Vishal Shaw

This book is a perfect example of an author trying to cash in on the success of their previous work. Far from the standards that would be expected from someone like Amish, this book is essentially a watered down and uninspiring version of the his previous works, simply repackaged into a new cover. There is nothing new or exhilarating about it, neither in the story nor the way it was presented. Just to be clear, it's not an essentially bad book. It makes for a decent read if you have time with no options available. But when compared with the far superior and thought provoking Shiva Trilogy, this one falls way short of the expectations that readers would have from such an author. The way the story is presented, makes it unmistakably clear that you are reading an Amish book, yet that may be the reason why this book fails to deliver in the way the Shiva trilogy did, for this book tries too hard to emulate the same beats in those books, but ends up feeling like a rehashed ripoff, with essentially no new perspectives or fresh storytelling ploys to speak of. Besides, the book seems adamant on practically shoving themes of patriotism and mythology down our throats, as is evident from the overuse of words like 'Mother India', which upon repeated usage feels both clichéd and melodramatic, and not in a good way. Just to be clear, I am all for a book that speaks about unsung heroes from our past, but then there are far better books in that genre that I could choose from if that is what I wanted to go for. In this case its not even clear if the book is about history, myth, nationalism, action thriller or an epic. Perhaps it tries a too hard to be a little bit of all, but ends up being a mess instead. The primary reason one would choose this book is because its written by Amish Tripathi, which would lead the buyers to have certain expectations from it, given the amazing series penned by him in the Shiva trilogy. While it may not be fair, to compare all his work to that one series, it cannot be denied that the quality of those books is what propelled him to fame in the first place. So as a reader I would like to read something that would meet the same standards and quality of that trilogy, but without reusing the same tools and content, simply repackaging the old stories into a new cover and relying on marketing skills to put your books on our shelves.