Pages: 223
Genre: Fiction
Read: May 2017
Rating: 5/10
To be honest when I first started this book I had no idea where this was going.
The story is of Ashwatthama – Dronacharya’s son. He fought on the losing side of the Kurukshetra – the epic battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The story begins after the battle is lost. Ashwatthama – one of the few survivors of the war has only revenge on his mind and will go to any extent to get it.
I admit I had to google Ashwathhama and his role in the Mahabharata. It had been so long and the details were foggy. To be honest, I initially had him confused with Sudama. Of course, doing this research isn’t really necessary. You find out who Ashwathhama is through the plot and story line.
Talking about plot and storyline, it was interesting. There were the appropriate plot twists and what I suppose were supposed to be *gasp* worthy moments. Alas, I didn’t. Gasp, that is. Was it because I’m generally intelligent or because it was actually pretty obvious? No one will ever know. 😉
A lot of the book concentrated on ‘educating’ us on what certain things were in the book like ‘tatva’ etc. I felt like a lot of it was not needed and even if it were, it didn’t have to be in such detail. Also, the book in parts was a little preachy.
However, what I really enjoyed about the book was my (re)discovery of how none of the characters in the Mahabharata were purely ‘black or white’. The Pandavas weren’t always good and the Kauravas weren’t always bad.
The writing of Aditya Iyengar was easy and breezy. I loved that the chapters were so small! It made me go through the book so much faster!
All in all, it wasn’t the most gripping or the best book I have ever read. But it wasn’t bad either.
Sant Reads 