Radha Viswanath
Ashtamahishi | Rupa
On The Shelf
Thinking about what to read next? Here's a list of books up for grabs.
The ‘eight wives of Krishna’, as this book is subtitled, haven’t received due attention, says Viswanath, and launches into the life divine with gusto. The result is a fast-moving and absorbing novelistic narrative, wide-eyed before the Lord, and imbuing his queens (Rukmini, Jambavati, Kalindi, Mitravinda et al) with agency and intellect.
Vineet Bajpai
Kashi: Secret of the Black Temple | TreeShade Books
Another dizzying back-and-forth between antiquity (‘The marshes of Aryavarta, 1698 BCE’) and modern times (Banaras 2017), couched in frighteningly garish titles (‘Night of the Blue Fire’; ‘A Totalitarian Government’), would hopefully make readers swoon in fascinated dread. For the stuff is of ‘sinister brotherhoods’, barbarians and blood-stained ‘pralay’.
Shreyas Bhave
Storm From Taxila | Platinum Press
Book II of the Asoka Trilogy sees a subcontinental game of thrones unfold—with a similar third-person point-of-view chapter structure to boot. The emperor Bindusara lies dead, and his sons Asoka and Sushem are pitted against each other in a fratricidal contest for the Mauryan throne. Meanwhile, subplots concerned with religion and enterprise help bring the historical setting to life.
Show comments