Book reviews

The Oath of the Vayuputras: Shiva Trilogy 3

Author -Amish Tripathi

Publisher -Westland (2013)

My rating- ****

I chose this series because it is about my favorite God, Shiva (!! The good thing is we have a wide variety of Gods to chose from) and I totally am in love with Shiva's portrayal in this trilogy. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and I feel this last book This last book of the Shiva Trilogy has also been powerfully written.

The way this book is written and edited is perfect, the language is simple, so the reader can focus on the plot. The characters are well defined and clearly etched in your minds. The dialogues when General Parva makes his choice make for a good reading. I find Shiva's use of urban words and smoking chillum quite entertaining. I like Amish Tripathi's transparency in the way he just puts perspectives before you without telling you what is right or wrong. I also especially enjoyed the sections on war strategy and formations. They were descriptive and I have a visual memory of those.

However I found the end to be a bit disappointing. Shiva transforms into a broken-hearted man and loses the Neelkanth title in my mind, and the book loses its charm for me. I wish the end was better.

Ladies Coupe

Author-Anita Nair
Publication-Penguin Books

My rating- ***

I found this book to be a quick and interesting read, but essentially feminist. It is about a 45 year old woman, Akhila, who is discovering herself. Akhila boards a ladies coupe to Kanyakumari and meets 5 different women.

I liked the author's portrayal of the different ways in which women approach life and how they live it. It was quite predictive in some ways, all characters had a story which said- “ I was doing what was expected of me as a woman, and I was unhappy. I then did what I wanted to, and I was happy”.

However, there are some parts that I enjoyed also. I especially enjoyed the analogy where the author uses elements and compounds and their properties / reactions and compares them to her characters in the book!

I didn’t like the story of Marikolanthu ( the author included every possible scandal she could in that story) and I found the end to be shallow. That said, I feel that some pieces in the book had charm and I would definitely recommend it for a quick engaging read!