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The Immortals of Meluha

Genre: Fiction, Mythological fiction, Fantasy
Pace: Medium
Level: Beginner
Review By: Garima Agarwal

Review:

“This book has put me in nothing less than a roller coaster ride”

Overview:

'The Immortals of Meluha' is the debut Novel of Amish, a banker turned writer, that attempts to portray Lord Shiva in a different light.

It is set in the Indus Valley civilisation period which is called Meluha which was created by Lord Ram. A prophecy claimed that a man not from the sapt sindhu, who's throat would turn blue, would appear and destroy evil. That Man being a Tibetan Immigrant called Shiva. This book portrays the fall and war between Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis and Shiva's own confusion with his dharam.

Well I never thought I'd pick this book because a series feels like too big of a commitment for me. But here we are

Characters-

I really have no clue where to start but I guess talking about the characters would be a good place to start. I am very happy with how the characters are written, which is very surprising. I really really really appreciate Amish for his efforts to Humanize lord Shiva and represent him as equally flesh and bone as us and feels the same way we do.

I like the characters. I like how they are portrayed. I like their roles and I like how they are flawed in their own way.

I liked how characters like Parvateshwar represented holding their stance, Nandi represented devotion, Sati represented Strong feminine energy and Shiva representing the general human state with confidence.

I feel this is my complaint with every book, but I really wished there was more backstory to all the characters except Shiva. It felt like some characters were only written for that one purpose, with no role in the bigger picture.

How cool would it have been if there was a story from Parvateshwar's childhood, to add more layers to his character development? Or a point of view chapter of Sati and her Agonizing past? That would have just added more layers and made it even better. But again as an actor is enslaved to the director's vision, so am I as a reader to the writer's imagination.

But it is nothing less than pure bliss to experience this story. Amish balances historical facts with Mythological stories to add sense and logic in every chapter rather than just letting divine things exist with no explanation. He mixes scientific facts, historical evidence and findings in mythology to give it more gravitas and layers.

I also like how it's subliminally putting out the message for truth seeking. It's not just Shiva's story on his journey to find who he is but maybe it's also us.

Writing -

Oh boy. Where should I start? This is the part where I feel people will hate me.

I am not a fan of the writing [I'm sorry Amish, I really tried :')].

It was such a rollercoaster ride.

Like it was

First five chapters - 'oh my god the concept is so cool! I want to know what's gonna happen next'

5 to 10 chapters - ' I want to sleep. I can't read this anymore.'

10 to 15 chapters - ' don't put me in a reading slump please, I can't afford to have one'

But the turn at the 16th chapter, The Sun and Earth. Oh my god (Amish I love you for this chapter). Then I got used to the writing and then the book went, not smoothly, but better enough to keep my low attention span in check.

The book what I think lacked was a consistent flow or maybe because I'm Indian and am already aware of most of the terms, felt it was boring to read every miniscule detail that was introduced. But again it was necessary to do so to accommodate foreign readers so I really can't complain much. But maybe I shouldn't say shit because for a debut, I think Amish did a pretty darn good job.

I've grown up with infesting curiosity towards Hindu mythology (also in the most weird and random things). It would be nothing less than bliss to walk into crossword as a kid and pick out books like ' Childhood stories of Krishna ' or 'Mahabharata for kids'.

When I say that Anant (Uncle) Pai [Pioneer in Indian Comics like Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle] is single handedly responsible for my love for reading(along with chacha Chaudhary comics), I mean it.

Getting to borrow some new version of Amar Chitra Katha every Thursday from the school library and then finishing it in one sitting at night while skipping my homework is still very afresh in my memory.

So naturally one of my reading goals this year, in a more mature state of mind, was to read more by Indian/South Asian Authors along with mythology (not just restricted to Indian mythology).

I want to read from authors that embrace India as it is and present it in a modern format with our stories incorporated.

And authors like Amish are just doing that.

It makes me gleam with pride seeing authors like Amish re-claim, re-define and re-visualize Modern Indian literature. To take Control of the narrative and put Indian stories out there.

And this portrayal of Indian characters with Modern voices is nothing less than bliss. Amish, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Arundhati Roy (and hopefully Jhumpa Lahiri who I'll read later this year) are portraying the lost voices of Indians and Indian Stories. They have put out modern literature in a way that's not just sloppy college Romances with no plot, (coughs Chetan Bhagat books coughs). I'm not against romances, if that is what it feels like, (my guilty pleasure is reading cringey romances with cute characters and banter) but I just hate the idea of just that representing Modern Indian literature.

It surprises me that I still haven't read a good Indian coming of age story. (Either I don't have a good eye for these books or these books aren't being promoted)

My frustrations aside, Modern Indian literature has lots of ways to go now, with different voices and different cultures in one country, reading books like these just excites me because these stories are going to inspire some aspiring writer out there to write their manuscript. Books like these open new doors for different people to write and create.

I'm excited to read the next two books in the series and see where they take me. I hope this world gives me something that I can't dream of.