Scroll suffers at all, compared to them.

[Russellneferseti]

After monsoon, 7th scroll is one of my favorites. I thought it was a cracking read and I found Nick to be a different, yet bloody good hero. 4 and a half stars out of 5!!

[johnrogers]

Wibur Smith wrote the Seventh scroll - To me it was one of his very best - I loved the egyptian series equal to the Courtenay or Ballantyne series - however the book that I did not enjoy so much was the Quest the last book in the egyption series - I have no idea how the series veered off so suddenley and ended on a book with a sorcery and magic overtone so completely different than the first three.

[tedd]

I agree John - The Quest was way out of line and could not be considered as being part of the same Egyptian series

[johnrogers]

You know Tedd I think WS meant well writing the Quest for his fans - I think the magic/sorcery spin was WS trying to show another side of himself to his fans - it did not work out in fact it spoiled the series for me as I enjoyed the first three books so much.

I would like to give you another example - I have just read Eagles in the sky for the second time - by far it was the most romantic of all his novels - again same thing WS is trying to appeal to his fans showing that he can write any genre of book.

By the way Tedd I have just finished Those on Peril - I loved the damn thing - 10 out of 10

[ddeeanderson]

I thought that the Seventh Scroll was brilliant. If you get over the fact that you don't get to find out what happened to Mem and Taita right away (I was almost mad when I started to read it) and give this book a chance you will be very happy that you read it. I think that WS jumping 4000 years into the future from the last book and not missing a beat was amazing. I could not put this book down. Also being able to write a book from the narative (of Taita) in 1700 BC to a book that is not narated by a character taking place 4000 years later and keeping it so interesting that I could not put either book down shows absolute genius. Then he takes you right back in time again with Warlock a book about Taita again but this time not narated by him and again writes it so well that you can not put that book down either. After that he finishes the series off with a Sci Fi type novel and it is brilliant again. Too awesome thanks WS.

[Ahboli]

I've read Seventh Scroll, several times - loved it. When I finished River God I was very curious about what arrangements Taita had provided in death for those he'd loved the most in life. Gaining access to the tombs, dealing with Pegasus and a flavor of the romantic, Seventh had it all IMO.

I love the descriptions of the para-military, the hot pursuits and the final come-uppance discribed in so many of WS novels; A Time To Die was the epitome of what I love to read the most.