8 Reasons Why You Should Read Ashok & The Nine Unknown by Anshul Dupare

Yellow background and 9 faces on the cover made me check the book page when I got the mail. As if the cover was not enough the title "Ashok and The Nine Unknown" gave me confidence on the book further. I have more than 15 works (some independent and some series) on Ashoka. Half of them are around 9 mysterious knowledge holders. Majority of them are related to supernatural powers. I liked such a book, so I said yes for this book within a few minutes. Though I took around 2 months time to read the book & another month to finish the review, it was an awesome read. I feel that should have read it earlier.

Book Blurb

"You know what, the best revenge will be watching you failing to achieve your dreams. Do what you can, Ashok. The game has just begun!"

Ashok wandered amidst the corpses, helplessly, looking like a dead man walking among the dead. The wailing of people who had lost their loved ones on the battlefield cut into his soul and it was then that he heard a cry for help.

As realization of the devastation of war seeped in, Ashok decided to dedicate his life towards the betterment of society and try his best to prevent any destruction of life. Realizing he could not do so single-handedly, Ashok created a secret society comprising nine chosen members, who were known as the ‘Nine Unknown’, to help preserve knowledge that, in the wrong hands, could be used to destroy humanity.

Little did Ashok know that the safekeeping of such knowledge had a high price to it; that shadows walk amidst us and that sometimes our actions unspool unimaginable consequences.

The first of two volumes, this book has the power to transform your idea of reality!

Talking about the plot, the story started with the after-war scene of Kalinga. Amidst dead bodies, Ashoka realized what he had done for his ambition of becoming Chakravartin Samrat of whole Bharatvarsha. He knew he could not undo what was done, but he could try to avoid similar incidents in the future. So he took the help of his minister Radhagupta and created an order of 9 knowledgeable (which are unknown for the normal world). There were some sorcerers who wanted to obtain this information/ knowledge for a darker purpose. Read the book to know more.

Unlike the current trend, where authors create a treasure hunt kind of plot related to historic and/or mythological incidents, Anshul has created historical fiction. The book contains some part of dark magic and supernatural, which makes the story more interesting. Talking about my observations

• Awesome cover art
• Nice plot and conceptualization
• Good use of conspiracy theory
• Good characterization
• Liked linking of various steps Ashoka had taken after the war of Kalinga
• Medium to fast paced story
• Language level was medium. No issues for seasonal readers. Maybe challenging for English beginners
• Book finished at a high tempo, I will definitely wait for the sequel in the series.

All and all a good book, which can give you company for 2-3 days.

Ratings

1. Cover - 4.5/5
2. Concept - 4.25/5
3. Characters - 3.75/5
4. Overall - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon & Kindle

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads