The recent blend of Indian authors writing
in English has seen a new hero- the 36 year old Amish Tripathi, a guy
in financial services turned full time writer now. Amish’s debut novel
“The Immortals of Meluha” went on to become an overnight national
bestseller and has propelled the author into instant stardom. The
Immortals of Meluha was a part of a three book series called the Shiva
Trilogy, based on the life of the Hindu deity Shiva. Recently the second
book in that series was released, “The Secret of the Nagas”. Like his
first book, this book too has become an instant hit with pre-release
sales, nearing that of almost the amount of first printing. There can be
no doubt that Amish Tripathi is here to stay and that too in style.
The Trilogy is based on the presumption
that every God was at first human and it was by their varied acts of
kindness and bravery that they were transformed into Gods above mere
mortals. Amish is transfixed with Shiva, and his books lie on the
premise that Shiva was a human of extraordinary talent and genius. The
books therefore trace his journey through the then Indus Valley
civilization in serach of evil and in turn destroying it. The first
installment of the series showed how Shiva helped one great nation
thwart another nation by his sheer dominance and skill. The second book,
now carries on with Shiva’s journey through the lenghth and breadth of
India in search of the dreaded group of people called “Nagas” who lived
in the south of India having been banished from the northern parts for
their outwardly cruel appearence. Shiva’s journey is not going to be
easy and in the path that he takes he will be forced to ally with known
enemies and bandits. Can he do what others before him has failed? Well,
of course he can or else why will he be a God. But would he find the
true evil or like his earlier attempt, this time too he was to be
fooled. This question lies in the core of the second installment.
The book traces a journey that takes the
reader in a swinging tale full of adventure. The battles or the romance
described in the book is almost beliavable and the technology described
for such an early part of the human history seems at times to be far
fetched. But still, Amish delivers yet another knocking punch of a book
and recreates the mystery and the magic that he did so eloquently with
his first book. “The Secret of the Nagas” at times seems a bit mild
compared to the earlier installment, maybe because Amish was censured by
some for the brash language that he uses at times. Still, the book
comes out as a fresh new perspective on what earlier used to be just
blind faith. Even if we don’t belive in the Shiva legend, we will
definitely enjoy Amish’s work. Indeed a first class novel penned by a
new author. Amish takes pains to eliminate the various misgivings in his
earlier book and succeds in most of them. Howver at times, the narrtion
seems to a bit too loose and borders on boredom. But their are twists
and turns all over the plot and Amish never lets the reader rests untill
he has been to the very end. The book ends with yet another twist in
the tale and we have now to wait for the third installment of the series
“The Oath of the Vayuputras” to know what finally happens.
This book is an amazing union of flair of
writing and an extraorinarily creative mind. What it creates in beyond
words and has become my instant favourite- both the author and his
books. I have deliberately not mentioned too much details about the
story line in the hope that the FE readers will be enticed to read the
book. I promise you it will be treat for you, just give it a shot.
Recommended reading for everyone who is bored with the puppy romantic
novels that has invaded the Indian market in recent days. Amish is any
day a far better choice than the so called revolutionary writer of
Indian writing in English- Mr. Chetan Bhagat. A perfect blend of amazing
literary skill and a shrewd sense of humour gives us a definite page
turner. It is almost a tradition to mention the reviewer’s favourite
lines from a book. I will now take the liberty to mention two of my
favourites from both the books in the trilogy. In “The Immortals of
Meluha” I am very fond of the line “Whether a man is a legend or not is
determined by history, not by fortune tellers.”, and in “The Secret of
the Nagas” Shiva mentions, “The opposite of love is not hate, its
apathy.” Those two lines have sealed Amish in my mind for maybe
eternity. What are you waiting for go grab the book as soon as possible!
Title: The Secret of the Nagas
Author: Amish
Publisher: Westland
Price: Rs. 295
ISBN: 978-93-80658-79-7
Rating: 4/5
[This review was published here.]
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