Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Discussion about Wilbur Smith's Egyptian series.

Rate The Quest!

10
7
10%
9
9
13%
8
11
16%
7
11
16%
6
5
7%
5
6
9%
4
5
7%
3
4
6%
2
6
9%
1
4
6%
 
Total votes : 68

Postby dodgy » Thu Sep 27, 2007 3:45 pm

The whole book got a little too mystical for me with too much reliance on the powers of magic. I much prefer a good honest battle.

The scene with the opening of the inner eye made me squirm (in a good way) and i really wonder what is on WS mind when Taita wins a battle with the enemy by shagging her into submission......

Still a good yarn and i do like meren cambyses as a name.

Yeh the warriors of the red road!
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby RomuloXIII » Sun Oct 14, 2007 6:59 pm

Hey all, I read The Quest about two months ago and I have to say it wasn't exactly what I expected/wanted as a continuation of this great series however, it was a damned good book and a thoroughly entertaining read. Additionally, if I were to have read what I was expecting there wouldn't have been much surprise in that now would there?

What I think detracts from the book a bit is the amount of power Taita has and the ease he has casting spells and defeating his foes. So instead of using more guile than magic he uses the reverse and it makes for a somewhat less compelling read. Similar things happen in the Fantasy and SCi-Fi realm of writing and those stories fall a little more flat than do the stories where people have to struggle more and where the characters are more raw.

Since we are sharing our ratings of this book I give it an 8. I would have given 8.5 but the option wasn't there. I can't wait to see what he's got coming out next. I for one would love another sea faring tale à la Birds of Prey.....I'll just keep my fingers crossed.


Cheers,
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Bakela » Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:23 pm

Hi guys having read and enjoyed all of Wilburs previous books (Hungry As The Sea is the only one I would't give 10/10!) it is with a heavy heart I have to report how disapointed with The Quest I am especially after I met the man himself and got a sighned copy! What I have always liked about WS books is the realism the fealing that im there with the characters be it gold mineing with Sean Courtney or exploring with Zouga Ballantyne, I even believed Taita's magic powers in Warlock but the Quest verges on the ridiculous,
Spoiler:
Taita turns young again regrows certain parts of his anatomy defeats a witch by having sex with her the witch then proceeds to turn into some huge kind of insect! Taita himself seems to have had a personality transplant and at times it did't it did't even feel like a WS book at all.
The Triumph Of The Sun did't get great reviews but i found it a great read almost up there with When The Lion Feeds and River God the Quest Im afraid after looking so forward to it was the most dissapointing read I have ever had, fingers crossed he will be back on track with his next book, for now im re-reading Monsoon. I give The Quest 4/10 :?
Last edited by Matbow on Fri Oct 19, 2007 5:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Correcting spoiler tag
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby studbud69 » Fri Nov 02, 2007 8:26 am

Personally I think that this was the WORST book he has ever written, and I have read all of them... wtf is he doing? I personally don't believe he wrote it, in fact I don't think he has written anything after getting re-married. All his previous books were great. Eagle in the Sky was one of the best as well as the Courtney's ... I loved River God and Seventh Scroll, then all of a sudden everything went down the drain. WS has always been committed to writing books based on historical fiction, now he is writing fantasy???

How can one grow one's genitals back and become young... come on this is so far fetched...

I highly doubt that I will purchase another book of his again.
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Fenn » Fri Feb 15, 2008 6:42 pm

I was not dissapointed with this book at all! I liked more than the Warlock which i found was not as interesting as i thought it was going to be.
I noticed a few errors too but it didnt bother me too much because i was so into it that i barely even cared. This book has so many emotions tied to it. I was rollercostaring from sadness to overwelming anger and then to tear jerking happiness. Im sad that many people didnt like it as much as i did. I know that it might not happen but i find myself waiting for WS to write another egypt novel, but then again i never want books to end, even after there is nothing left.


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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby aegyptus » Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:45 pm

Im sure there will be a sequel and I suspect it will have grave consequences for pharoah and Fenn, who wish for immortality.
There cant be any possiblity of a "happy ending" in which every aspect is perfect.
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Absolute Rubbish

Postby ale » Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:38 am

First off: I voted 2

This book has been a massive dissapointment to me, though I don't know why I'm surprised, after reading Triumph of The Sun. Blue Horizon and even Warlock were a bit disapointing as well. WS has definitely lost the plot, and should probably consider retiring. I have read everything he has written so far, and honestly this is the first time I can't bring myself to finish the damn thing! Absolute Rubbish!!! Cheesy dialogue, bad character development, the works. I find myself rolling my eyes and cringing when I read certain passages. Indeed, maybe it isn't him writing this crap... no other explanation comes to mind. Good thing I checked it oout of the library, otherwise I'd be really pissed off...
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Ramon » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:23 am

I'm stunned. Perhaps not by the book itself, but by the totally different opinions about it.

I was afraid when I started to read it. Afraid that what I heard would be true. I've seen so many disappointed reader's opinions, so I hadn't got my hopes up for the book.

Now, when I'm done, I can only say, that taste is like a butt. Divided.

It's not a bad book. It is definitely written by Wilbur - hey, it's got the word "ethereal" ;)
Ok, it has got some magic mumbojumbo, that can't be found in such extent in the other books, but I didn't mind.

8/10
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Galahad » Wed Jul 09, 2008 10:32 am

I can't believe people hated it so much, i loved it! The inconsistancies between this and the previous Taita novels aside, I enjoyed 'The Quest' equally as much, if not more so, then the previous books. When i first read RG, then wolfed Warlock down straight away, i was at first daunted by the mystical elements of Warlock, but by the end was craving more, so The Quest was exactly what I was lusting for, but it delivered so much more. In the previous books I loved reading Taita's little musings reguarding the human anatomy, the things he 'knew' about how our bodies are formed and work, and was so ecstatic when i realised the whole new level this book delved into such matters, all the way to the...
Spoiler:
Regrowth of eye and genitalia due to what we soon learn to be pre-term infants, stem cells anyone? This topic itself fascinated me, the sheer concept! sciences we are only now starting to explore being used in an ancient egyptian time setting was so briliant I lapped up every bit of it!

I also thought that the 'final confrontation' with Eos was an excellant concept, using sex as their battleground was ingenious, making the story far more believable (and not to mention, more original) then with any of the fantasy genres usual devices eg. lightning bolts, pure psychic invasion, etc. etc.


I also liked the change in style for Wilbur, instead of focusing so much on the soldiers and the wars, concentrating instead on the theological views, and the great struggle of 'the truth vs. the lie', but still retaining those blundering but lovable soldier figures that Wilbur draws so well (ala the beloved Meren Cambyses, and I was particularly drawn to Imbali and Nakonto, they were two of my fav characters, although I felt they weren't given enough depth, except for Imbali's role as Fenn's 'teacher.'

All in all, this book was one of the greatest i have read in along time, I couldn't put it down! I finished it in 2 days, i was that engrossed by the story that was laid out before me. I had forgotten most of the previous titles, because I read them all quite a few years ago now, although River God was the one that got me into Wilbur's works in the first place, and so I didn't notice half the inconsistancies with the others, although I knew some facts were wrong. But apart from that, i gave it a 9 because it is by far one of my fav books! Sorry for the seriously long winded review, but it is a credit to the level of appreciation I have for the thoughts and feelings that this book provoked within me.

Spoiler:
Btw I agree that the sequel, if or when it comes, cannot possibly end with happiness for all, my own personal musings so far are that either only one person may be bestowed the power of the font at once, and they have to make that choice, or perhaps, as I had first thought after Taita's first 'practice session' with Dr Lusulu, that even mighty Taita might be tainted by the new powers he possesses, his purity all along coming from his eunich status, and that his 'sex' will corrupt him as surely as it had Eos all those centuries earlier, possibly leaving Fenn to be his the only who could possibly stop the corrupted Magus... Whatever happens, i can't wait and know I will be one of the first to get myself a copy, anyway i can!
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Nathan F » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:28 am

I can't believe people hated it so much, i loved it! The inconsistancies between this and the previous Taita novels aside, I enjoyed 'The Quest' equally as much, if not more so, then the previous books.


I am in complete agreement :) I too was suprised to find that there were alot of people who didn't like 'The Quest' at all. :shock: But I think this is probably because of all the 'magic' stuff, and people thought that there were not enough good battles (although I thought that there was.)
Last edited by Nathan F on Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Galahad » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:44 pm

There were quite a few battles, infact i thought it could have done without a couple, why do we have to fight every tribe that gets in our way sort of thing?
Spoiler:
Oh, you befriended the amputee magus, we'll kill you. Oh, you entered our swamp, we'll kill you. You're walking through our hills, we'll kill you. Thought there was abit too much for me, was hoping he would go into the ideology even more then he did, but thats just me. Would have loved alot more Cloud Garden based scenes, loved the debates between Taita and the surgeons on the 'ethics of their profession.'
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Nathan F » Sat Jul 12, 2008 12:51 am

Spoiler:
Oh, you entered our swamp, we'll kill you. You're walking through our hills, we'll kill you

It's not like that at all! It's more like for the Chima: "You're walking through our swamp, we'll eat you" LOL

i thought it could have done without a couple, why do we have to fight every tribe that gets in our way sort of thing?

They don't fight every tribe. Come on! It's a part of what makes 'The Quest' such a good read! \:D/
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Bushmaster » Thu Dec 11, 2008 2:16 pm

I am a huge admirer of Wilbur Smith, have been ever since I became engrossed in the tales of Israeli Mirages in 'Eagle in the Sky' (still shiver when I think of the man with the disembowelling knife and the tame babboon) and the rugged, macho outdoor life in the African novels like 'When the Lion Feeds', 'Cry Wolf' and 'Shout at the Devil'. Strong women and stronger men in a harsh unforgiving landscape against a backdrop of historical events is what WS excells at. The more rich description of buckles swashed and bodices torn the better, to the soundrack of a distant bugle, thundering hooves and the crackle of Martini-Henry rifles. Even when he leaves this tried and tested winning formula to venture into the esoteric lands of Ancient Egypt he carries me with him, my suspension of disbelief firmly wrapped in a bedroll.

So it was with keen anticipation that I picked up 'The Quest'. I put it down again after a day, in mild disbelief and deep disappointment. Toads, Mr Smith? Toads that leap? With fangs? That live underwater? Ancient Egyptian cavalry who use the command 'Move out!'? Stem Cell surgery in prehistoric Uganda? A wicked witch in a volcano? Ape guards? A paedophile Taita? Inserting a hasty 'Taita realised she must now be sixteen', probably at the insistence of the editors, does not make it right. 'The Quest' is an attempt at 'King Solomon's Mines' meets 'She' meets 'Lolita' and is a pale, misshapen clone-gone-wrong of those books.

I sincerely and with all best wishes hope that Wilbur does not carry on with this type of writing or he will have lost a fan but more importantly I will have seen the mask of an idol slip.
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby Nefer » Sat Dec 13, 2008 4:08 pm

Hi & welcome bushmaster :)

My defense of this book is that he was bored with the old plots and wanted to try something different. There's always Assegai to look forward to :)
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby VASMITHFAN » Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:18 am

I think I've read all of WS books. I enjoyed them all. The Quest was just bad. Period. You could drive a tank through all the plot inconsistencies. Just one example: Eos dammed the Nile River at Lake Victoria and the Nile ran dry in Egypt. Hmmmm......really? What about the Blue Nile that flows out of Ethiopia? What happened to that? Stupid.


My two impressions are that Wilbur just cranked out another book with little or no effort. In the orginal River God it was clear he researched Egyptian History thoroughly. Most of his better books you can always feel the time and effort he spent researching and preparing to write the novel. I definitely did not get that impression with the Quest. My second observation is that he must be struggling with impotence. He spent probably a third of the novel talking about Taita's lack of functional sexual equipment and his "Quest" to regain his manhood. The fact that Taita magically was made young and could now have sex with a child was just creepy all the way around.

I gave it 3 stars only because it had some of the old WS actionadventure flair in certain scenes.


Wilbur I love your books. You've added a lot to my life. Please, please no more "Quests."
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby poneeboy53 » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:06 pm

I would I say I was quite disapointed in the Quest. My dad is a big Wilbur Smith fan too and he loved it so go figure. To me River God and Seventh Scroll were much better. Warlock was the start of the downfall.

Way too much fantasy for me. This book is way out of character for anything I read by WS before. Just not my cup of tea.
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby giz » Thu Apr 16, 2009 4:46 am

As a great fan and having read all of his books to date, after reading The Quest

I can only say that Bushmaster has said everything that I was going to say virtually word for word (which is spooky)

so I will sum up by saying if Wilbur did write this then IMHO fantasy is not his forte

a huge dissappointment
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Re: Reviews of "The Quest"...[Spoilers]

Postby miwsher » Sat Dec 05, 2009 3:00 am

I'd like to begin by saying that I love Wilbur Smith's books, and it was his Egyptian series that drew me in, thanks to Warlock. I read River God and The Seventh Scroll soon after, and was equally impressed, before branching out to his other series such as the Courtney, and his stand-alone novels.

However, I had always retained an eagerness for a sequel to Warlock, to see what would have become of the characters that I had felt so close to: Nefer, Mintaka, Meren. I know that most fans of the Egyptian series are huge fans of Taita, but while I respected him as an original character, he was never my favourite.
Spoiler:
I knew that I loved Warlock because I found myself actually mumbling out loud towards the end when Merykara was tortured by Heseret.
And I had looked forward for years (literally) to The Quest to answer all of my lingering questions.

That being said, The Quest did not live up to my expectations in any way possible. In fact, I risk heresy by considering it to be a true abomination, and if it weren't a Wilbur Smith novel, I don't think anybody would have really been keen to vote for a score over 5.

Everyone has already mentioned the numerous inconsistencies, so I won't dwell upon it. But one of the most disappointing aspects of the book had to be the mutilation of character sketches from the previous books.

Spoiler:
Mintaka, whom Wilbur Smith took great pains to describe as a strong willed, independent and intelligent young woman in Warlock, is suddenly a naive, fragile minded twit? Lostris, who was TANUS' true love for the duration of three books, is now the true love of Taita? Isn't the entire plot of these Egyptian books supposed to be that Taita is burdened with unrequited love? It's as if the movie about Titanic was edited so that it didn't sink in the end, just so that everyone could see Jack and Rose together.


The second fatal flaw is the blatant and shameless abuse of sex as a theme. Hinduism accounts for at least 50% of my country's population, and the depiction of the religion as sex-crazed, as Smith did in the very first few pages, suggests a lack of objective research on his part.

But I'd have easily forgiven that, had sex not been the main plot from the first page to the last.
Spoiler:
Meren is sex crazed; was there even a sentence about Merykara in the entire book? Taita has his penis "reincarnated". Lostris herself is reincarnated, presumably, to have sex with Taita. Lostris has no idea about tanus, in fact, only lives and breathes to have sex for Taita. Taita uses his mystical penis in a fierce and passionate battle of sex (Sex? really?) to defeat Eros. Taita, is elevated to super saiyan status by having sex. Taita and Meren are greeted by the Hindu goddesses (or whatever they were meant to be) by sex at first sight.


After having read the Quest, I can honestly say that I dont' consider it to be a sequel to the other three because amateur writers writing fan fiction could write a 4th instalment more impressively. I'm sorry to say this in a fans' forum, especially since I am a fan too, but I voted "1" without a second thought.
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