Pharaoh

 Pharaoh is the sixth of eight books in the Ancient Egypt series by Wilbur Smith. I have previously reviewed River God, written in 1993. Pharaoh was published in 2018. The story is essentially narrated by Taita, the eunuch ex-slave of Tamose, the current Pharaoh. While Taita is remarably brilliant and is terribly impressed with himself, the story is about the transfer of power from Tamose to the great young warrior Ramases. But in between, the cruel Utteric, the older brother of Ramases, seized the thrown and kidnapped Taita. Utteric had to be defeated for the true heir to assume power. There is warfare, blood lust, love, alliances and traitors.

 Smith is an impressively prolific author. Born in South Africa in 1933, he wrote for nearly 60 years and produced more than 49 novels. I fell into these novels as I was looking for books to read about Egypt. I don’t really have a strong recommendation for this one, but if you love stories about ancient Egypt, then the Ancient Eqypt series of eight books could be on your reading list. Personally, I don’t plan to read more of that series – enough is enough for me.