The War of Lanka : Book Review

 

Let me start by saying it was a pleasure reading this long awaited book. Ever since I have picked up the Shiva triology, can’t resist becoming the fan of Amish’s writing.

There is something uniquely striking and thought-provoking about reading the Mythology stories we heard growing up being narrated in an altered perspective. Ram Chandra series is no different. The magic of Amish narrating it in a scientific way surpasses the mystic stories handed down by our elders. And the earlier books raised the bar of expectation so much that it understandably remained insurmountable to match it.

But and this is a big BUT... this book really wasn’t up to the jacked up expectations like its predecessors and I'll rather go on and say it messed up a bit. I would like to delve into the parts which I liked and disliked and thus it will vent forth a bit of spoilers.

Spoilers

Likes:

I really liked the inclusion of Bharat and Shatrughan in the war and the resulting dynamics between the brothers and the subplot of Onguiaahra and the consequent naval tactics. It added a whole new dimension to the complexity of the war.

The explanation of how the army developed Ram Setu, and the subplot of bringing war elephants in the picture.

 

Dislikes

First and foremost I really enjoyed reading Raavan and was hoping Amish would do justice to the character he crafted so meticulously. But no Raavan was hyped up to be a monster and precipitously he went soft on sita and wanted her to be the Vishnu.

Raavan was just reduced to a mere tool, a means to an end, so out of character. What was even the purpose of kidnapping Sita? Just to trigger a war or to get closure on his past love, Vedavati, Sita’s mother.

Raavan had surrendered from the beginning itself, and showed little to no interest in fighting back. The war, in itself was just a political move, nothing but a spat between Vashistha and Vishwamithra, on who gets to be the Vishnu - Ram or Sita. There were no stakes. No risks. It was just a one sided battle.

 Raavan literally wanted to die and he did nothing else in the whole book. It felt as if Raavan and Bali just wanted to die at the hands of the Ayodhyan Prince, thus hugely undermining the skillset of not only those two great characters but also the protagonist, the “Vishnu” as it seemed both wanted a good death and so they died in a duel with Ram not because of warrior skills and ability of the Ayodhyan Prince?

Hanuman and Angad as characters were heavily underutilized and the relationship between Ram and Hanuman is never explored much in any of the books which perturbed me. The ending was a bit rushed in comparison to the whole of the story.

I wish to see a strong comeback from Amish in his last instalment of this series.

Disclaimer: Pictures are taken from internet.