Asura - Anand Neelkantan

 Title : Asura

 Author : Anand Neelkantan

 Publisher : Platinum Press, Leadstart Publication

 Pages : 498

 ISBN : 978-93-81576-05-2

Asura was recommended by one of my twitter friends Ujjwala ( @OyeUjuOye ) because I really loved reading The Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi.  One day she tweeted that she feels @iYatinGupta must read this book Asura and honestly because I respect her a lot I took her suggestion instantly and put the book in my reading list. Post that, I contacted Anand Neelakantan and request him to send me a review copy of the book and in no time he agreed to it and asked the publisher to courier me a copy. 

When I started reading the book, I felt that the plot of the book is too heavy for me but no doubt it was interesting. I decieded that I would read 50 pages of the book daily. Spread over approximately 500 pages and 65 chapters, the book gained momentum after some 4-5 chapters and then I finished the rest of it in two sittings. Mixing facts and fiction, and that too mythological facts, characters in a whole new plot is something very tough and to say the least the author has done a wonderful job. I am sure this must have been author's dream project and I want to congratulate him for coming up with something so beautiful and so poised that I absolutely loved reading. 

Asura starts with Ravana's death bed. Where he is on the verge of dying and thinking about his people and his family who died and lost the battle to Vaanar Sena led by Shri Ram. The book runs in the past of Ravana and like we have Ramayan about the life of Lord Ram, I would not mind renaming the book as Ravanayan. The way the whole plot and characters have been put together, it makes this book into a complete page turner. I would definitely not like to get into the plot of the book here. Also, I found the book cover so interesting that it is my current twitter display pic ! :D

Anand Neelakantan, I am sure must have worked exceptionally hard to come up with something ambitious like this. The story is gripping, though I felt that he could have concentrated more on the intellectual side of Ravana but nonetheless, the overall effort is superb. The writing is tight and keeps you glued to the book.

I would definitely like to read more of Anand's works  in future. I am already looking forward to his next book.