Book:
The Vault of Vishnu
Author:
Ashwin Sanghi
Publisher:
Westland Books
Myths always have their foundation in
reality, and India, being a land of storytelling, always has a new perspective
to things if you go looking for it.
The Vault of Vishnu by Ashwin Sanghi is the sixth
book in his acclaimed Bharat Series, and I for one, wait for the next one to
come out. A Pallava prince who travels to Cambodia to be crowned as a King,
carries with him secrets that would wage wars centuries later, A Buddhist Monk
in Ancient China treks to India, making an arduous journey, in search for
something that could make the emperor powerful than ever, A pre-Neolithic tribe
that fights to preserve their knowledge, and a scientist in Kanchipuram
deciphers ancient texts, and the one thing that connects them all is an ancient
secret, one that everyone wants a pie of, but is the young investigator the key
who can maintain the balance of the new world?
Call him a storyteller or a master of
shadows, each one of Ashwin’s books is a complete revelation in the manner it
is written. Delicately balancing the past and the present, the story is engaging,
and it is a magnet that can pull the reader into the book till the last page
has been turned. True to his style, the plot of The Vault of Vishnu
traces a story from the pages of History, and a story in the present time in
which the end wraps up everything like a bow. While the plot is fictional, the
realistic way of blending facts is interesting and what keeps the reader
engaged. With a myriad of sub-plots, the climax is difficult to decipher,
though a careful reader might just make logical connections, but definitely not
till at least 3/4th of the book is done. The climax has a
bittersweet taste, as it ended very suddenly, but at the same time, created a
need to take a step back and think back to the message of the book.
Characters are what lend this book its true
aura. While our Chinese traveler is someone most of us would have met in our
History textbooks, and some nerds like me would remember him, the account of his
journey, and the peeling away of the meaning of his journey was superb in the
end. As for other characters, I liked the Rao family and they way they were visualized
and realized. Mark’s character is something like of a signature of Ashwin, and
I would like the reader to discover that.
Overall, The Vault of Vishnu is a
recommendation for all who love reading mythological fiction, and I am
guaranteeing you that you’ll walk away with a ton of reading material for
further research.
I would really commend Ashwin for providing
with the list of references at the end of the book, because till the time I had
reached the end, I had multiple tabs open looking for more information.
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