The Witch of Portobello .. By Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is one of the few writers who keeps surprising us with his amazing stories, not to mention his absolutely wonderful writing and different styles of narration in each of his books.

The Witch of Portobello is again a very mystical and psychological story about a mysterious gypsy girl with psychic powers who frees herself from conventions of the society and is killed in an attempt to bring her ideas of God being mother into this world. The story of her life is narrated in the form of interviews with different people who has known her throughout her life.

I had my doubts when I first started reading it because it felt a bit philosophical. However, I was quite literally surprised to find this book curiously unique and one of a kind. The story was very different and the thing that I liked most about this book was the interesting blend of mysticism and storytelling. 

I would most definitely recommend this book to the readers who are looking for some fresh story and has a taste for some philosophical musings.

Happy Reading!!!

The Mayan Prophecy # 1 .. By Steve Alten

This is the first book of the Mayan Trilogy created by Steve Alten based on the well-known prophecy of Mayan Calendar that tells us that the world was supposed to end on 21 Dec 2012.

Ironically, this book was published in 2001 and I read this book last year, long after the 2012-world-ending fuss was over. However, I still found this book intriguing and entertaining because it has a well-researched plot and the author captures the interest of the reader till the end.

The story is of an archeologist, Julius Gabrial, who uncovers startling discoveries about the Mayan Calendar, that is a 2500-year-old enigma, which predicts the end of humanity off the face of the earth.

He connects the dots between the meaning of the ancient sites placed by the Mayan people in various locations around the Globe, linked to the salvation of our species. These sites include the Stone Henge, the Egyptian Pyramids etc.

Only Julius's son, Michael Gabriel, can decipher this puzzle passed along by his father in the form of a journal. However, he is incapable of any action, as he is locked in an asylum where he has been wrongly incarcerated for the past eleven years. As the calendar is ticking down to the date of the winter solstice, Michael has only a few days left to stop the strange phenomena starting to appear all around the world.

Although the concept wasn't new, the story was quite fascinating with a combination of few facts and fiction. However, there were some loose ends to the story that seemed pretty far-fetched in my opinion. The story started with a doomsday fashion but went on to places I did not expect or particularly enjoy.

Overall, the book is worth reading and captivating, if you are looking for an interesting read with ancient mysteries related to Apocalypse of 2012, this is one of the books I would suggest.

Happy Reading!!!

Foundation .. By Issac Asimov

Another popular Science Fiction novel which won the Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series in 1966. This book is about the people living in a Galactic Empire and a mathematician among them, who studies psychohistory, predicts the doom of the entire Galaxy using psychoanalysis.

The novel contains several story lines starting from a planet called Trantor, the empire's capital, where Hari Seldon openly predicts that the Galactic Empire is about to crumble and requests the Foundation be established to create the Encyclopedia Galactica, which can greatly reduce the period of dark days to follow the collapse to as few as 1000 years and in turn, he and his mathematicians are sent to exile into a remote planet of the galaxy where they are allowed to document their scientific knowledge as encyclopedias.

Over the decades of its existence, the foundation, located in the Empire's periphery, enters a series of so-called Seldon crisis' and solutions. The solutions revolve around technology, religion, and trade and emphasizing the strategies not only that would be used in this far future, but also those techniques relied upon throughout human history to control lands and people.

To give you my review on this book, I would say that I did not like this book as much as I liked the concept of it. It was written in the 60s and I believe any science fiction written is bound to capture the interest of the readers during those times, however, I am not sure if this book should be read now when many such sci-fi novels have evolved during the last century or so and with much better concepts.

A bit dry for my taste, but please let me know your comments on this book below.

Happy Reading!!!

Catching Fire .. The Hunger Games # 2 .. By Suzanne Collins

Here comes the review of the second installment of this super action packed entertainment. The sequel to the first book, the Hunger Games, continues with the story of Katniss Everdeen, who was chosen as a contestant for the 74th deathly game played in the capital of Panem. After winning the game along with Peeta, she returns back to her home in District 12.

They start their victory tour across the country, where she realizes, she has inspired a rebellion and uprising against the capitol and President Snow in other poor districts because of her bold stunt during the game. To take revenge on her, President Snow announces that for the 75th Hunger Games, twenty-four victors from previous years will be forced to compete once again in an event known as "Quarter-Quell".

This book brings an interesting twist to the plot and much darker turn of events.

Don't want to give away the spoilers, so would just like to let you all know that I have absolutely enjoyed reading this book. With the subtle act of intelligent writing, Suzanne Collins has again bewitched us all to keep reading this innovative saga.

If you all want to know whether Katniss is going to outsmart the judges of the Hunger Games or is going to die in the process, please read this exhilarating book.

Will soon bring the review of the next and the last in line, Mockingjay.

Also, check out my review on the prequel to this book .. The Hunger Games.

Happy Reading!!!

The Beach .. By Alex Garland

This is a travel fiction book released in 1996 by an English writer Alex Garland. It is a genius creation in a very simplistic and straightforward first-hand narration of a lone traveler from England.

The narrator of the book is Richard, a young backpacker who gets a map at Bangkok from another traveler with directions to an uninhabited and inaccessible beach, located in the Gulf of Thailand. He sets off to find this beautiful and untouched location along with a French couple.

What comes next is an exciting and haunting surprise to the trio at their destination that I will not be revealing here. But I would like to add a bit more on how I personally feel about this book. It is an absolute vacation read with dark psychology and extraordinaire story.

I am not sure if I particularly liked the ending of this book as it turned out to be very abrupt, but all-in-all the book is terrific and I recommend this to each and every one of you.

It is also adapted as a movie, which I haven't watched yet, but got to know that Richard's character is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Also, the shooting of this film took place at Maya Bay in Ko Phi Phi Lee in Thailand, that I have already visited and so can tell that it indeed is a paradise location as mentioned in the book.

Go for this gripping tale of adventure in the lands of white sand and blue water.

Happy Reading!!!

Deception Point .. By Dan Brown

Please allow me to bring you the review of my favorite author's work and one of his masterpiece creation. I am truly enthralled by the way he captures his readers' attention right from the prologue itself and absolutely surprised why this story wasn't yet adapted as a movie.

Here goes the synopsis....

Trying to rally back from a series of embarrassing blunders that have jeopardized the US President's political career, NASA makes an astounding discovery: there is a meteor, embedded deep within the Arctic ice shelf. And it is not just any meteor. Inside the huge asteroid rock, which crashed into the earth in 1716, known to be the Jungersol Fall, contains fossils of giant bugs that gives proof of extraterrestrial life!!!!

Yet again, NASA's slipping reputation and the President's sudden rebound in the latest election campaign arises a new question: Is the Meteor real or fake?

Trying to determine the truth are NRO's Intelligence Agent, Rachel Sexton, who is the daughter of the Senator and Michael Tolland, famous Oceanographer and Corky Marlingson, a renowned Astrophysicist. Their doubts quickly make them the target of a mysterious death squad by unknown forces while the Nation is buzzing on the bewildering discovery and how that is going to impact the upcoming election.

It is indeed a rip-roaring page-turner action thriller that I love to read again and again. The rhythm of the book is so frantic and the plot of the essential conspiracy of Dan Brown's books for me is one of the best.

It's been ten years since I first read this book and after reading so many other novels after that, it is still on my top five list. Not only an entertaining 24-hour plot spin with audacious takeovers but uncover superb scientifically interesting information about space and technologies.

I am sure that most of the book-lovers have already perused this book at least once, if not then I am not sure what is stopping you guys?!

Watch this space for more on the author of the Da Vinci Code in my upcoming blogs and get ready for my takes on Professor Robert Langdon's series as well.

Happy Reading!!!

A Walk To Remember .. By Nicholas Sparks

I consider Nicholas Sparks among the best creators of romantic stories and this is one of my favorites. This book makes me happy and sad at the same time in ways I can't really explain. 

It is a short and tragic love story of a seventeen-year-old careless, rowdy and popular boy in school, Landon Carter, who falls in love with a plain-looking, unpopular devout Christian girl, Jamie Sullivan, daughter of a strict reverend. The girl who wears the same brown sweater and carries a bible around with her everywhere she goes. 

It all begins when Landon, being the school president feels a compulsion to bring a date at the school homecoming dance and had to reluctantly asks Jamie as all other girls are unavailable. Jamie agrees to go with him only on one condition - "Promise not to fall in love with me!"

Things start to move forward for them when Jamie asks Landon to participate in a school play and they start to develop a close friendship during the rehearsals and doing things that Jamie really likes. Like visiting the orphanage and collecting money for the poor children. And gradually even after promising her, he couldn't help but fall in love with her.

When Landon gathers the courage to tell her about his feelings, she melts down and tells him that she does not have long to live, as she is dying of Leukemia.

What follows is a heart-wrenching suffering of two seventeen-year-olds. One who is counting her last days and another who watches the painful few last breaths of his love until he makes her last dying wish come true.

I will admit, however, that the movie was much better than the novel itself as it has some more melodrama and few twists that show us an improved version of the plot. But I can't deny the fact that the story was undoubtedly a formula of romance punctuated by tragedy!


"She did tell him not to fall in love with her, didn't she?!"


****If anyone interested in reading the book, it is available here.



Happy Reading!!!

The Sum of All Men .. By David Farland

Before I share my review on this book, that is the first of the series of The Runelords, let me introduce you all to the world that David Farland has created in this novel. 

It is another fantasy set in an ancient landscape where people have the power to borrow or seize a number of endowments, like brawn, beauty, eyesight, metabolism, wisdom etc. from other people. The recipients of these attributes would have enhanced abilities of the endowments. However, the giver will have diminished power of that attribute.

The synopsis of the story goes like this....

Gaborn Orden, the next King of Mystarria is headed to the kingdom of Heredon to ask the lovely Princess Iome for her hand in marriage. Castle Sylvarresta, however, is under attack by the evil Raj Ahten, the Runelord of all Runelords. With thousands of endowments taken from other men and women, he is invincible and takes over Castle Sylvarresta without a single drop of blood being shed. Gaborn, who is endowed with the Gift of the Earth and deemed to be the future king, can see through this ruthless man. Gaborn is destined to defeat Raj Ahten and the secret to doing that lies in the power of earth that he possess himself.

The good thing about this book is that it has a totally different concept about "Endowments" that have never been heard or used in any other novels before and the mystical characters and creatures are well created and unique.

However, to tell you the truth, I was reading this book to get it over with as soon as possible, as I had no idea before I started reading this book that it would turn out to be a total Drag. Throughout the read, I had to encourage myself to go on because it is not in my habit to leave a book unread.

This book is very bad in my view and I think is because it was very poorly executed and the protagonists had weak characterization and dialogues.

I am not going to read the other parts of this book for sure.

Very Disappointing read!!

Empire of the Moghul .. # 6 .. Traitors in the Shadows .. By Alex Rutherford

Here comes the sixth and the final book review of the Empire of the Moghul series. It showcases the life and events of the time of the sixth Moghul Emperor, Aurangzeb and his continuous struggle to capture and rein Deccan, where he put a strong foothold, but unfortunately, couldn't hold it long enough, with Chattrapati Shivaji's constant attacks on his territories.

As per the book, Aurangzeb was a very ruthless ruler and a political and religious conservative and he chose not to follow his predecessors' liberal religious viewpoints. He largely suppressed other religions and also banned alcoholism, gambling, music etc. and also imposed Jizya on non-Muslims. 

Aurangzeb also led a very unsatisfactory life and karma bit him like anything. After imprisoning his father, Shah Jahan, and seizing the throne for himself, he not only lost the support and love of his family, he also became an unrelenting father to his sons, who opposed him on his views and instead supported Shivaji's son, Sambhaji and tried to overthrow him.

The various monuments that he tried to build were also not as fascinating as his predecessors' had been. For instance, the mausoleum that he built for his late wife, Dilras Banu was a poor imitation of Taj Mahal, but is still standing at Aurangabad, known as Bibi Ka Maqbara.

I found this book not as absorbing as other books of this series. Compared to Rutherford's previous novels, this felt very mediocre and a half-hearted attempt to conclude the series. Aurangzeb, the last talked about Moghul Emperor has been judged very critically in this book and his many achievements been shrouded in history.

From here, I too am concluding my reviews on this very interesting series, The Empire of the Moghul, reading which I gathered a tremendous amount of knowledge on Timur and Ghengiz Khan's descendants and took a ride back in history through all six elite generations of Moghuls from snowy mountains of Ferghana, Uzbekistan to the dusty plateaus of mighty Hindustan. It was one hell of a journey!

In case you missed my previous review on the books of this series, please check out the below links -

Raiders From the North

Brothers At War

Ruler of the World

The Tainted Throne

The Serpent's Tooth

Among these, The Tainted Throne is my personal favorite!

Happy Reading!!

The Book Thief ... By Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak is an Australian writer and wrote this book in 2005. This book was acclaimed as a significant success among readers across the world and my opinion is not any different.

It is, in fact, a phenomenal read and is going to absorb your attention thoroughly. The first thing I would like to tell you is that the story is based on the period of World War II and the second interesting thing about it is that the narration of the story is given by "Death", who describes the anticipation of the wartime during which death and destruction is all one could think about. The last thing I would like to mention is, it is the story of a ten-year-old orphaned German girl named Liesel Meminger, who is adopted by a poor family during that period.

Liesel is a bright child and develops a passion for reading that her step-father, Hans constantly teaches and encourages her to do. In the midst of her destructive surroundings, her foster parents hide a Jewish man in the basement of their house, whom Liesel befriends and shares her stories with. She develops a habit of stealing books not only from the Mayor's house but also those that the Nazis are trying to destroy. The story continues with the description of the horrors that the country faced during the Nazi regime and how it takes a toll on Liesel's life and dreams. 

I absolutely loved this poignant novel with a unique story and eloquent narration that gives you the pleasures of reading English Literature. But for those who do not like reading fiction novels, especially the ones that is not fast-paced and easy-going and does not have a happy ending, I would recommend the movie by the same name because I believe that this story is worth reading or watching no matter what.

I would like to bring an end to my review on this book by quoting the profound words used by Death in this book that really provoked a great hatred for war in me, was - "I am haunted by humans".

Trust me when I say - This book is going to hit you like a Tsunami!

The Book Thief is available here. Please click on the link to read the e-book.

Happy Reading!!!

A Storm of Swords # 3.. Game of Thrones .. By George R.R. Martin

This book is third in the sequence of A Song of Ice and Fire series of Game of Thrones and for those of who have not yet started reading or watching this awesome series, I would say, are missing out on an extremely fantastic experience. Not to mention, when the tale has gotten even more interesting after the end of the last book Clash of the Kings.

Let me mention the major pointers of the plot and display few shots of the Game Of Thrones television series to add a spice of interest for you readers and highlight significant differences in the book and television versions of the plot. 

Please be aware that there is a SURPRISE factor for those who have watched the series and not read the books!!! 

• The story continues in the same pattern and picks up after the Battle of Blackwater Bay where Stannis Baratheon gets thwarted by the timely arrival of Tywin Lannister's forces into King's Landing. Davos Seaworth (Hand of Stannis Baratheon), blames the red priestess Melisandre, for Stannis's defeat and is imprisoned for this accusation. 

• In King's Landing, King Joffrey sets aside his betrothal to Sansa Stark in favor of Margaery Tyrell. Sansa, however, is forced to marry Tyrion Lannister (The Dwarf) to enable Lannister's control of the North. However, Tyrion shows a gentlemanly behavior and refuses to consummate the marriage against her will and treats her with respect, unlike Joffrey.

• Robb Stark marries Jayne Westerling, invalidating the promise to be wed to a daughter of Frey House and his mother Catelyn Stark releases Jamie Lannister in exchange for her daughters which she believes is still in captivity in King's Landing. She entrusts this job to Brienne of Tarth house to escort Jamie safely to King's Landing and to bring back her daughters.
• When Lord Tully (Catelyn Stark's father) dies, her brother Edmure becomes the Lord of Riverrun and Catelyn proposes a marriage between Edmure and Roslin Frey, to compensate the loss of Robb's marriage.  

**According to TV version Robb Stark married Telisa, a nurse, traveling among his army during the battle against Lannister forces.

• Arya Stark and her friends are captured by the Bolten forces and sent to Harrenhell from where she manages to escape with the help of Jaqen H'ghar (An Assassin of the Faceless Men from Braavos), who gives her a coin that will give her a free ship passage from Westeros to Braavos if she utters the word "Valar Margulis" to a Bravosi. After escaping she meets the Brotherhood Without Banners led by a Red Priest, Thoros of Myr and also encounters Sandor Clegane, the Hound, who abandoned Joffrey during the battle of Blackwater Bay and kidnaps Arya for ransom at Riverrun.

**In the television version, Arya serves Tywin Lannister as his ward, but in the book she serves Roose Bolten.

• Now this book illustrates in detail the horrific and infamous Red Wedding incident where Walder Frey and Roose Bolton betrays the Stark family and kills each one of them (except Edmure and Blackfish Tully) during the wedding dinner.

• Beyond the Wall, the Nightwatchers are attacked by the Whitewalkers. However, Samwell Tarly manages to kill one of them using a dragonglass and escape with the help of one of the Craster's wives, Gilly with her new-born baby, assisted by a strange man. ** Who I think is Benjen Stark (Not revealed in the book yet), brother of Eddard Stark and is believed to be dead beyond the wall. 
• Bran Stark, Hodor, Jojen and Meera Reed are guided north by Bran's dreams of a three-eyed raven and Sam helps them pass the wall and keeps Bran's survival secret even from his half-brother Jon Snow.

• Jon Snow convinces the wildling leader that he is a deserter of the Night's Watch in order to gain knowledge of their plans and climbs the wall with them and also falls in love with a wildling girl, Ygritte. However, he abandons her when he gets caught in a treason and rides back to Castle Black. The wildlings assault the Castle and the Wall; but Jon takes commands of the defenses and repels several assaults, during which Ygritte is slain.

• Across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen arrives in Pentos and asks the masters of the Slaver's Bay to buy an army of Unsullied (warrior-eunuchs) in exchange for one of her strongest dragons. However, after the final payment, she orders the Unsullied to turn on their former masters and frees all the slaves of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen. However, later she banishes her trusted advisor, Jorah Mormont for betraying her secrets and whereabouts to Varys, while she rules Meereen, where she is known as Misha (the Mother - Breaker of the Chains).
  
• In King's Landing, Joffrey is poisoned on the day of his wedding. Tyrion and Sansa are accused by Cersie for the murder and Tyrion is imprisoned and placed on trial, while Sansa escapes with the help of Lord Baelish (Littlefinger) to the Eyrie (her aunt's place).
• Tyrion Lannister demands a trial by combat and Prince Oberyn Martell, who volunteers to combat against Cersie's champion, Sir Gregor Clegane (known as the Mountain), is mercilessly killed by Clegane during the combat and Tyrion is condemned to death. However, he is freed by Jamie and Varys. 
• Tyrion kills his father, Tywin Lannister in revenge before fleeing Westeros.

Before concluding I would like to mention a very interesting fact from the book, that is not shown in the tele-series and is sure to create a lot of excitement for the fans beyond all possibility - Catelyn Stark is still alive!!

It turns out that she was mutilated after her death and thrown in the river, where the Brotherhood Without Banners, resurrected her by the magic of Lord of the Light. 

How exciting is that! 

However, she is decayed and mute now, because her throat was slit open when she was killed and she has become this cold lady who oversees the killing of two of the Freys present at the Red Wedding. She is now known as "Lady Stoneheart".

At the end of this book, Arya escapes from the wounded and dying Hound's captivity and finally aboard the ship to sail across the Narrow sea to the free city of Braavos.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know your own views on this series in the comment section of this blog or on my facebook page. Will bring the next book of this series review soon. 

Till then keep watching this BlogSpace for more.

Happy Reading!!!

The Naked Face .. By Sidney Sheldon

Let me present the very first novel of one of my favorite suspense thriller authors.

The book was released way back in 1970 and was later adapted as a movie in 1984. It is an awe-inspiring book with breathtaking twists in the plot and a page-turner mystery for sure, however, the ending could have been better as the crafting of the conclusion kind of drifted away after the suspense was revealed.

The story starts with the murder of a psychoanalyst, Dr. Judd Stevens' homosexual patient, followed by another horrific death of his clinic receptionist, leading to the realization that someone is actually trying to kill him. Two police agents, McGreavy and Frank Angeli treat him as a prime suspect, partly due to McGreavy's old personal grudge against Steven, because of his testimony in one of his previous cases that the suspect is mentally ill to go to jail. 

McGreavy does not believe that someone is trying very hard to kill Stevens and to prove his innocence to McGreavy and to gain the truth that he himself is not suffering from paranoid schizophrenia (Patient having delusions that someone are plotting to kill them), Stevens hire a private detective, who suggests him to closely study all his mental patients. This analysis leads to a psychological nail-biting thriller.

The most interesting part of the story is how a psychoanalyst's life gets entangled with and is affected by one of his patients and how he figures out which one.

I don't want to give away the ending, so I would conclude here and would suggest you all go and grab this enthralling novel written by the master of mystery.

Happy Reading!!!

A Tale of Two Cities .. By Charles Dickens

This book does not need a review, as it is a Classic! Yet I would like to share my views on this beautifully written story by Dickens that concentrates on the life of the people of Paris and London during the French aristocratic reins leading to the revolution.

It was the best-selling novels of all time and its popularity has remained steady ever since, as one of the best-loved works of Charles Dickens. 

The book is divided into three parts and I would like to reel off a very short summary of it:

Book 1 (Recalled To Life) -

“Recalled To Life” is a coded message given by a train passenger, Mr. Lorry to Lucie, daughter of Dr. Manette to let her know that her father is alive and has been released from Bastille (French Prison). Lorry takes her to her father, who is unable to recognize her but eventually does. She starts to take care of her father and bring him back to London.

========================================================================

Book 2 (The Golden Thread) -

During a trial in the British court, a French immigrant named Charles Darnay is tried for treason against the British Royal Crown, but the key witnesses fail to testify against him because Darnay’s attorney presents a doppelganger of Darnay in the court, Sydney Carton, due to which the testimony against him is discredited and he gets exonerated.

While in Paris, Darnay’s uncle, a much-hated aristocrat, Marquis St. Evrémonde accidently kills a peasant’s child by ordering his driver to recklessly drive his carriage and abuses the peasant by throwing a coin as a compensation towards him. However, the Marquis gets killed in his sleep by the same peasant.

In London, Darnay and Carton both fall in love with Lucie. However, Darnay gets to marry her. On the morning of the marriage, Darnay reveals his real name and family lineage (Relation to the Aristocratic Evrémonde’s family) to Dr. Manette, for whom this is an extremely shocking news, for reasons he does not reveal to his daughter.

After few years, when Lucie and Darnay are happily settled and raising a daughter in London, the storming of Bastille takes place in Paris and throughout the countryside, local officials and other representatives of the aristocracy are dragged from their homes to be killed. Darnay finds a letter from his uncle's servants who has been imprisoned by the revolutionaries, pleading for the Marquis to help secure his release. Without telling his family or revealing his position as the new Marquis, Darnay sets out for Paris.

========================================================================

Book 3 (The Track of a Storm) -

In Paris, Darnay gets arrested for being a French Aristrocrat. 

After few years, Darnay is tried in the presence of his family, who arrives in Paris. Even after Dr. Manette, who is viewed as a hero for his imprisonment in the Bastille, testifies on Darnay's behalf at his trial, he gets arrested again under new charges brought in front of the court, that is the written account of Dr. Manette’s imprisonment at the hands of Darnay's father, which was hidden in his cell and was found while the storming of the Bastille.

The written account of Dr. Manette contains a tragic story of the horrific acts conducted by the Evrémonde brothers and describes how they imprisoned Dr. Manette after he refused their offer of a bribe to keep quiet of what he witnessed. 

Dr. Manette is horrified, but he is not allowed to retract his statement. Darnay is sentenced to be guillotined the next day. However the story concludes, when Sydney Carton sets up a plan to save Darnay and his family by impersonating him in the prison and sacrificing himself in place of Darnay and helping Lucie, whom he truly loved and her family to safely pass out of the country.

========================================================================

In my opinion, it is one of the greatest classics of English literature and I love this story since I first read it and the way he portrayed the barbarism and perverted law of the French Revolution will always stick with me. Every person in the story had a purpose, and Dickens brings it all together beautifully. 

The mention of this book cannot go without Dicken’s famous opening passage that truly describes the drama and the atrocities that the French Revolution brings:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

                                                                              -Charles Dickens

Happy Reading !!!

Empire of the Moghul # 5 .. The Serpent’s Tooth .. By Alex Rutherford

This is the fifth published version of the Empire of the Moghul sequel and very significant as well because this one features the evergreen era that gave us the symbol of love and loss and wonderment that till date is still the most beautiful monument in the world to look upon. I am of course talking about, the lovable tribute given by the emperor Shah Jahan to his dearest wife - “Taj Mahal”.

As soon as Shah Jahan succeeded as the fifth Moghul Emperor, he started basking in the glory of all the luxuries of his kingdom and happiness of the secured position of his rule, without his half-brothers to fight against him for the throne and his entire family and most importantly his beautiful and caring wife, Mumtaz Mahal, together with him. 

He ordered to make the most beautiful peacock throne for himself for which he himself selected and weighed the most precious gems from his treasure vault. He also was a very generous ruler and tried his best to widen his empire as much as possible. 

But he was also the most unfortunate of all!

Soon after gaining the kingdom, he set forth to capture Deccan from the Maratha rulers and as always his loving wife adamantly refused to be left behind in Agra and ventured with him to stay in the so-called ill-omened fort of Burhanpur while he tries to gain the South-Western Province. However, everything sort of fell apart for Shah Jahan after reaching Burhanpur. The great famine hit India during that time. Not only did his entire kingdom suffer because of lack of food and water. His wife died, giving birth to their daughter Gauharara. After which, he lost interest to all the things that once mattered to him the most, even his children.

He only cared for creating the greatest resting place for his wife, whose last wishes were to be laid to rest under the most beautiful tomb ever constructed in the history of mankind. For which he appointed a Persian, Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, as the architect and spent lavishly on the construction of Taj Mahal, which took almost 20 years to get completed, during which time, he himself oversaw the designing of this white marvelous beauty, that till date stands on the banks of Yamuna as a testimony of the Emperor’s love for his wife.

This book also tells us, how after years of trying to hold his life back together, Shah Jahan sort of drifted apart from his children, especially the younger ones. Sensing that he is finally losing his touch, they rebelled against each other for the throne. 

Aurangzeb, the most ambitious of all took over the kingdom, imprisoning his father and declaring himself the sixth Moghul Emperor, whilst his father lived.

It was kind of depressing to read this book because the story of Shah Jahan made me really sad, as to how, disliked by his step-mother, he had to wander around as a nomad while trying to win his father’s affection back. Then when finally he thought that life is kind of stable, he lost his wife, afterward, he lost the closeness with his children as well and finally his throne and then his life.

The narration was, however, no doubt, superb and captivating. 

With this let me bring you very soon, the finale book of this series, “Traitors in the Shadows”.

Till then, Happy Reading!!!