Wilbur Smith’s Ancient Egypt Series in Order: How to read this historical series?

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Written by Zambian-born author Wilbur Smith, mostly known for The Courtney Series, The Ancient Egypt series is a historical fiction series based in large part on Pharaoh Memnon’s time.

This Egyptian series takes us to an ancient kingdom to discover the incredible destiny of Taita, a humble slave and an expert in multiple disciplines who goes on a tumultuous journey, living through wars, power struggles, and more.

How to read Wilbur Smith’s Ancient Egypt Books in Order?

I. The Ancient Egypt Series In Publication order

  1. River God – Taita is a humble slave; an expert in art, poetry, medicine, and engineering, as well as keeping important secrets. He is the most treasured possession of Lord Intef. Yet when Intef’s beautiful daughter Lostris is married to the Pharaoh, Taita is commanded to follow her, and swiftly finds himself deeper than he ever could have imagined in a world of deception and treachery.
  2. The Seventh Scroll – When Royan Al Simma is the victim of a vicious attack that leaves her husband dead, her only thought is that she must continue their joint work: to use the secrets of the seventh scroll to find the hidden tomb of Pharaoh Mamose and its untold trove of lost Egyptian riches. To do so, she must bury her grief and partner with the eccentric aristocrat Nicholas Quenton-Harper, a man who shares her passion for the ancient world.
  3. Warlock – In his long life, Taita has gone from slave to warlock, and now his wisdom and abilities are known throughout the kingdom. But even his immense skills cannot protect those close to him from the evil that lurks at the heart of Egypt: Lord Naja, self-proclaimed Regent until the Prince comes of age. Taita must summon all of his formidable gifts to protect the true ruler, the young prince Nefer – grandson of Queen Lostris.
  1. The Quest – Renowned magus Taita is now over a hundred years old, and has ascended to a new level of wisdom and understanding about his world. But he must prepare himself for the biggest threat Egypt has ever faced: the great plagues and the failure of the Nile, brought about by the fire witch Eos, an ancient force of sheer evil.
  2. Desert God – Southern Egypt has an enemy it cannot shake for too long: they have been fighting the Hyksos people in the north since time began. And to finally crush them the Pharaoh must turn to his most trusted friend. Taita has an ingenious plan that will see Egypt destroy the Hyksos army and form the coveted alliance with Crete. This plan will take him, his expedition commander Zaras, and a team of warriors on an epic journey up the Nile, through Arabia to Sidon and the magical city of Babylon, and across the open seas to Crete.
  3. Pharaoh – Pharaoh Utteric is young, weak and cruel, and threatened by Taita’s influence within the palace – especially his friendship with Utteric’s younger and worthier brother, Ramases. With Taita’s imprisonment, Ramases is forced to make a choice: help Taita escape and forsake his brother, or remain silent and condone Utteric’s tyranny. To a good man like Ramases, there is no choice. Taita must be set free, Utteric must be stopped and Egypt must be reclaimed.
  1. The New Kingdom – In the city of Lahun, Hui lives an enchanted life. The favored son of a doting father, and ruler-in-waiting of the great city, his fate is set. But behind the beautiful façades, a sinister evil is plotting. Craving power and embittered by jealousy, Hui’s stepmother, the great sorceress Isetnofret, and Hui’s own brother, Qen, orchestrate the downfall of Hui’s father, condemning Hui and seizing power in the city. Cast out and alone, Hui finds himself a captive of a skilled and powerful army of outlaws, the Hyksos. Determined to seek vengeance for the death of his father and rescue his sister, Ipwet, Hui swears his allegiance to these enemies of Egypt.
  2. Titans of War – For over fifty years Egypt has known nothing but war and devastation at the hands of the Hyksos, a bloodthirsty barbarian people from the distant east who continue to advance, crushing armies in their wake. Times are desperate, but throughout the conflict, a brave resistance fights on under the great Taita, a slave who has risen far beyond his ranks. Piay, entrusted into Taita’s care by his parents at the age of just five, has been trained to become a great spy, unmatched by any other. Determined to prove his worth, he embarks on a dangerous mission to the lands in the north to find allies to help defend Egypt.
  3. Testament – Years of Hyksos rule have seen the ruin and suffering of a once-mighty Egypt. Though Pharaoh is now restored to his rightful throne, his power is fragile as some seek to take advantage of the ensuing chaos following the overthrowing of the Hyksos. Desperate to unite the two divided kingdoms of Egypt under Pharaoh’s rule, the great mage Taita sends his protégé, Piay, to discover the answer to a millennia-old riddle that has the power to secure the fate of Egypt forever. But in the chaos of war, a dark evil has thrived. Malevolent followers of Seth, the god of chaos, are determined to claim this power to serve their own interests, which would set Egypt along a dark path.

I. The Ancient Egypt Series In Chronological Order

  1. River God
  2. Desert God
  3. Pharaoh
  4. Warlock
  5. The Quest
  6. Titans of War (TBC)
  7. The New Kingdom
  8. The Seventh Scroll

If you like our article about reading Wilbur Smith Egyptian reading order, you may also want to see our Courtney Series reading order, or the one for Wilbur Smith’s Ballantyne Series.

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15 Comments

  1. So, what order should the Egyptian series be read? For maximum story flow, which order? Chronological? or Published? Why did Smith write them out of order chronologically?

    1. I am about to start reading the Egyptian series again, I do find it frustrating that I can’t find an order to read them. Could you let me know the order to to read including The New Kingdom and also the next book due out next Easter.
      Many thanks.

  2. Thoroughly enjoyed the novels ( Wilbur Smith is in the category of the very best of authors ) have read time and time again, however after reading ‘ The Quest ‘ Taita once age comes a ‘ true ‘ man so to speak . However in the following novel ‘ Desert God ‘ he is no longer endowed with the manly part – so to speak . Also the storyline of the book is actually set in the period immediately after ‘River God’ ‘ and before ‘ Warlock ‘ . To sum up it is most disconcerting , however that is the writers prerogative I suppose . Still the best series of novels that I have read as are those before .

    1. Taita once age comes a ‘ true ‘ man
      Please can I ask what this says. Thanks.

  3. Hey .. I have looked up the order in which to read the Egyptian series of Wilbur s .. so is it the chronological order or published order?? Pls

  4. I don’t believe the above list is accurate for chronological order…..I think they would fall in this order:
    1. River God
    2. Desert God
    3. Pharaoh
    4. Warlock
    5. Quest
    6. 7th Scroll
    I haven’t read The New Kingdom yet, so I can’t put that in there yet.

    1. I 100% agree, this is the correct chronological order as Desert God follows on from River God with Tanus and Lostris son, Mem, as Pharoh.
      This site needs to correct this as it seems to be confusing people.

  5. I want to start by saying how much I enjoy the Egyptian series: every book is magnificent.

    Desert God and Pharaoh seem to me to be very different from Warlock and Quest. There are different sons of Mamose, a different death for Mamose, and different outcomes to the Hykos war. Lostris’s baby name is different between River God and Quest.

    More important than those however, is that Taita (and some other human characters) have clear major magical powers that are central to the plot in Warlock / Quest but not in Desert God / Pharaoh (or, indeed, River God); and further that rich and powerful characters in River God and Desert God at least would have employed characters with such major magical powers had they existed.

    The implication is that Desert God, Pharaoh, and probably River God itself, are in a different series from Warlock and Quest. I think that at some point the river of time split into two river channels, one becoming the time-river of Desert God / Pharaoh, and the other becoming the time-river of Warlock / Quest.

    In the Desert God / Pharaoh time-river, Taita has none or few actual magical powers, ordinary humans with major magical powers do not exist and Mamose’s sons are Rameses and Utteric Turo. Lostris’ baby name is Lanata.

    In the Warlock / Quest time-river, Taita has major magical powers at the outset, which some other ordinary humans also have, and that some such people are employed by rich and powerful characters. Mamose’s son is Nefer. Lostris’ baby name is Fenn.

    Doesn’t stop me enjoying all the books, however, or preferring one time-river over the other. Wonderful: every single one.

    So the reading order is River God, Desert God & Pharaoh. And then read the Warlock & Quest time-river. I think the new book belongs with the River God, Desert God & Pharaoh time-river, but I haven’t read it so don’t know where.

    1. There was no magic in ‘River God’. There was knowledge, skill and coincidence that appeared close to magic, but almost nothing explicit in the narrative. That’s the beauty of Wilbur Smith’s writing.

      The one ambiguous bit was Taita’s predictive ability using the Mazes of Ammon Ra, although even this could equally well in context have been coincidence combined with predicted outcomes wanted by Taita that he then worked towards. Taita himself claimed to believe it was a magic power, which is not the same as actually having a magic power. So it may or may not have actually been a limited slightly magic power.

      Gods with magic powers did not appear in the ‘River God’, but people believed that a god could, for example, impregnate a woman. In both later river-lines (Desert God / Pharaoh & Warlock / Quest) gods / goddesses were shown acting magically in the world.

      In Desert God and Pharaoh, Taita along with all other human characters had no magical powers. Taita choose not to do the Mazes as per his statement in River God.

      In Warlock and Quest, Taita and some other human characters had magic powers: concealment, overseeing, influencing others at a distance and seeing through concealment. Taita performs the Mazes and it is more explicit than in River God that it is an actual magical power.

      Major plot elements of ‘Warlock’ revolves around the magical powers of Taita and other humans. In contrast major plot elements of Desert God would have been completely different had Taita and other humans been capable of magical powers.

      Further, in Warlock / Quest: Those with the Inner Eye can see auras. Adepts can influence sword cuts from enemy to protect recipient, bend others to their will: take over people’s actions; evil ones can cause love to sour, cause miscarriage, plague, disease, madness and death, and erode the powers of others, cause inanimate objects to break. None of this happens in River God, Desert God or Pharaoh despite how useful to good and bad characters it would have been.

    2. Thanks. Really interesting. Are the characters themselves the same between both… time-rivers?

    3. In Desert God / Pharaoh, Taita continues to support Tamose and Egypt, as well as Lostris’ daughters Tehuti and Bekatha. Taita’s actions ultimately lead to the particular ending of the Hykos in ‘Pharaoh’.

      Taita communicates with gods in DG/P. Goddess Inana (=Artemis) tells him he is part god. He has little / no magic powers, apart from being a long-liver, relying on knowledge from distant lands and intelligence alone. He doesn’t perform the Mazes after River God. Physically he looks younger than he is. He has had sex before becoming a Eunuch. (Interestingly Desert God contains a section explaining that his memory of having had sex is removed by Inana. A shame as it’s a key part of his character.)

      In Warlock / Quest Taita becomes a hermit and withdraws from helping until needed by Nefer. It may be that in a more magic orientated world Taita was more likely to become a hermit: possibly to develop his powers or possibly to enhance his contact with Lostris.

      In W/Q, Taita has more godlike /magic powers himself, such as concealment and ‘overseeing’: talking to others at great distance. Unlike as specified in River God, he continues to perform the Amman Ra Mazes. Physically he looks old (until the events contained in Quest). He has not had sex before becoming a Eunuch.

      So Taita’s character develops along different pathes in Desert God / Pharaoh from Warlock / Quest.

      No account given in Warlock / Quest of Tehuti and Bekatha. Presumably they did not marry the men they married in Desert God / Pharaoh and did not have the same child.

      There is no Rameses from DG/P in W/Q. Conversely Nefer from W/Q is not in DG/P. Both are older trustworthy sons of Tamose considered worthy of Taita’s help. it is arguable that they are the same character with different names in each time-river.

  6. Many thanks for making that clear. So the order is:
    Main series
    1. River God
    2. The New Kingdom
    3. Desert God
    4. Pharaoh
    Reboot series
    1. Warlock
    2. Quest
    Present Day Final
    1. 7th Scroll

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