The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy 1) book review

 

The Immortals of Meluha is the first book of Shiva trilogy by Amish. Shiva is the chief leader of the Guna tribe at the foothills of Mount Kailash, Tibet.  After being brought to an immigrant camp in Kashmir, due to his blue throat, Shiva is referred to as the ”Neelkanth” – the savior that has come to save the land of Meluha (Suryavanshis) and destroy evil from the land of Swadeep (Chandravanshis).  The Chandravanshis appear to have allied with the Nagas – an ostracized and sinister race of deformed humans with astonishing martial skills.

Shiva is expected to reform the land of evil and introduce the Chandravanshis to a superior way of life. With this destiny suddenly fallen upon him, will Shiva succeed in his journey? Will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?

 

 

“His burden didn’t feel any lighter. But he felt strong enough to carry it”

         -Amish, The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva trilogy I)

 

I came to know about this book through my relative. I have always loved the genre of fantasy fiction. So without any second thoughts, I decided to buy the trilogy. The first book, I must say, really surprised me.

What I really loved the most about this book is its narration. Right from page 1, the narration gets you hooked on to the book. There were some parts that give you a good laugh. The author has given so much life to the protagonist of this book – Shiva. With each turn of the page, you will like his character more and more. I was very much smitten with the character Shiva. He emanates such power but is also humble and down to earth at the same time.

I loved how each character was portrayed. Each character stood out and had depth in its portrayal. Since Shiva was referred to as the “Neelkanth”, it would be assumed that everyone in the story would respect him. However, there was this one character that gave the protagonist a hard time and that was clever because Shiva had to earn respect from the character.

The friendship between the characters and the emotions tied with it would definitely leave a long-lasting mark on the reader.

This book was very well written in such a way that you would pity even the antagonist of the story. There were some powerful, some thought-provoking lines in the book that just shows the author’s skill. Also, this book had the gender equality factor. The women lead in this story was given so much skill almost equivalent to the male lead and I admired that about this book. I felt these are the things that I loved about the book.

 

“There are many realities. There are many versions of what may appear obvious. Whatever appears as the unshakeable truth, its exact opposite may also be true in another context. After all, one’s reality is but perception, viewed through various prisms of context”

        – Amish, The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva trilogy I)

 

This book might be seen as slow paced at the beginning but it is not until we reach the third or fourth chapter that the book seems to quicken its pace. There is another storyline in this book along with the main storyline and it certainly engages the reader to a higher level.

As I got closer and closer to the end of the book, the book seemed to have a strong hold on me. I just couldn’t put it down as it was so well written and the book finishes off with a huge twist which I never saw it coming. It was only at the end of the book that I realized that the side storyline was left abandoned. There was no proper ending to it and I realized that it was done on purpose, for the storyline to continue in the second book of the series.

 

“There are no bystanders in a dharmayudh – it is a holy war”

      – Amish, The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva trilogy I)

 

 This book was critically acclaimed and sold over 3 million copies making this book the fastest selling book in Indian publishing history. Also, this book gained him a lot of appreciation from young adults.

I would rate this book 4/5. This was my unbiased and honest review.

TITLE: The Immortals of Meluha

AUTHOR: Amish

PUBLISHED: 2010

GENRE: Fantasy fiction