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ponnu's review
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
‘If a woman is truly your equal, prince,’ she had said, ‘then there is no need to talk about it. The more you
spout these declarations and postulates, the more you reveal the truth of the matter – that in your world,
women are not equal to men, and so rhetoric to the contrary is required.’
This is one of my favourite quotes from the book.
spout these declarations and postulates, the more you reveal the truth of the matter – that in your world,
women are not equal to men, and so rhetoric to the contrary is required.’
This is one of my favourite quotes from the book.
damseldeebi's review
5.0
An epic... Appreciate the author for giving Mahabharata in a simpler yet with own underlying story of firstborn and fire wrights... Govinda!! loved it... Asvattama and Shikandin the best...
mayurbahon's review
5.0
I have been trying to get my hands on this book for a long time. Almost a year, in fact. But international copyright issues prevented me. But when I got to it at last, it turned out every day waiting was worth it. I consumed it in days. And during 10-hour workdays, that meant sleepless nights. So riveting and engrossing the plot is. A fitting end to the trilogy.
We have grown up hearing about the stories of the Mahabharata. Of Arjun's heroics, Yudhistira's honesty, Duryodhana's scheming and Krishna's benevolence. This book takes all of that and churns it, spins it and dishes out a completely different story from what we know. Correcting the above statement, it does keep the main storyline similar to the epic but situations are created, backstories told, which puts the final actions of the characters in perspective. Makes you see them in a new light. To spin a new story from a well-known one, the author has picked characters who the original epic only mentions skeletally, in their most glorious times. And given them flesh, a Shikhandin and Aswattama Bharadwaja are given important roles. Their heroism gets as much or sometimes more attention than even Partha's.
The battle scenes are definitely the hallmark. I felt a constriction in my heart when young, brave and courageous Abhimanyu falls, heroic till the end. But the book is much more than just a war chronicle. The war is given legitimacy by triumph of democratic values over the older system. This was very much required because the good-evil difference is completely torn down by the author. Neither is Syodhana an evil usurper, nor is Dharma the epitome of virtue. And in the centre of everything is Govinda Shauri.
Govinda's machinations bring the nation on the brink of war. But in the end, its the little push by Panchali that sends the combined forces of Aryavarta hurtling through to death and destruction. The democratic colours given to the struggle justify the participation of almost all major kingdoms in the war. Otherwise, why would anybody be interested in waging war for feuding princes of a family. That definitely requires more than just marriage alliances.
In the end, it was a wonderful read. Definitely worth the wait. Thank you Ms.Shankar. Will certainly be looking forward to more from you.
We have grown up hearing about the stories of the Mahabharata. Of Arjun's heroics, Yudhistira's honesty, Duryodhana's scheming and Krishna's benevolence. This book takes all of that and churns it, spins it and dishes out a completely different story from what we know. Correcting the above statement, it does keep the main storyline similar to the epic but situations are created, backstories told, which puts the final actions of the characters in perspective. Makes you see them in a new light. To spin a new story from a well-known one, the author has picked characters who the original epic only mentions skeletally, in their most glorious times. And given them flesh, a Shikhandin and Aswattama Bharadwaja are given important roles. Their heroism gets as much or sometimes more attention than even Partha's.
The battle scenes are definitely the hallmark. I felt a constriction in my heart when young, brave and courageous Abhimanyu falls, heroic till the end. But the book is much more than just a war chronicle. The war is given legitimacy by triumph of democratic values over the older system. This was very much required because the good-evil difference is completely torn down by the author. Neither is Syodhana an evil usurper, nor is Dharma the epitome of virtue. And in the centre of everything is Govinda Shauri.
Govinda's machinations bring the nation on the brink of war. But in the end, its the little push by Panchali that sends the combined forces of Aryavarta hurtling through to death and destruction. The democratic colours given to the struggle justify the participation of almost all major kingdoms in the war. Otherwise, why would anybody be interested in waging war for feuding princes of a family. That definitely requires more than just marriage alliances.
In the end, it was a wonderful read. Definitely worth the wait. Thank you Ms.Shankar. Will certainly be looking forward to more from you.
tbr_the_unconquered's review against another edition
1.0
18 days was what it took to redraw the entire landscape of ancient India according to Mahabharata. A never before seen danse macabre was played out on the killing fields of Kurukshetra and the world was never the same again. These 18 days have inspired countless artists and writers over the ages and provided fuel for their creative fires. In the discourse of the Gita before the war, Krishna tells Arjuna : Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. 18 days later you realize how much of foresight Krishna would had while telling the Pandava prince these words.
Reflect a bit on the Kurukshetra war and look beyond the grandiloquent images, action and larger-than-life characters while beneath all this lies a war fought in the name of three of the most sought after things : power, real estate and a woman. A series of incidents centred around these three escalated to finally result in a cataclysmic war that left the survivors with ashes in their mouth. In the third and concluding part of her series, Krishna Udayasankar attempts her hand at recreating the Kurukshetra war and its aftermath. To me this was amusing in a lesser measure and frustrating in greater part.
The best parts first : Udayasankar’s Aryavarta chronicles capture the characters of the Mahabharata with a great degree of complexity. Over the last three books she has laid down the groundwork for the characters and their intentions which all comes to a finale here. While it does not capture all of the wide range of emotions these characters carry, these books do not have a blue eyed gaze at the Pandavas, the Kauravas or the other supporting characters. They are portrayed as men and women of flesh and blood and not as gods and demi-gods. The third book is also relatively the best of the series in terms of the language employed. Udayasankar writes in language which is neither too archaic nor too hip although she has the habit of overwriting at certain points which does more harm than good. This is all that I could think of.
If there is one thing that pissed me off about this series, then it is the rambling. In the midst of action, the characters begin talking about moral, philosophical and strategic nuances which can sometimes extend for three or more pages at a stretch. The funny thing is that once they come back from the conversation, the earlier thread is nowhere to be seen. Long and pointless conversations on the aspects of right and wrong only served to confuse me further and served no other purpose. Next, in a book that is about the granddaddy of all epic wars the reader expects a heavy focus on how the war was fought. What I got instead was the author skipping over a lot of topics, conveniently explaining off others and in general only serving a half plate of the offering. For instance, the first seven days of the war with Bhishma as the general are only hinted at until the time Shikhandi faces off with the aging patriarch and the times of Drona’s generalship also fares no better in terms of the storytelling. The death of some of the key characters are only in the background, the most notable being the deaths of Drona and Dushasana. You only hear that they died and Udayasankar declines from giving us too many details of how it happened. Then there is also the deus ex machina : firewright technology. The weapons employed during the war would have made a mere mortal wonder if they were of divine origin with the effects they produced. This throws a challenge at the storyteller on how they want to explain the weapons. Udayasankar takes the easier way out and has a wishy-washy logic way by saying "because…firewright technology !" which in no way is satisfactory.
Also, while the characters are complex enough their outlook on life and their mind-sets speak differently. None of the characters here have a mind-set that stems from the Vedic period. They all talk and think like individuals of the 20th century. The external appearances of the characters are all in place but their core doesn’t lie in the right place or the right time. Also, the Mahabharata has a lot of focus on three women : Kunti, Panchali and Gandhari who act as the loci from which the entire forest of stories spread out. In Udayasankar’s narrative there is only Draupadi and the others are mere shadows.
As a series, I feel dissatisfied with this one. The insanely long ramblings and the manifold diversions have driven me to the wall here.
Not recommended.
Reflect a bit on the Kurukshetra war and look beyond the grandiloquent images, action and larger-than-life characters while beneath all this lies a war fought in the name of three of the most sought after things : power, real estate and a woman. A series of incidents centred around these three escalated to finally result in a cataclysmic war that left the survivors with ashes in their mouth. In the third and concluding part of her series, Krishna Udayasankar attempts her hand at recreating the Kurukshetra war and its aftermath. To me this was amusing in a lesser measure and frustrating in greater part.
The best parts first : Udayasankar’s Aryavarta chronicles capture the characters of the Mahabharata with a great degree of complexity. Over the last three books she has laid down the groundwork for the characters and their intentions which all comes to a finale here. While it does not capture all of the wide range of emotions these characters carry, these books do not have a blue eyed gaze at the Pandavas, the Kauravas or the other supporting characters. They are portrayed as men and women of flesh and blood and not as gods and demi-gods. The third book is also relatively the best of the series in terms of the language employed. Udayasankar writes in language which is neither too archaic nor too hip although she has the habit of overwriting at certain points which does more harm than good. This is all that I could think of.
If there is one thing that pissed me off about this series, then it is the rambling. In the midst of action, the characters begin talking about moral, philosophical and strategic nuances which can sometimes extend for three or more pages at a stretch. The funny thing is that once they come back from the conversation, the earlier thread is nowhere to be seen. Long and pointless conversations on the aspects of right and wrong only served to confuse me further and served no other purpose. Next, in a book that is about the granddaddy of all epic wars the reader expects a heavy focus on how the war was fought. What I got instead was the author skipping over a lot of topics, conveniently explaining off others and in general only serving a half plate of the offering. For instance, the first seven days of the war with Bhishma as the general are only hinted at until the time Shikhandi faces off with the aging patriarch and the times of Drona’s generalship also fares no better in terms of the storytelling. The death of some of the key characters are only in the background, the most notable being the deaths of Drona and Dushasana. You only hear that they died and Udayasankar declines from giving us too many details of how it happened. Then there is also the deus ex machina : firewright technology. The weapons employed during the war would have made a mere mortal wonder if they were of divine origin with the effects they produced. This throws a challenge at the storyteller on how they want to explain the weapons. Udayasankar takes the easier way out and has a wishy-washy logic way by saying "because…firewright technology !" which in no way is satisfactory.
Also, while the characters are complex enough their outlook on life and their mind-sets speak differently. None of the characters here have a mind-set that stems from the Vedic period. They all talk and think like individuals of the 20th century. The external appearances of the characters are all in place but their core doesn’t lie in the right place or the right time. Also, the Mahabharata has a lot of focus on three women : Kunti, Panchali and Gandhari who act as the loci from which the entire forest of stories spread out. In Udayasankar’s narrative there is only Draupadi and the others are mere shadows.
As a series, I feel dissatisfied with this one. The insanely long ramblings and the manifold diversions have driven me to the wall here.
Not recommended.
sahibooknerd's review
4.0
I’m mostly torn between a 3.5 or a 4, so I’ll round up.
Finally the saga comes to an end. I have to preface this review by saying that I’m not as much in awe of this finale as I was of the first book, but it’s still a good ending. It’s just that maybe I was expecting too much from it, so it left me a bit dissatisfied.
The writing of the author continues to be enchanting and thrilling, keeping me hooked to the story, never wanting to let go. Obviously as per the title of the finale, I was very interested to know how the author would describe the Kurukshetra war and while whatever was shown was magnificent and gritty and gory, I was also disappointed by what was left out. It’s not easy to condense eighteen days of this epic battle into one part of the book, but I didn’t particularly like that there was nothing of the first seven days at all. Some other important duels or deaths also happened off page, which was pretty shocking to me. In the original Mahabharata, the warriors on both sides fight with daivi astras, and while the point of this whole trilogy was to strip the epic of its divinity and attribute all the advancements to science and technology - I think it became a bit difficult to stick to that premise during the war sequences and some of the astras used felt unrealistic. And even though I can’t pinpoint exactly, there were some threads and plot points that were left open without any resolution and I didn’t expect that. But on the whole, I think the author did a formidable job bringing the war to life, and especially showing us the devastation and carnage it resulted in.
As this is the book where we would get some version of the Bhagavad Gita, I was very eagerly waiting for those chapters. I will not say I understood everything, but it was short and very compelling to hear the words of Govinda to Partha. There are also many many discussions about destiny, reason and compassion, and how these three are just different ways in which the world can run. However, the number of times these discussions took place was a lot in this book, and I can’t say it was all easy to grasp. I still completely bought into Govinda’s complete belief in humanity and its incessant capacity to use knowledge to prosper; and also his surety that a system that fails to protect those its meant to, deserves to be destroyed. But what left me a bit disconcerted towards the end was that I couldn’t really fathom if Govinda’s dream became a reality. And maybe that’s the main source of dissatisfaction with this finale.
The characters continue to be the strength of this series. It is so fascinating to see all these legendary people in a frail human light, with all their flaws. Especially Dharma, whose belief in destiny never wavered despite innumerable horrors happening around him, or the fact that it was the common people who were fighting for their rights on his side. At the end, I truly came to question if he deserved to be on the throne, even if it was as a representative of the people. Panchali and Govinda continue to be amazing and formidable beings they are, fighting the system and wanting a better future for humanity. Almost everything else played out as expected, but I can’t help but appreciate the author for giving Shikhandin such an important piece in this story. After everything that happened, I think he was the most admirable for me - the brave and consummate warrior who fought for the common people and what was right. Even though I was very upset during Abhimanyu’s horrifying death scene, it was actually the final scene between the closest friends Shikhandin and Asvatthama that brought tears to my eyes. I will always remember this trilogy for letting to me get to know these unlikely and forgotten heroes.
Towards the end, I have to say that reading this trilogy has been an experience that I won’t soon forget. It has wowed me and impressed me and brought tears and joy and so much more. It is not without its flaws, but a Mahabharata reimagining is an ambitious task and I commend the author for attempting it and doing a good job. As I’ve been saying since I began this journey, if you are okay with a riveting reimagination of the epic which digresses a lot from the canon but still manages to capture its core essence, then you should definitely give this trilogy a try.
Finally the saga comes to an end. I have to preface this review by saying that I’m not as much in awe of this finale as I was of the first book, but it’s still a good ending. It’s just that maybe I was expecting too much from it, so it left me a bit dissatisfied.
The writing of the author continues to be enchanting and thrilling, keeping me hooked to the story, never wanting to let go. Obviously as per the title of the finale, I was very interested to know how the author would describe the Kurukshetra war and while whatever was shown was magnificent and gritty and gory, I was also disappointed by what was left out. It’s not easy to condense eighteen days of this epic battle into one part of the book, but I didn’t particularly like that there was nothing of the first seven days at all. Some other important duels or deaths also happened off page, which was pretty shocking to me. In the original Mahabharata, the warriors on both sides fight with daivi astras, and while the point of this whole trilogy was to strip the epic of its divinity and attribute all the advancements to science and technology - I think it became a bit difficult to stick to that premise during the war sequences and some of the astras used felt unrealistic. And even though I can’t pinpoint exactly, there were some threads and plot points that were left open without any resolution and I didn’t expect that. But on the whole, I think the author did a formidable job bringing the war to life, and especially showing us the devastation and carnage it resulted in.
As this is the book where we would get some version of the Bhagavad Gita, I was very eagerly waiting for those chapters. I will not say I understood everything, but it was short and very compelling to hear the words of Govinda to Partha. There are also many many discussions about destiny, reason and compassion, and how these three are just different ways in which the world can run. However, the number of times these discussions took place was a lot in this book, and I can’t say it was all easy to grasp. I still completely bought into Govinda’s complete belief in humanity and its incessant capacity to use knowledge to prosper; and also his surety that a system that fails to protect those its meant to, deserves to be destroyed. But what left me a bit disconcerted towards the end was that I couldn’t really fathom if Govinda’s dream became a reality. And maybe that’s the main source of dissatisfaction with this finale.
The characters continue to be the strength of this series. It is so fascinating to see all these legendary people in a frail human light, with all their flaws. Especially Dharma, whose belief in destiny never wavered despite innumerable horrors happening around him, or the fact that it was the common people who were fighting for their rights on his side. At the end, I truly came to question if he deserved to be on the throne, even if it was as a representative of the people. Panchali and Govinda continue to be amazing and formidable beings they are, fighting the system and wanting a better future for humanity. Almost everything else played out as expected, but I can’t help but appreciate the author for giving Shikhandin such an important piece in this story. After everything that happened, I think he was the most admirable for me - the brave and consummate warrior who fought for the common people and what was right. Even though I was very upset during Abhimanyu’s horrifying death scene, it was actually the final scene between the closest friends Shikhandin and Asvatthama that brought tears to my eyes. I will always remember this trilogy for letting to me get to know these unlikely and forgotten heroes.
Towards the end, I have to say that reading this trilogy has been an experience that I won’t soon forget. It has wowed me and impressed me and brought tears and joy and so much more. It is not without its flaws, but a Mahabharata reimagining is an ambitious task and I commend the author for attempting it and doing a good job. As I’ve been saying since I began this journey, if you are okay with a riveting reimagination of the epic which digresses a lot from the canon but still manages to capture its core essence, then you should definitely give this trilogy a try.
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