River God

Why it’s on the list: Wilbur Smith’s Ancient Egypt novel, narrated by the slave Taita across a Hyksos invasion and an exodus up the Nile — the first of a sequence Kyle’s line explicitly extends to the sequels.

One card stands for the sequence: River God is followed by The Seventh Scroll, Warlock, The Quest, Desert God and Pharaoh.

Where I saw it: In the reply thread to @moseskagan’s question, “What historical fiction should I read next? (Bonus points for something involving building or trade, rather than violence)” (April 13, 2025) — a crowd-sourced list Kyle recovered by hand and saved to his Apple Note “Books To Read”; the full set of replies lives on What historical fiction should I… (tweet). It was listed there as “River God by Wilbur Smith and sequels”.

Connections

• Historical Fiction — The genre the thread was asking about.
• Africa — The setting.
• What historical fiction should I… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.