Ever since I read "The Immortal of Meluha", I became huge fan of the alternate history or mythology genre. Half of my wishlist books are filled with this genre. The Guardians of the Halahala was in my wishlist for more than a year. I got my hands on the book few weeks back. And I considered myself lucky that I got author signed copy.
Indian mythological literature is pretty rich and deep. During our college times we used to think why Indian authors were not recreating those stories. Soon a trend of alternate history-mythology stories started. Today we find more than 300 books in the genre. But one has to put enough effort to leave an impact on readers. By combining stories of 'Samudra-Manthan' and Vikramaditya, Shatrujeet has created mind-boggling epic 'The Vikramaditya Veerghatha'.
Book blurb
The deadly Halahala, the all-devouring poison churned from the depths of the White Lake by the devas and asuras, was swallowed by Shiva to save the universe from extinction.
But was the Halahala truly destroyed?
A small portion still remains – a weapon powerful enough to guarantee victory to whoever possesses it. And both asuras and devas, locked in battle for supremacy, will stop at nothing to claim it.
As the forces of Devaloka and Patala, led by Indra and Shukracharya, plot to possess the Halahala, Shiva turns to mankind to guard it from their murderous clutches. It is now up to Samrat Vikramaditya and his Council of Nine to quell the supernatural hordes – and prevent the universe from tumbling into chaos!
A sweeping tale of honour and courage in the face of infinite danger, greed and deceit, The Guardians of the Halahala is a fantastical journey into a time of myth and legend.
Trilogy revolves around poison called Halahala. In this first part, the Lord Shiva himself has given responsibility of the Halahala sealed dagger to Vikramaditya. As task was assigned by omniscient himself, Vikramaditya, being the Samrat of the Bharatvarsha and the king of Avanti, considered the responsibility as illustriousness. Vikramaditya didn't know why Shiva chosen him and Shiva didn't reveal it to him. His counsel of Nine had wholeheartedly accepted their kings decision to protect dagger. Before accepting dagger, Shindhuvrata was having threat from barbaric Huna & Saka from the west. After accepting dagger, Maghadh became aggressive and started taking military actions in the east to increase their prowess. Avanti started getting attacks from Devas & Asuras. Counsellor of Avanti with their power and technology were able to counter those attacks, but the devastation brought by attacks had already taken heavy toll on Ujjaini, the capital of Avanti.
With heavy anticipation and few exciting revelation author finished the first part on high peak. It is not possible for someone who liked the first part to not check second one. Shatrujeet was able to match my expectations. It is a sure shot best read of this year in the mytho-action-thriller. I will dig into second part ASAP.
Talking about ratings:
- Cover - 4.5 / 5
- Characters - 4.5 / 5
- Storyline - 4 / 5 (Somewhat jumbled up, but not too complex to gauge story)
- Concept - 5 / 5 (Something new)
- Overall - 5 / 5
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment