Review of "King of Kings" by Wilbur Smith - the forming of Ethiopia and the Italian colony Eritrea just after the Mahdi rebellion in Sudan

Wilbur Smith is Africa and explorers to me. I have read many of his books when I was young. So was happy to discover he is still alive and writing new ones.

This one is situated in Cairo and the hills of Ethiopia on the border with what now is Eritrea I think. As I am teaching Dutch to ladies from Eritrea I had an extra investment in getting to know a bit more of the history of their country (and to tell them I read the book).

It is like all mr Smith's books an entertaining read. Some of the characters were a bit bland. I mostly liked Penrod the VC recipient who has to redeem himself and find a more caring part of his personality.

I wished I could have read part 1 first though as that would have made the story more a complete tale. Now the sister Rebecca was a bit of an enigma to me.