Ram - Scion of Ikshvaku by Amish Tripathi (Book Review: 3.75*/5) !!!

14th Book of 2020!

One of the first good news that excited people during the phase of lockdown was the announcement of re-telecast of Ramayan series on DD National. As I have already watched the series with great concentration in my childhood, I remember 90% of it and hence I thought rather than watching the same, it is a great time for me to read the three books written by Mr. Amish Tripathi in the Ram Chandra Series- there are more books to come in this series. The first book on Ram came in the year 2015 with the title “Scion of Ikshvaku”. I had not read it until now because I wanted to read when all the books are out as my memory is very weak and I have to re-read all the books once a new book in a series releases. But finally, it took me 3 days and I have completed the book.

Amish is the man who changed the whole literary scenario when he came up with Shiva Trilogy and taught all- publishers, writers and readers that a book based on mythology with a writer’s own version can do well even with the new generation. Post that there have been many books released by many young authors who wrote on the same topic which made it easier for me to analyse if Amish Tripathi has gone a level up with his new series.

Scion of Ikshvaku is the story based on Ramayan - the epic and this book majorly focuses on Ram and how he is a blamed prince and then goes on to become a leader people loved in his kingdom and then a law-abiding citizen who goes on for 14 years of exile just because he believed that something he did to protect citizens wasn’t the right approach. Author has taken a lot of liberty here and the kind of modifications done to the originality of Ramayan is surprising and shocking as well. Few things are surely going to make you smile and curious but few modifications surely disappoint you. The best part about the narration is that Amish has not boosted the speed of the book to make it sound fast-paced and action-oriented but kept it very light and simple. The narration goes very slowly for the readers to consume it with the same speed.

The characterizations are superb and not many characters are introduced just for the sake of making the story complex. Even those are mentioned in the start of the book which makes it easy for you to refer while reading. There are few characters whom I didn’t know about such as Manthara’s daughter- Roshni which has been introduced in the book which comes as an exciting element. Also, author knows how to make readers emotional as few scenes really makes you feel lump in your throat such as the scene when Ram first feels love for Sita, another where he ties sacred thread given by Sita etc. Another observation I had is that Amish doesn’t add “a” in the end of the character’s name and keep it as per our Indian tradition such as Ram (and not “Rama”), Lakshman (and not “Lakshmana”) etc.

Author has made great efforts in trying to make the story sound as contemporary as possible due to which there are references of Nirbhaya’s gangrape, how law is necessary for a region etc. It works sometimes whereas it doesn’t work at some places. You will also find references of Shiva trilogy and Mahabharata in this book. Amish has embedded a lot of his imagination and interpretation and therefore, if one needs to know the real Ramayana, this book is not the right one to pick up. Hence, I would always call this series as Amish’s Ramayan set for 21^st century.

Now talking about the drawbacks- I have already mentioned few loopholes above. Secondly, I felt that very less part of Ramayan has been covered even after 360 pages of story. This is definitely slow. Some originalities of the Ramayan are the base of it which I believe shouldn’t be touched at all- rest can be played with. There are very few philosophies discussed in this book whereas I was expecting more of them due to my impression of Shiva trilogy- another problem is - whatever discussed is repeated too often.

Overall, this is definitely One-time read which you shall love exploring when you wish to read something very light and even-paced. Amish Tripathi is an example for the new writers to understand balance of how much detailing and description needs to be made of any situation, character, scenario or nature. I give this book 3.75* out of 5.

Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA