The Guardians of the Halahala
Source: http://img6a.flixcart.com/image/book/3/8/2/the-guardians-of-the-halahala-original-imaefctgqaazuhza.jpeg
After the exciting thriller ‘The Karachi Deception’, Shatrujeet Nath is back with a completely different genre in the first book of his King Vikramaditya trilogy. From thriller to mythology, that’s quite a big shift in terms of genres, isn’t it? Does it work? Let’s check it out.
The blurb goes like this:
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 honor 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.
The cover page with the dagger is quite brilliantly done. It gives a sneak peak into what to expect in the novel. Jaico Publishing, a renowned name in the publishing industry have done a good job in terms of the quality of the paper and the font of the text.
I am generally not a fan of mythological fantasies, but Shatrujeet had me hooked from the start. The different characters from Vikramaditya and his councillors to Lord Shiva are given a modern touch with some liberties taken in as is generally in case with mythological thrillers.
Shatrujeet has woven quite a fast paced thriller with the backdrop as Hindu mythology. King Vikramaditya (the human king) and his trials and tribulations in safeguarding the Halahala from the asuras and devas is depicted quite beautifully.
The character names, the description of the surroundings – Ujjayini, Devaloka, Patala, Marusthali, the feelings of the individuals during those ancient times are so brilliantly depicted that as a reader you time travel to that era.
A lot many mythological thrillers have come out in the Indian literary world in the last couple of years. But this one surely raises the bar among Indian writers.
Go for it!
Rating – 4.5/5
Linking to NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month – May – My post no 4 for this month.
Leave a Reply