The Immortals Of Meluha: A Review

So I'm here with my review of 'The Immortals Of Meluha' by Amish Tripathi.

It is the first book of The Shiva Trilogy and Amish has done a wonderful job in handling the characters India has been worshiping since ages. But before I go to reviewing the book I would like to share how I chanced upon it.

I was at GIP, Noida and went to Om Book Shop just to check the new arrivals and while doing so saw it. It was the cover that intrigued me as like many other Indians I'm also a devotee of Lord Shiva. I picked it up and read the blurb which talked a civilization from 1900 BC. It was also about the Suryavanshi's, the Chandravanshi's and the Nagas.

Then it read, "Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva, really that hero?"

Lord Shiva as a hero! But God's don't play heroes, they just do things with a snap of their fingers, was my first reaction. I put down the book and moved on to check other books.

Later that evening while sitting on my laptop doing some work that image of Shiva on the cover with battle scars and trident kept coming back to me. Without any doubt it was one of the most impressive covers I had ever come across. I googled the name 'The Immortals Of Meluha' and opened the official website. There I got to read the first chapter of the book and it had me hooked.

I spent the next three days asking for the book from every book store in my locality but none had it. I rued over leaving the book when I had it in my hands but I finally got it from a Odyssey store on a metro station. I started at about 8pm spent the entire night reading it and finally slept at 5:30 am that day (or night, if you want to call it so).

Now coming to the book, if you know about Indian mythology then you will enjoy this book for sure and if you don't then also you will as you will have no strings attached and no prior perception about the characters. People might have problems (I had) with accepting the gods they worship as mere humans, thinking and acting like everybody else in the world does. But that's only in the starting, as the story progresses you will not have any room left for those doubts as the book will occupy your mind totally.

The books borrows a lot from Indian mythology but at the same time Amish does not allow the book to become overtly religious. The characters of Shiva, Bhadra, Nandi and Sati among others retain their basic characteristics and are as one knew them to be since ever. It's the treatment that is different.

One can divide the book into three phases;

1: When Shiva is expected to be the one.

2: When he is accepted as the savior but kept under wraps.

3: When Shiva is acknowledged by one and all to be the savior.

At places Amish has sprinkled the story with a fair bit of imagination and kept the reader on his tows. There is no page in the book where you will say that you felt bored. There is an ambush and a war described with detail and that add to the story rather than diverting attention from it as such incidents usually do in many occasions.

In the end after the conquest of Swadeep (The land of Chandravanshi's) there is a twist in the story. A twist which gives a whole new perspective and leaves the author with enough to play with in the second part.

Interestingly the comparison between Meluha and Swadeep reminded me somewhat of China and India. Sound's crazy? It may but read the book and then think about what I said.

In all Immortals of Meluha is a nice read specially if you like reading mythological stories. Move over Greek and Norse mythological heroes, Shiva is here. :-)