Before Baahubali - The Rise of Sivagami

The Rise of Sivagami
by Anand Neelakantan
492 pages, Westland, 2017
Genre : Fiction
Language : English and mutliple Indian languages.


With people going mad about Baahubali2 - the conclusion, and social media pointing out the box office record - 1000 crores in nine days already, I am sure the director must be a happy man. However, I would suggest, people like me who have not seen the movie yet, read the book first to get a sense of people,  place and its history. This was missing in Baahubali 1.

How did a casteless society descend into slavery and child murder? Why are the corrupt allowed to live while the innocent murdered without question ? How did Mahishmathi descend to such a level and to protect what secret? Why is skin color which was unimportant before now so important? Neelakantan asks and answers these questions and more in his book, The Rise of Sivagami.

Sivagami is an orphan whose father, Devarayya is killed and branded a traitor. Her only aim in life is to demolish the royal family and seek revenge for her father's death. Neelakantan tells the story of orphan Sivagami and her rise to the level of Bhoomipathi - a title her father once held.  By telling the story of Sivagami and her  friend Kamakshi, we are also taken through the stories of young slaves obedient Kattappa and his rebellious brother Shivappa who longs for freedom, the young princes Bijjala and Mahadeva, siblings who are complete opposites in character, the original tribes who had been driven out of their land and are forced to take refuge in the forest by betrayal and not by war, the pirates who raid villages, rape women and kidnap children so they can be sold in the kingdom while the royal family and the bureaucrats of the kingdom turn a blind eye. It is a place where loyal people are killed while the corrupt are rewarded. What is damning secret in the document that Sivagami finds in the ancient language which she cannot read?

The pace is fast. The prose is poetic at many points but predictable at times if you had already seen Baahubali 1 in which some of the scenes slowly makes sense now. Since this is a story of three generations and a horrible secret hidden from the people of the kindgom, I look forward to reading the sequel as the book ends abruptly with a teaser - Sivagami now has to kill her father's best friend or be killed. And how does she go from being the destroyer of the royal family to becoming its Raja Matha?

Go here to buy the book

Flight to Pakistan

Flight to Pakistan
By Azam Gill
356 pages, Bewrite Books
Available on Bewrite Books
Price varies depending on format -- paperback and e-book.
ISBN: 1-904492-26-6
Genre: Fiction/ Adventure/Thriller

From the allies of Lahore to the mafia operations in Boston, from the killing fields of Vietnam to schools in London, Gill manages to tell a multilayered, multidimensional story of intrigue, first love, murder, caste, and honor that spans continents, race, and families. For most readers, it is inevitable to compare it with Mario Puzo's epic novel The Godfather. However, the author tends to outdo Puzo by adding several other dimensions.

Sirdar Ali Shah a.k.a. Dara, a Harvard Business School graduate runs the prostitution business in the city of Lahore, Pakistan after the death of his father. However, why does a Harvard Business School graduate chose to return to Pakistan and take over the family mafia business when he could have easily got a job in one of the top Fortune 500 companies? Read the book to find out.

It is not often you get to read Asian fiction that does not use the Western stereotypes or the colonial setting of the East. This book is a rare gem as the author manages to tell the story, free from the stereotypical settings and characters. Your senses tend to come alive as you read the book and irrespective of where you grew up, the story will move you.

The author is a former Pakistani Army officer who had to seek political asylum in France because he wrote a book on Army reforms which angered the Pakistani government.

Extremely visual in style, I hope it would be made into a movie soon.

Copyright © 2007 by Deepa Kandaswamy , All rights reserved.

What will happen in 2100 ?

This is a review of one of the best books I have read so far. Strangely again the author seemed to have gone largely unnoticed by the media and book gurus. So here is the review of this absolutely fascinating book.

Turn of the Century 2100
By Charlie Pedersen
448 pages, Outskirts Press
Price varies depending on format
Genre: Fiction/ Sci-Fi Thriller
ISBN: 1-59800-329-1

This is not just another science fiction book. It is different for four reasons. One, the characters don’t follow stereotypes, are multidimensional and strong, especially the female characters. Two, it is a global thriller laced with humour which combines genres of romance, espionage, science, fantasy, adventure and suspense. Three, apart from being informative and inspiring, this brilliant book tries to address and attempt to provide real solutions to contemporary issues plaguing today’s society on a global scale. Four, it makes you think about the state of affairs at the turn of our century (21st) and wonder if we are squandering away the possibilities of a fabulous future, individually and globally because of our state of denial.

The story goes something like this – Alyson Higgs and her team who are particle physicists working in a Berkeley lab are visited by a photon probe from the year 2108. This happens simultaneously across 13 nations across the globe. The unmanned probe has a message from scientists from 2108 essentially from our great, great grandchildren. It contains warnings of our immediate future, and provides five oracles, which could save humanity from destroying itself and them (great, great grandchildren). What happens? Read to find out.

Many readers might wonder, if the probe is from the future then humanity wasn’t exterminated, right? Then, why send a message at all? This is where Pedersen proves he is a talented author. He manages to explain complex science concepts in simple language that even a child can understand. Pedersen has worked on the Apollo Lunar module and his career includes different fields like finance, aerospace and information technology. This is the first book to come with its own soundtracks, with lyrics and music composed by the author. The book is available in various formats like hardcover, paperback, e-book, CD, audio book and even on an USB memory stick which is a book publishing first .
Go here to select your option Author's Website and listen to the songs. It is available on Google Books ,Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc. but only as hardcover and paperback, which contains only the transcript of the songs. This book is necessary read for people from all professions.

© 2007 by Deepa Kandaswamy

Don't judge a book by the cover

Good writers don't get PR, at least most don't. This blog is for those who write fabulous books but don't get the required publicity. I'm a reviewer. I get irritated when an editor has the gumption not even to read the book or the review but edits it anyway.

I spend days reading books and try to get the essence of it in 250-300 words. My first post is therefore a book review -- one rejected by one of my editors because she didn't like the cover image of the book. Hmmm... Judge for yourself by clicking on the Title of this post.



Love without a Net…
By Karen Ligon
138 Pages, Publish America
$ 19.95, Paperback
Genre: Poetry
Available on Amazon.com
ISBN: 1-4241-1771-2

What happens when you love without a net, a belt or something to keep you safe in case your love is not reciprocated? The book examines relationships and the various emotions one feels from anger to ecstasy. It also explores the imagined or fleeting relationships like when a youngster is convinced that the attractive girl/guy on the bus is in love with him/her and for the period of the trip forms an imaginary relationship. The poem Not Think of Me will make you laugh or remind you of the one-sided love which you never expressed towards someone. Are You is another poem most readers will be able to relate to as well as Cried a Little. Almost all women want what the poet describes in Unexpected and would agree with what is said in Extra Credit. The poem Your New Woman Said I Rolled My Eyes at Her is what most readers would like to send to their ex.

Born in Jamaica and raised in New York, Love without a Net is the second book of poetry by award winning poet and writer, Karen Ligon. The author writes in free verse and uses simple, clear language to capture complex emotions beautifully. The strength of the book is that you do not have to be a poetry connoisseur to understand what is being said. The poems manage to cut across boundaries of culture, race, religion and region making it truly global as only love can.

© 2007 by Deepa Kandaswamy