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mayurbahon's review against another edition
4.0
After Govinda, I searched a lot for the second part. At last I found it at Delhi Duty Free, of all places.
The book certainly lived upto the expectation set by the first part. Some parts, I read twice to actually understand what the philosophy was all about.
This book gives greater insights in to the characters lives. And as with the first book, it is fun to read the epic from a practical point of view. How some sideline characters are brought to the mainstream, eg Sanjaya.
But among all, one character that the author has done some serious injustice with is Vasusena (Karna). Among all the characters in the Mahabharata, his is one characters that inspires. For his only weakness was his friendship to Duryodhana.
But in the book, he is shown to be a dithering fool no better than Dushasan, though mightily skilled.
When even Duryodhan could turn to Syodhan, why this injustice to the mighty, benevolent Karna?
Otherwise a delightful read.
Now waiting to lay my hands on Kurukshetra.....
The book certainly lived upto the expectation set by the first part. Some parts, I read twice to actually understand what the philosophy was all about.
This book gives greater insights in to the characters lives. And as with the first book, it is fun to read the epic from a practical point of view. How some sideline characters are brought to the mainstream, eg Sanjaya.
But among all, one character that the author has done some serious injustice with is Vasusena (Karna). Among all the characters in the Mahabharata, his is one characters that inspires. For his only weakness was his friendship to Duryodhana.
But in the book, he is shown to be a dithering fool no better than Dushasan, though mightily skilled.
When even Duryodhan could turn to Syodhan, why this injustice to the mighty, benevolent Karna?
Otherwise a delightful read.
Now waiting to lay my hands on Kurukshetra.....
strategos's review against another edition
4.0
The story continues from where “Govinda” ended, but this time, the focus is more on the Kauravas, especially Syoddhan and Yudhistir. The characterization is once again fantastic, with none of the characters coming out like larger than life heroes that can do no wrong.
You can read the rest of the review here --> http://www.bookgeeks.in/entries/historical-fiction/aryavarta-chronicles-kaurava-udayasankar-bookreview
You can read the rest of the review here --> http://www.bookgeeks.in/entries/historical-fiction/aryavarta-chronicles-kaurava-udayasankar-bookreview
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
2.0
This is not a review per se, but do bear with me. I’ll be honest with you – it is extremely difficult to read this series. Not because it is a bad book but because it is incredibly complicated a storyline. The Mahabharata in itself is a labyrinthine maze of tales and when more and more of complexity is poured into the tale, it is like wading in quicksand. I do not exaggerate when I say that the storytelling in this one gave me an aching head trying to unravel the plots and subplots scattered all along it.
Chronologically, the tale starts after Yudhishtir’s coronation as the emperor and ends at the time when the Kurukshetra war is poised to begin. As in the earlier story, there are no divine beings in the tale and it is the story of an arms race between two clans and of the arms merchants who are in their midst making the best profits of them all. To the credit of the author, she manages to retell all the major plot points in the epic in her own way. She has also been able to weave a tale of how the trade of weapons and their making can completely overwhelm the minds of just and honest rulers. The characters in her story are not the classic characters of the epic but every single one of them are flawed heroes. They pursue their own ends and thereby leading the entire kingdom of Aryavarta to the brink of a deadly war.
My problem with this book and its predecessor lies with the rambling. The characters tend to go off on monologues that last pages at the drop of a hat. The last I remember, the only author to have made me feel so was Ayn Rand. They go on and on about varied topics like honor, war, justice, technology, reason and fairness for pages and pages. I skipped huge swathes of pages, passages and sometimes even chapters for this reason. From the mass of reviews about this book, it seems that most readers have enjoyed this but for me it served to disconnect me very quickly from the storytelling.
On to the last part of the trilogy. I still want to stick on and find out the treatment that will be meted out to the Kurukshetra war.
Chronologically, the tale starts after Yudhishtir’s coronation as the emperor and ends at the time when the Kurukshetra war is poised to begin. As in the earlier story, there are no divine beings in the tale and it is the story of an arms race between two clans and of the arms merchants who are in their midst making the best profits of them all. To the credit of the author, she manages to retell all the major plot points in the epic in her own way. She has also been able to weave a tale of how the trade of weapons and their making can completely overwhelm the minds of just and honest rulers. The characters in her story are not the classic characters of the epic but every single one of them are flawed heroes. They pursue their own ends and thereby leading the entire kingdom of Aryavarta to the brink of a deadly war.
My problem with this book and its predecessor lies with the rambling. The characters tend to go off on monologues that last pages at the drop of a hat. The last I remember, the only author to have made me feel so was Ayn Rand. They go on and on about varied topics like honor, war, justice, technology, reason and fairness for pages and pages. I skipped huge swathes of pages, passages and sometimes even chapters for this reason. From the mass of reviews about this book, it seems that most readers have enjoyed this but for me it served to disconnect me very quickly from the storytelling.
On to the last part of the trilogy. I still want to stick on and find out the treatment that will be meted out to the Kurukshetra war.
strategos's review against another edition
4.0
The story continues from where “Govinda” ended, but this time, the focus is more on the Kauravas, especially Syoddhan and Yudhistir. The characterization is once again fantastic, with none of the characters coming out like larger than life heroes that can do no wrong.
You can read the rest of the review here --> http://www.bookgeeks.in/entries/historical-fiction/aryavarta-chronicles-kaurava-udayasankar-bookreview
You can read the rest of the review here --> http://www.bookgeeks.in/entries/historical-fiction/aryavarta-chronicles-kaurava-udayasankar-bookreview
sahibooknerd's review against another edition
4.0
It’s been a while since I’ve felt invested and excited enough to binge read a fantasy trilogy, but that’s exactly what Govinda did to me. I couldn’t even imagine reading anything other than this sequel because I had to know what happens next. And I’m so happy that I did exactly that. This review might have some spoilers for the first book, so please be mindful of that before proceeding.
The magic that the author wove in Govinda is still present in this sequel, but she also manages to make this a bit more different in tone because of the ominous events that take place. While the first book had us moving across Aryavarta, the world here is expanded to include the desert lands of Matsya and I loved how it was described as a kingdom that strove to be prosperous despite its isolation from the empire for generations. The writing is as exciting as before, with so many more twists and turns and betrayals this time around and I just couldn’t put down the book. The story actually veers a lot more from the canon in this installment, but it’s very much organic to the author’s reimagining and I enjoyed these new turns. I guess the only disappointment was that there wasn’t much of action this time around, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get a lot more of that in the finale. There were also a lot more philosophical and existential discussions in the book, which were fascinating for the most part but could also jolt me out of the story if I wasn’t feeling them.
I particularly enjoyed how this book raises a lot of questions, that can even be relevant today if we give them deeper thought. There is a lot of discussion mainly on power, who gets to have the power and what responsibilities does it bring with it. What I found as a great parallel to our society is how the few who have had power for generations seem to consider it their right, and even the idea of power being redistributed across ordinary people is too much of a disruption and threat to their way of life. I also liked that the author included conversations on gender equality as well as class discrimination, a particular point hitting me hard - we should all be respected and should have the right to fairness and justice solely because we are human beings, and it should not be limited to only those who have a higher station in life. And I have to say, I’m very impressed that the author has setup the premise for the Kurukshetra war as a revolution against the system which has wronged the ordinary people and against the rulers who would do anything to preserve the status quo.
While the writing may have faltered a bit, the characters are as impressive as ever. I thought the shades of grey of both Dharma and Syoddhan are shown brilliantly. Dharma is particularly very infuriating because he believes in his self righteousness and destiny too much, and never actually takes blame for any of the wrongs that he commits. Syoddhan on the other hand is not a bad person, but is much more susceptible to the advice and ambitions of those around him, succumbing to their ideas despite probably knowing he is doing wrong. I really loved how the author flipped the script on these two major characters, showing them as utterly flawed human beings and not as black and white as popular fiction depicts. Shikhandin again gets a lot of depth and I admired him a lot for his bravery and convictions, even though he suffers a lot of personal tragedy, is never lauded for his courageous actions and branded as a traitor. Sanjaya is one who’s character is completely different from canon but it was fascinating to see him depicted as such a master manipulator, and he goes through so many emotions throughout the story and I found it interesting to watch him change and adapt.
Obviously the larger part of the story still revolves around Govinda and Panchali and I just loved the exploration of their relationship even more. They are two halves of a whole, like Narayana and Sri themselves, and there were so few scenes of them together but I just cherished reading them. Panchali suffers a lot throughout this book and while she almost wants to give up, she ultimately doesn’t because she is strong and fierce and will never stop standing up for herself and demanding justice. Govinda on the other hand is devastated seeing what happens to her, and the way his despair and complete hopelessness is described brought tears to my eyes. This is not how Lord Krishna is usually depicted - a person who gives up everything dear to him for the dream of a prosperous empire and when it all collapses, the person who is supposed to be the hope of all people becomes hopeless himself - I’ve never seen him shown this way before and I thought it was a brave and well done attempt by the author. But towards the end, the story brings these two formidable characters together again and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
While I may not have felt as in awe of this book as it’s predecessor, the characters are what make this series so amazing and I tip my hat off to the author’s extensive imagination. As I’ve said before, if you are interested in reading reinterpretations of the Mahabharata where there are no divine elements and are open to view the characters in new light, then you should definitely give this trilogy a try. You might just end up finding a new fantasy series and author.
The magic that the author wove in Govinda is still present in this sequel, but she also manages to make this a bit more different in tone because of the ominous events that take place. While the first book had us moving across Aryavarta, the world here is expanded to include the desert lands of Matsya and I loved how it was described as a kingdom that strove to be prosperous despite its isolation from the empire for generations. The writing is as exciting as before, with so many more twists and turns and betrayals this time around and I just couldn’t put down the book. The story actually veers a lot more from the canon in this installment, but it’s very much organic to the author’s reimagining and I enjoyed these new turns. I guess the only disappointment was that there wasn’t much of action this time around, but I’m pretty sure we’ll get a lot more of that in the finale. There were also a lot more philosophical and existential discussions in the book, which were fascinating for the most part but could also jolt me out of the story if I wasn’t feeling them.
I particularly enjoyed how this book raises a lot of questions, that can even be relevant today if we give them deeper thought. There is a lot of discussion mainly on power, who gets to have the power and what responsibilities does it bring with it. What I found as a great parallel to our society is how the few who have had power for generations seem to consider it their right, and even the idea of power being redistributed across ordinary people is too much of a disruption and threat to their way of life. I also liked that the author included conversations on gender equality as well as class discrimination, a particular point hitting me hard - we should all be respected and should have the right to fairness and justice solely because we are human beings, and it should not be limited to only those who have a higher station in life. And I have to say, I’m very impressed that the author has setup the premise for the Kurukshetra war as a revolution against the system which has wronged the ordinary people and against the rulers who would do anything to preserve the status quo.
While the writing may have faltered a bit, the characters are as impressive as ever. I thought the shades of grey of both Dharma and Syoddhan are shown brilliantly. Dharma is particularly very infuriating because he believes in his self righteousness and destiny too much, and never actually takes blame for any of the wrongs that he commits. Syoddhan on the other hand is not a bad person, but is much more susceptible to the advice and ambitions of those around him, succumbing to their ideas despite probably knowing he is doing wrong. I really loved how the author flipped the script on these two major characters, showing them as utterly flawed human beings and not as black and white as popular fiction depicts. Shikhandin again gets a lot of depth and I admired him a lot for his bravery and convictions, even though he suffers a lot of personal tragedy, is never lauded for his courageous actions and branded as a traitor. Sanjaya is one who’s character is completely different from canon but it was fascinating to see him depicted as such a master manipulator, and he goes through so many emotions throughout the story and I found it interesting to watch him change and adapt.
Obviously the larger part of the story still revolves around Govinda and Panchali and I just loved the exploration of their relationship even more. They are two halves of a whole, like Narayana and Sri themselves, and there were so few scenes of them together but I just cherished reading them. Panchali suffers a lot throughout this book and while she almost wants to give up, she ultimately doesn’t because she is strong and fierce and will never stop standing up for herself and demanding justice. Govinda on the other hand is devastated seeing what happens to her, and the way his despair and complete hopelessness is described brought tears to my eyes. This is not how Lord Krishna is usually depicted - a person who gives up everything dear to him for the dream of a prosperous empire and when it all collapses, the person who is supposed to be the hope of all people becomes hopeless himself - I’ve never seen him shown this way before and I thought it was a brave and well done attempt by the author. But towards the end, the story brings these two formidable characters together again and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
While I may not have felt as in awe of this book as it’s predecessor, the characters are what make this series so amazing and I tip my hat off to the author’s extensive imagination. As I’ve said before, if you are interested in reading reinterpretations of the Mahabharata where there are no divine elements and are open to view the characters in new light, then you should definitely give this trilogy a try. You might just end up finding a new fantasy series and author.
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