DESERT GOD

Discussion about Wilbur Smith's Egyptian series.

Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Tue Dec 02, 2014 1:56 am

As it comes...
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Tue Dec 02, 2014 2:02 am

As it comes...
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby tedd » Tue Dec 02, 2014 3:28 am

What a laugh!! I could write a book!
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby johnrogers » Tue Dec 02, 2014 10:21 am

jeffw wrote:Damn it John! Should have read: 'fired up his V8 Merc' ! Question? (Can't help myself) Do you think he's imported a crew from Egypt to build his pyramid on Table Mountain? You know, for when he crosses over? :)
ps, quit encouraging me, you guys will get me in bother. :lol:


Had har Jeffrey whittam - get back in your cage I know you want to let loose on the recent offering of Desert God.Control yourself - har har :eek:
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby tedd » Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:31 pm

Yes Jeff - you need to be careful. It's bad enough when the reading public start taking the mickey but when it's another author doing it, it becomes open war. And with Taita on his side, you're a loser - unless you have a stronger tagati up your sleeve in your new book!!
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby tedd » Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:39 pm

And as for you JohnRogers - you certainly must have some witch doctor advising you - your conclusion that WS and Taita are one and the same person was brilliant - wish I'd thought of that!!
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby johnrogers » Fri Dec 05, 2014 9:47 pm

tedd wrote:And as for you JohnRogers - you certainly must have some witch doctor advising you - your conclusion that WS and Taita are one and the same person was brilliant - wish I'd thought of that!!


You know Tedd I totally understand Jeffs frustration,I am in the same boat as him I want to rip a strip out of a Desert God by the great author Wilbur Smith,by no means am I being disrespectful to one of my favourite authors of all time.
The difference is simply this that we are not really reading a Wilbur Smith novel,we are reading a book written by a team of writers hired and managed by Wilbur Smith.
I read Desert God with no expectations of greatness and kept a very open mind.I believe the beginning of the book was penned by Wilbur and it was very exciting and I became really hopeful.Taita was brand new to me like a new character,arrogant and conceited.all Taita did was refer to himself as being the greatest archer,the best general and war strategist,the best horseman etc.Worse than that Taita talked almost like someone from the 20th century at times.The point is the character Taita was poorly understood by the writing team under WS they did WS an injustice representing him.The challenges for WS to become great are long gone he has already done that - it's all about making money now the book factory is in high gear seizing the opportunity while it exists - the cash cow is in full swing the contract deadlines have to be met and WS is cashing in ( I don't blame him for doing it as most of us would) You must read the Desert God comments on WS Facebook page - some are brutal - Jeff is being kind and reserved to WS as best he can but WS really does derserve a smack in the back of his head for putting his name on the cover of Desert God

It's kind of like nobody can bake an apple pie the same as your mother did Tedd
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:11 am

Hi Tedd; The facts speak for themselves, I have no issues with WS, just the quality of "his" current books. When I pay for steak I don't accept bully-beef. Ghost writers have stolen the glow; they have taken the edge off his greatness
Stay safe.
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:14 am

johnrogers wrote:
tedd wrote:And as for you JohnRogers - you certainly must have some witch doctor advising you - your conclusion that WS and Taita are one and the same person was brilliant - wish I'd thought of that!!


You know Tedd I totally understand Jeffs frustration,I am in the same boat as him I want to rip a strip out of a Desert God by the great author Wilbur Smith,by no means am I being disrespectful to one of my favourite authors of all time.
The difference is simply this that we are not really reading a Wilbur Smith novel,we are reading a book written by a team of writers hired and managed by Wilbur Smith.
I read Desert God with no expectations of greatness and kept a very open mind.I believe the beginning of the book was penned by Wilbur and it was very exciting and I became really hopeful.Taita was brand new to me like a new character,arrogant and conceited.all Taita did was refer to himself as being the greatest archer,the best general and war strategist,the best horseman etc.Worse than that Taita talked almost like someone from the 20th century at times.The point is the character Taita was poorly understood by the writing team under WS they did WS an injustice representing him.The challenges for WS to become great are long gone he has already done that - it's all about making money now the book factory is in high gear seizing the opportunity while it exists - the cash cow is in full swing the contract deadlines have to be met and WS is cashing in ( I don't blame him for doing it as most of us would) You must read the Desert God comments on WS Facebook page - some are brutal - Jeff is being kind and reserved to WS as best he can but WS really does derserve a smack in the back of his head for putting his name on the cover of Desert God

It's kind of like nobody can bake an apple pie the same as your mother did Tedd

Hi John, maybe it's time for me to head back to the bush, I'm not a sit-on-the-fence type of guy. You take care
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby tedd » Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:58 am

I enjoyed Desert God - and I couldn't agree more that it is certainly not of the standard of his early books. One other thing in retrospective thinking - while I was reading it I did not relate it to Wilbur Smith, I was not saying to myself 'good old Wilbur - he's done it again' -it was more like a first novel by a new author - but very readable and enjoyable - to me anyway!!
Incidentally, the part of my memoirs dealing with my time in Rhodesia, have been published by the BSAP Assn in their new book "More Troopers' Tales"
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby Matbow » Sat Dec 06, 2014 11:16 am

tedd wrote:I enjoyed Desert God - and I couldn't agree more that it is certainly not of the standard of his early books.


Those were my thoughts too.
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby johnrogers » Sat Dec 06, 2014 6:39 pm

Matbow wrote:
tedd wrote:I enjoyed Desert God - and I couldn't agree more that it is certainly not of the standard of his early books.




I enjoyed the book as well in fact it was more than I had expected to be honest with you,but it could have been a lot more if Wilbur truly had dedicated himself to the project as a sole writer without the influence of others.Taita was a completely different character in River God than he was in Desert God.
One thing I am very grateful for is that WS presented and returned Taita to be a human being in Desert God rather than a magical mystical wizard savant or whatever as he did in The Quest.

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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby johnrogers » Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:41 pm

Desert God (Ancient Egypt #5) by Wilbur Smith

Reviews - based on 5 star reviews

Amazon Canada - 3 stars out of 5 stars - 18 votes
Amazon Usa - 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 300 votes
Amazon UK - 4 stars out of 5 stars - 491 votes
Amazon AUS - 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 25 votes
Goodreads - 3.7 stars out of 5 stars - 337 votes
Barnes and Noble- 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 10 votes
johnrogers - 3 stars plus one asteroid for keeping Taita human
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby E-Hoog » Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:33 am

johnrogers wrote:Desert God (Ancient Egypt #5) by Wilbur Smith
johnrogers - 3 stars plus one asteroid for keeping Taita human


:D
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:39 am

tedd wrote:I enjoyed Desert God - and I couldn't agree more that it is certainly not of the standard of his early books. One other thing in retrospective thinking - while I was reading it I did not relate it to Wilbur Smith, I was not saying to myself 'good old Wilbur - he's done it again' -it was more like a first novel by a new author - but very readable and enjoyable - to me anyway!!
Incidentally, the part of my memoirs dealing with my time in Rhodesia, have been published by the BSAP Assn in their new book "More Troopers' Tales"

Great news, Ted!!! Let me know how it does.. Re new books, just passed the three quarters finished mark of my next. This summer... I hope. Will be out there on Amazon. You take care; take a drive to the Sabi/lundi junction, the fishing used to be good at this time of year.. :D
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Sat Dec 13, 2014 5:44 am

johnrogers wrote:Desert God (Ancient Egypt #5) by Wilbur Smith

Reviews - based on 5 star reviews

Amazon Canada - 3 stars out of 5 stars - 18 votes
Amazon Usa - 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 300 votes
Amazon UK - 4 stars out of 5 stars - 491 votes
Amazon AUS - 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 25 votes
Goodreads - 3.7 stars out of 5 stars - 337 votes
Barnes and Noble- 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 10 votes
johnrogers - 3 stars plus one asteroid for keeping Taita human

jeff - Well, part human. Not my favorite, you know that. I'll be generous - 2 stars. I see he's off on his hols again, no time for writing? Could be forgiven for thinking that someone else is doing the job for him? :lol:
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby johnrogers » Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:57 pm

jeffw wrote:
johnrogers wrote:Desert God (Ancient Egypt #5) by Wilbur Smith

Reviews - based on 5 star reviews

Amazon Canada - 3 stars out of 5 stars - 18 votes
Amazon Usa - 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 300 votes
Amazon UK - 4 stars out of 5 stars - 491 votes
Amazon AUS - 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 25 votes
Goodreads - 3.7 stars out of 5 stars - 337 votes
Barnes and Noble- 3.5 stars out of 5 stars - 10 votes
johnrogers - 3 stars plus one asteroid for keeping Taita human

jeff - Well, part human. Not my favorite, you know that. I'll be generous - 2 stars. I see he's off on his hols again, no time for writing? Could be forgiven for thinking that someone else is doing the job for him? :lol:

There is another little item that I did not appreciate in the least regarding Desert God.When I bought the book via Amazon Canada it was disclosed as 500 and some pages long,there were 84 separate chapters in the book and 35 pages of intros,dedications,and legal disclosures (copyright).Each of the 84 chapters began with almost a full page of a picture of the cover Desert God - so 84 pages of diagrams and 35 pages of the other stuff equals 119 pages of fill - yep paid for steak and got bully beef instead.
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby tedd » Thu Dec 18, 2014 1:06 am

Hi johnrogers - did you get a kindle edition? tedd
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby jeffw » Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:19 pm

Experts at 'padding out'; a lot of publishers also increase the font size, cut the number of lines per page and heave thirty pages of 'white paper' in with the story. There's no doubt, the man is being squeezed; ghosties are definitely in there. His next book is due March/April and he's holidaying in Namibia? This next offering will be something to behold. Hope I'm wrong, but see the good ship Disaster coming on over the literary horizon. really pisses me off; think I'll head north for the Limpopo again with Sean and Duff; how much I miss them. :(
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Re: DESERT GOD

Postby johnrogers » Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:40 pm

tedd wrote:Hi johnrogers - did you get a kindle edition? tedd


Howdy Tedd - yes it was the kindle ebook edition
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