Warlock

When an author is as prolific as Wilbur Smith (and is happiest writing at lengths that make War and Peace look like a novella), it's inevitable that the rigorously high quality of the writing will sometimes falter. Lately, Smith's novels have given the impression of a master storyteller content to coast on autopilot. Not so Warlock, however - the Egyptian setting of this one (and its predecessors River God and The Seventh Scroll) seems to have invigorated the veteran writer and produced some of his most trenchant and distinctive prose. After the death of his queen, Lostris, Smith's hero Taita performs the standard rights of embalmment and burial. He finds himself unable to return to his former life, and lives a hermit's existence in the desert in North Africa. But Taita uses his time creatively to turn himself into a warlock with astonishing powers. And when the dynasty of his dead queen is under threat, Taita comes to believe that both his suffering and transformation are facets of a complex destiny. Some of Smith's devotees may balk at the supernatural elements in this one (they do not conform, after all, to what we expect from the author) but Smith is too canny a writer to simply turn out just another entry in the overcrowded fantasy stakes. His particular speciality - a total grip maintained throughout a complex epic narrative - makes this massive tome quite as compelling as his vintage work. (Kirkus UK)