Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Book Review: The Immortals Of Meluha


I wandered into the public library the other day to renew my membership because they have made some changes to their system that rendered my current library card unusable. I also haven't been to the library in a few years due to time constraints and accessability of ebooks. But I was interested  in the new features that the library has to offer such as ebook check out through Overdrive, streaming movies and independant films, and magazine subscriptions throuh Zinio. So after renewing my membership I decided to look around and see if there were any books that caught my interest and I came across this book "The Immortals of Meluha" written by Amish Tripathi.

The Immortals of Meluha is the first book in the Shiva Trilogy, a work of fiction that delves into the history and eventual rise of the Indian God Shiva. Because of my very limited knowledge of Indian culture or religion I cannot speak to the accuracy of the depiction of Lord Shiva in this book but it stands as a good read for the uninformed.

The story opens with Shiva debating on whether to move his clan to the kingdom of the Meluha to escape the constant battles with neighboring clans for land and resources. They move and discover that this adopted country is inhabited by people who live to be over 200 years old! Along with their health and longevity they have developed a way of life that eliminates poverty and everyone is cared for and afforded the chance to elevate themselves from their birth station through education.
Shiva soon finds out the real reason his clan was invited to immigrate to Meluha was to find the prophesied Neelkanth, or Savior. Shiva finds himself fulfilling this prophecy and tries to understand his place and path in this new society.

My problems with this story are the decisions Shiva makes once he moves to Meluha. In the beginning of the story Shiva is tired of fighting and decides to move his clan to get away from the constant fighting only to end up in a country set on going to war. Not once does Shiva think "hey" this isn't what I signed up for.

Overall an interesting read and I would rate this book about 3.5/5 stars. Not unhappy with this random library rental.


No comments:

Post a Comment