A Must Read - Malhaar/मल्हार: Sangram Sindhu Gatha - Part 2

A must-read.

Almost one and a half hear back I have read and reviewed "Arthala" by Vivek Kumar. At that time I have read only 3-4 Hindi novels and I found writing of Vivek better than those books I have read. I was thoroughly impressed by the "Arthala" and its complete fantasy world. Today when I have finished the second book in "Sangram Sindu Gatha" - Malhar, I am confident that book can give good competition to Amish Tripathi Meluha's Hindi translation, as no other current Hindi books in this genre are competent enough. I would like to thank Vivek for providing review copy in exchange for an honest review, else I wouldn't have been aware of such a hidden gem. Those who didn't find Hindi novels as good as English must-see/check this book.

Book Blurb

‘मल्हार’ की कहानी ठीक वहीं से प्रारंभ होती है, जहाँ प्रथम भाग की समाप्ति हुई थी। दूसरा भाग असुर देश, मुंद्रा, सौराष्ट्र तथा ऊसर की रोमांचक यात्रा करते हुए आगे बढ़ता है, और कई नई घटनाओं के माध्यम से अर्थला के कल्पनातीत संसार को विस्तारित भी करता जाता है। संग्राम-सिंधु गाथा का यह खंड असुरों के व्यापार, उनकी राजनैतिक स्थिति और आगामी युद्ध में उनकी भूमिका के पीछे के कारणों पर प्रकाश डालेगा। अकल्पित युग की यात्रा जारी है|

The first part Arthala was finished with Vidhan and Dhananjaya successfully obtaining Kundala's from Danava nation (Santhar). From that point, the second part is resumed. Vidhan fainted on the border of Santhar near Danubans patch, from there they were rescued by mysterious Siddhidharak (Super Power). On returning to Arthala Dhananjaya started working on strategies to avoid a clash with Santhar. On the other hand, Dakshan new ruler of Santhar wanted to take control of Bharat Varsha, so he was also working in the line of his goals. These known characters of Arthala makes only 25% of the second part. In Malhar, completely new territory and relations were revealed. Malhar was the part of Kanji Pradesh controlled by Asura clan. Half of the book is written in and around characters that belonged to the Asura nation. This part shows the political and economic situation of the country. The kingdom was in turmoil. It shows how the trading community (mainly two groups) had handled the whole country indirectly. Along with that, this book has also revealed more "Siddhidharak" and created curiosity to know further. The book is finished in such a high tempo that I wish I had read when the next part will be with me.

Coming to writing style, when you are writing a series author has to cultivate multiple characters, plots, and subplots. Without which the series becomes dull. The first part was majorly dedicated to Vidhan but the second shows other important characters as well. There are more than 5-6 subplots and 7-8 important characters in series now. With these complexities, you have multiple fronts to guess what will happen next. 

Good points about the book

• Good narration style. Juggling between plots and characters was optimum
• Balanced suspense and thrill 
• Proper characterization of newly introduced characters
• The mix of super power, war & political fiction
• A light read for the general age group with easy to follow language usage.

Talking about ratings

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

Book can be found at Amazon & Flipkart

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads

Book Review - Arthla - Sangram Sindhu Gatha

I have received "Arthla - Sangram Sindhu Gatha" after a year of patience. Frankly speaking, I just waited to read some Hindi books from my favorite genre. Looking at cover or title I was not able to visualize what should be the story. Though blurb helped me trust the book and I tried it. Again blurb was also not exactly for this book. After reading the book I felt that blurb was written for the whole series.

Book Blurb

मिट्टी से घड़े बनाने वाले मनुष्य ने हजारों वर्षों में अपना भौतिक ज्ञान बढाकर उसी मिट्टी से यूरेनियम छानना भले ही सीख लिया हो, परन्तु उसके मानसिक विकास की अवस्था आज भी आदिकालीन है ।

काल कोई भी रहा हो - त्रेता, द्वापर या कलियुग । मनुष्य के सदगुण और दुर्गुण युगों से उसके व्यवहार को संचालित करते रहे हैं । यह गाथा किसी एक विशिष्ट नायक की नहीं, अपितु सभ्यता, संस्कृति, समाज, देश-काल, निर्माण तथा प्रलय को समेटे हुए एक सम्पूर्ण युग की है । वह युग, जिसमें देव, दानव, असुर एवं दैत्य जातियां अपने वर्चस्व पर थीं । यह वह युग था, जब देवास्त्रों और ब्रह्मास्त्रों की धमक से धरती कम्पित हुआ करती थी ।

शक्ति प्रदर्शन, भोग के उपकरणों को बढ़ाने, नए संसाधनों पर अधिकार तथा सर्वोच्च बनने की होड़ ने देवों, असुरों तथा अन्य जातियों के मध्य ऐसे आर्थिक संघर्ष को जन्म दिया, जिसने सम्पूर्ण जंबूद्वीप को कई बार देवासुर-संग्राम की ओर ढकेला । परन्तु इस बार संग्राम-सिंधु की बारी थी । वह अति विनाशकारी महासंग्राम जो दस देवासुर-संग्रामों से भी अधिक विध्वंसक था ।

संग्राम-सिंधु गाथा का यह खंड देव, दानव, असुर तथा अन्य जातियों के इतिहास के साथ देवों की अलौकिक देवशक्ति के मूल आधार को उदघाटित करेगा ।

Coming to the story part, protagonist of our story is Vidhan. But I feel that Dhananjaya, Sattu, and Vasundhara would be contributing to equal footing incoming parts. The country was under pressure. Manavas (specially Arthala) is under hidden attacks from Danava, Daitya, and Asura. Their previous hero was killed and his legacy came upon Vidhan. Not ready for big scale events, Vidhan followed mighty hero Sinhnaad to Arthala. Life changed for Vidhan once he left his village in pursuit of answers.

I would like to applaud efforts of Vivek for building this plot. Though Indian mythology is rich, he had taken names of clans and prepared story based of his own. So to mythological book lovers, Arthala is not a re-telling Mahabharata or Ramayana or Vedic Stories. Only familiar words you will encounter are Dev, Danava, Asura, and Daitya. Vivek has even conceptualized country names. So in terms of originality, I will give 5 out of 5 to the author.

Talking about characterization, narration style is the third person. And when the story of a person starts you will feel that the current person as a protagonist (be it Sattu, Vasundhara or even Dazan) Fight scenes' narration were also good. Till now I haven't read this nicely written fight scenes in Hindi novels. Description of various places and palaces were apt. You can even visualize them. I have divided book in three part. The begining portion was somewhat slow and it needed slight efforts to continue. The second portion was still slow but started becoming entertaining. And last 120 pages were fast and interesting. Will eagerly wait for next part.

Ratings

1. Cover - 3/5
2. Concept - 4.5/5
3. Characters - 3.5/5
4. Overall - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon & Flipkart

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads