Author: Amish
The first in the Shiva Trilogy, The Immortals of Meluha poses an interesting question - What if Lord Shiva was a mortal? - and answers it in one explosive mythology-laden plot.
Tired of the constant strife with the neighboring Pakratis, Shiva decides to migrate his tribe, the Gunas, to the empire of Meluha. There, he is introduced to the Suryavanshis and their advanced system of governance. The Meluhans' longevity concoction, Somras turns the immigrant Shiva's throat blue, bringing alive the prophecy that 'Neelkanth' (the blue-throated one), an outsider to Meluha, will wage a war to annihilate evil. Shiva does not believe the prophecy and is plagued by doubts about his role as the Neelkanth. Meanwhile, he falls madly in love with Princess Sati who is bound by a dictat called Vikarma that prohibits her interactions with him.
When a tribe called the Nagas carry out terrorist attacks in Meluha, the Suryavanshis deduce that the Chandravanshis, their enemies for centuries, are behind these attacks. It is time for war. Will Shiva set aside his misgivings about his role and step up to lead the Suryavanshis against the Chandravanshis?
The author seems to have (consciously?) employed an everyday voice for Shiva with casual colloquial references like 'What the devil...?' etc. Once you get past the careless language, it's a good read. There is fascinating trivia on phrases that are in common parlance as well as convincing deductions on certain historical facts. The book proves that speculative fiction need not necessarily be heavily literary.
But truth be told, I really wish Amish would brush up his writing skills before embarking on the next in the trilogy.
You can download and read the first chapter at the official site - http://shivatrilogy.com/book.html
1 comments:
An enjoyable read The Immortals of Meluha by Amish . loved the way you wrote it. I find your review very genuine and original, this book is going in by "to read" list.
Post a Comment