The Rise of Sivagami by Anand NeelakantanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The author is a best selling author from Kerala state of India. Known for his previous super hits like Asura- The Tale of the Vanquished and Ajaya Series of books, he ventured into this ambitious prequel to recent historic Indian blockbuster movie “Bahubali” directed by SS Rajamouli of Andhra Pradesh. Known for his fiction writing skills, the author remains as the darling of epic fiction lovers of the country.
Storyline:
The story begins with the woes of the downtrodden in the mighty kingdom of Maahishmati, somewhere in the central part of India, near the Mahishi river, protected by their revered sacred mountain called Gauri Parvat. Sivagami, a young lady in her teens , whose father has been killed by the orders of the king for treason and treachery, is admitted into the royal orphanage, by her Uncle. She under immense pressure and vengeance to destroy the royal lineage of Maahishmati patiently waits in the orphanage, only to be unexpectedly be courted by the Prince Mahadeva, younger brother of the aggressive and cruel crown prince Bijjala Deva. The later being an arrogant, tyrant, evil and a womanizer, always treats his subjects as slaves and is highly feared and hated amongst his peer groups. His slave Kattappa, a die-hard duty bound and loyal servant always protects Bijjala Deva from many threats and dangers that the later faces in his day to day life, but is never respected in return. Meanwhile, some of the evil noblemen of the kingdom like Pattaraya wants to profit by smuggling the secret Gauri dhooli, a strange powder extracted from the self glowing blue and rare Gauri Kanta stones, mined from the womb of Gauri Parvat, to the enemy vassal states of Maahishmati. The generations old secret of Maahishmati’s undefeated victory saga in wars is attributed to its weapons moulded with mixture of Gauridhooli and metal. Sivagami, the highly committed and talented girl accidentally saves the life of the king Somadeva from a sudden coup attempt by the rebel Vaithalikas, on the auspicious Mahamaakam festival day, just at the time when she attempts to recover the secret book of her father, written in a strange ancient language, from the chambers of the Prime Minister, Skandadasa. The story ends here with Sivagami rewarded with the title of a Bhoomipathi and her father’s treachery forgiven for her act, surprising her totally and giving her a chance to be in the governing system and thus plot to destroy the kingdom in the future.
Pros : The book is cleverly plotted with umpteen number of characters in a series of events right from the beginning till the end. The author’s skill to manoeuvre the reading is well maintained. The way in which lower castes and peasants were treated in the ancient kingdoms wherein only the upper castes and royal family reaped the benefits while the former always suffered and forced to a life full of sheer poverty, slavery, insults, homicide, genocide, child trafficking and forced prostitution is well elicited. The author was successful in portraying that such blind dictatorship rule of any country would lead to revolt and coups somewhere or the other. The effect of Bahubali movie on the book seemed to be very high as the reader , if already watched the movie, would correlate each and every character of the book with the real movie characters as long as he/she is reading, in the back of his/her mind.
Cons: The story started with a bang but somehow there is some loss of lustre in the first half with some boredom masking the story but picked up pace after the middle and maintained the tempo till the end. Since it is the Book One of the series, many characters in the story have been left unfinished. I find that there are too many characters introduced but hope that they will find their life in the next book. Somehow, the actual historic movie Bahubali 1 and 2 seem to have shielded the overall effect of the book. Slightly felt that the book would have had a greater punch if it was written and released even before the movie.
My rating of this book is 3.25 out of 5
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