Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Oath of the Vayuputras by Amish Tripathi!!!



         
   This post will always remind me of my bad times. On the day of Mahashivratri, I picked up the first book of Shiva Trilogy- The Immortals of Meluha and completed it in two days. Then I picked up the second one- The Secret of the Nagas and completed it yet in another two days. Finally, I picked up the recently released on 28th February, the third and the last book of the trilogy- The Oath Of The Vayuputras and got stuck with it. Many things that should not have happened, happened with my life and mood. I picked it up on 19th March and completed it today on 11th April. I have never taken such a long period to read any book. And by experiencing this slow reading, I have decided that let any bad time come in my life, I will always read books with the same enthusiasm. :-) Let's come back on the book. Amish Tripathi has given his 100% to the last part of the trilogy and thus the book ended up in being the thickest of all the three books. :-) But he has given the perfect ending to the trilogy. He has not disappointed me. Though the The Immortals of Meluha still stays to be my favorite of all the three because it also had humor in it but still the whole trilogy is the best cake that you can ever experience in your town. I can easily claim that the name of the author and book are not over-hyped. It is getting what it deserves.

  SYNOPSIS:

The Oath of the Vayuputras is the final book of the Shiva Trilogy. In the earlier books of the trilogy, Shiva finds out that the Nagas are not his enemies and joins hands with them to reach the root of all evil. This book will have answers to ‘the Neelkanth’s’ questions about his fate, the choices he made previously and karma.

Further, in the concluding book of the trilogy, Shiva reaches Panchavati, the capital of Naga where he will come face to face with his greatest enemy. Will he win the battle over his wicked enemies, who are out to destroy him and his legacy?

The Oath of the Vayuputras will also reveal the reason of Shiva’s close friend Brahaspati’s disappearance and reappearance at the end of the second book, The Secret of the Nagas. Further the relationship between Daksha, the king of Meluha and the mysterious temple priests will also be exposed in this last part of the trilogy. Shiva seeks helps from the Vayuputras in the quest to conquer all evil.

The great warrior will encounter the real intentions of some characters he deemed to be close to him. Some new characters will add that extra vitality to the entire plot, especially Shiva’s greatest enemy whose name sends shivers down the spines of many great warriors.

An interesting journey of a warrior who is turned into a God by his followers because of his deeds and war against the evil, this book is sure to have its readers’ full attention. A good read which will make one reflect on their actions, this book like the two earlier books of the trilogy focuses on philosophy, religion and the never ending battle between the good and the evil.

     
       Coming to the author, Amish Tripathi has one good thing- he is clear with what he wants to convey. He is assured about his ideologies. He is crystal clear with each sentence that he writes. With all the three books, he has maintained a monotonous quality and that is the devotion towards the protagonist of the book- Lord Shiva. No doubt why this publisher- Westland has paid him an advance of 5 crore rupees for the next trilogy that he would be writing. The only complain that I have with him is the increasing cost of his books with each release. We know that as demand increases, the rate of the product also increases in direct proportion to it. But as youth should be the core target audience as they need to know about religion, myth, philosophy more than anyone else, the price of the book should be affordable to them. Amish Tripathi has earned 22 crore+ as an author. It would have sounded cool even if it would have been 10 crore +. Hence, my dear favorite author, please cut the cost of your book and keep it at the cost at which Meluha was when it released for the first time. 

              Coming to the review, the book starts with Shiva being informed about how Somras which everyone considers as the liquid of God is evil and not appropriate for consumption. Shiva then reacts to it and asks everyone to stop the usage. From here the story of this book begins. There are his own people who wants to use Somras and promote it even when they know that Shiva can destroy them. And as it's evident, the battle between Good and the Evil starts. The way Shiva turns against his own Meluha is shocking. Parvateshwar's execution's sentence scene is an emotional moment. Tara's whole scenario is also interesting. The way Daksha and his companions plan against Shiva are some furious moments for the readers in the book. :-) The involvement of Ganesh and Kartik in the story is as if two mini-Shiva are also added and hence it turns more charming. Later on, THE FINAL CALL chapter made me weep like hell. The chapters post-THE FINAL CALL are the USP of this book for me. The conclusion to the trilogy is made too appropriately to even describe it in words. How a human- Shiva turned into GOD is so perfectly narrated that I want to fall into the tale once again. 

             The only drawback that I would say is the slow progress of the book in the middle. Amish Tripathi has added many unwanted scenes and plots in the book. I felt many inclusions out of proportions. They could have been expelled. Another doubting element for me is the title of the book. Why the name- THE OATH OF THE VAYUPUTRAS? It wasn't the basic plot. Instead, THE EVIL OF THE SOMRAS would have worked better. Else, I don't think that there's anything which I would like to pinpoint. I give it 4/5 stars. And I recommend all of you to read all the three parts in one go when you get vacation or something. Reading this trilogy in breaks can confuse you. So please, whenever you read, be ready to get lost in this world that resides in our very own India, some 4000 years ago. :-) 
 Thanks.

  ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!! 

1 comments:

Mirza Ghalib said...

At nearly 600 pages, The Oath of the Vayuputras is a massive book. Yet it has a good flow, which enables readers to finish it quite soon. I do not wish to reveal too much of the plot (although some other reviewers have already done that here!), but as the blurb says, Shiva is preparing his forces to battle the Evil, and at one desperate point, turns to the tribe of the Vayuputras, who help him defeat the Evil.

It's the classic Good vs Evil tale, with the author trying to pack in as many details as possible about the (semi) fictional world he's created, and trying to fill in some of the gaps left by the previous two books.

There is "bloodshed", and a lot of it, and the chapters detailing the numerous battles are seemingly well written, with chapter number 45 being the best of them all. Do not expect any heavy twists though; in the end, this is quite ordinary fare. If you already know the tale of Lord Shiva, you won't be surprised at how the story progresses and ends. Even so, the book provides quite a satisfying experience.

All that said, there are more loopholes in Book 3 compared to the previous two books, and given its length, the plot gets a bit slow in some parts. Also, the writing is not entirely convincing, sometimes just skipping ahead of important conversations and scenes. Definitely read it, but do not expect a masterpiece!

And finally, I would like to request other reviewers not to include spoilers in their reviews! I was just looking at a few reviews on this page and was surprised to find too many spoilers; that takes out the fun out of reading the book.

About Me

My photo
Book Reviewer | Movie Reviewer | Bibliophile | Business Analyst