Lately, there has been an influx of fictional novels centered around existing mythology strewn with historical facts. The Avatari, a debut novel by Raghu Srinivasan is written along the same lines. The story starts when Henry Ashton, a retired british officer receives a letter from a monk asking him to prevent a hidden treasure preserved in the mythical kingdom of Shambhala from being misused. Unsure of what to do, he decides to take up the quest on insistence of Duggy, his sergeant cum friend. While gathering the pre-essential knowledge of the subject, he meets Susan, an Oxford mathematician with strings attached to Shambhala. From there on, they start their journey towards Shambhala, assisted by Peter, an American mercenary on the CIA’s hit list.
The plot and the story is strong and the character sketches do justice to all the desired qualities expected by the reader. As the book starts , readers are taken into the realm of Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. The rich history of ancient kingdoms sprawling across China, Pakistan, Tibet , Europe and Afghanistan, the territorial expanse and keen detailing of kingdoms and their boundaries, would surely appeal to a history lover. Raghu’s portrayal of Kublai Khan’s wealth, his beautiful concubines, his royal demeanor succeeds in binding you to the novel. For example , while describing the festivities, the author writes – “The chess pieces were living human beings who had to pay with their lives when the moment came for one or the other to be removed from the board” – (at times, bringing to mind scenes from game of thrones ). Apart from that, he has added the required masala of love and romance to tickle your senses.
Raghu’s experience of working in the army is conspicuous in the novel when one reads about the Vietnam or Chilean war, excessive detailing of war equipments and strategies. But after the first half, book tends to become somewhat slow. The author tries so hard to weave an intricate and intelligent plot that he ends up complicating it. As the book proceeds, there are so many characters and agencies involved that their description leave you confused and one suddenly feels like jumping to climax, rather than soaking in slowly the heat of adventure. The narration in second half is so verbose that rather than bringing out the intended imagery, it leaves you irritated. But these are just some discrepancies.
The author scores high in effortlessly carving out the fiction and myths around the facts and the history. The Avatari is overall a good book. Do read it if history, myth and supernatural elements are your kind of stuff.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Lately, there has been an influx of fictional novels centered around existing mythology strewn with historical facts. The Avatari, a debut novel by Raghu Srinivasan is written along the same lines. The story starts when Henry Ashton, a retired british officer receives a letter from a monk asking him to prevent a hidden treasure preserved in the mythical kingdom of Shambhala from being misused. Unsure of what to do, he decides to take up the quest on insistence of Duggy, his sergeant cum friend. While gathering the pre-essential knowledge of the subject, he meets Susan, an Oxford mathematician with strings attached to Shambhala. From there on, they start their journey towards Shambhala, assisted by Peter, an American mercenary on the CIA’s hit list.
The plot and the story is strong and the character sketches do justice to all the desired qualities expected by the reader. As the book starts , readers are taken into the realm of Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan. The rich history of ancient kingdoms sprawling across China, Pakistan, Tibet , Europe and Afghanistan, the territorial expanse and keen detailing of kingdoms and their boundaries, would surely appeal to a history lover. Raghu’s portrayal of Kublai Khan’s wealth, his beautiful concubines, his royal demeanor succeeds in binding you to the novel. For example , while describing the festivities, the author writes – “The chess pieces were living human beings who had to pay with their lives when the moment came for one or the other to be removed from the board” – (at times, bringing to mind scenes from game of thrones ). Apart from that, he has added the required masala of love and romance to tickle your senses.
Raghu’s experience of working in the army is conspicuous in the novel when one reads about the Vietnam or Chilean war, excessive detailing of war equipments and strategies. But after the first half, book tends to become somewhat slow. The author tries so hard to weave an intricate and intelligent plot that he ends up complicating it. As the book proceeds, there are so many characters and agencies involved that their description leave you confused and one suddenly feels like jumping to climax, rather than soaking in slowly the heat of adventure. The narration in second half is so verbose that rather than bringing out the intended imagery, it leaves you irritated. But these are just some discrepancies.
The author scores high in effortlessly carving out the fiction and myths around the facts and the history. The Avatari is overall a good book. Do read it if history, myth and supernatural elements are your kind of stuff.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5