Where David Threw Stones - book review

 

Where David Threw Stones
by
Elyse Hoffman
Genre : Mixture of Historical fiction, Fantasy and Mystery.

"Sweet kids raised on poison grow into twisted bastards" - Where David Threw Stones


When I picked up the book to read, I thought the novel would be something about a boy named David and the German Goliath - Hitler and Nazis and how they were brought down in WW2. The author Elyse Hoffman proved me wrong as the story begins in 1968 when a kid named David Saidel blames himself for his parents' death even though they are killed by neo-nazis in Munich. The child is sent to Brennenbach to live with his maternal grandfather. David becomes the child who refuses to smile and then you are introduced to fantasy and history as the town reverts back to Hitler's Germany of 1943 at the stroke of midnight and  stays that way before changing over to 1968 during the day.

David is warned not to step out during midnight but he does anyway one day when he loses his grandfather's dog Mozart. What he faces during the hours is part of the mystery and what a mystery it is. So does David learn about himself and does the curse on Brennenbach ever end? Read the book to find out.

The writing style is crisp, the pace is fast and the book is a page turner. This is a fascinating mix of historical fiction, fantasy and mystery, meshed together and told in a riveting, heart wrenching and unique style which I never thought was possible. The author manages to zip through genres with the ease of a magician while keeping the reader glued to the pages.

As I read it, two things struck me about this book. It is very relevant for the world today where hate as an ideology is being spread against some "other" and there is a generation growing up only knowing hate and frankly it scares me as it is becoming the new normal. The second is for the forgotten genocides in other parts of the world like the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka in 2009 when over 300,000 people were killed in a week using cluster bombs and other banned weapons provided by 21 countries which either directly or indirectly participated with the Sri Lankan Army in the genocide irrespective of their ideologies - both sides of the Cold War bloc. Even today people in Lanka are yet to reconcile and the simmering hatred is still justified in the name of a falsified history and superiority provided by militant Buddhist monks and Sinhalese majority that is taught to children and the people stay silent because they fear speaking up or speaking out.

Everyone should read this book - doesn't matter if you are from the west or east, north, south, majority or minority in any part of the world. I hope this book changes the way you think about your own race, religion, language, identity and about "others" and helps you speak up and speak out. Never forget where and to whom you are born is just an accident of birth.

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The Treasure of Kafur -book review

The Treasure of Kafur
by Aroon Raman
Genre: Historical Fantasy

This is another one of those books that I finally decided to read during the lock down.

      

Malik Kafur is a legendary figure. He was the one responsible for the success of Aladdin Khilji and the destruction of  many kingdoms. He made the Delhi Sultanate famous in South India, not Khilji. Kafur is well known in the South for his victories..He was turned back at my hometown way down South. But little is known about the man or how he died.

His life itself was mysterious and the stuff of legends. He was a slave who became a general and a general who killed with a ruthlessness that most of India was conquered. He must have commanded extreme loyalty, something even his king in Delhi didn't. Strangely enough, historians are not able to agree on what exactly happened to him or to his plunder. All that is known is that we do not know what happened to him or his treasure.

Raman spins an extraordinary story about the hidden treasure of Kafur and how 250 years later during the Mughal era, a part of it was revealed to Akbar.

Ambu, one of the guardians who can telepathically communicate with animals lives with her grandson Datta in a small hut when she has a vision of the local king Baig plotting with others (from Afghanistan to the Deccan) to encircle the Mughal empire of Akbar. She is abducted when Baig realises she knows the location of the treasure. Afterall, how can a war between differing kingdoms  despite a common enemy be fought without money? However, she ensures Datta is set off towards what proves to be an adventure to warn Akbar of the impending doom and also the location of the treasure before she is abducted. Datta accompanied by a tortoise, a bunch of ravens and a cow makes his way past the Tapti river. Does Datta manage to reach Akbar on time to save Ambu and the Mughal Empire?  Who are the legendary figures he meets during this adventure? Is the truth of the treasure of Kafur completely revealed or does it still lie somewhere in some godforsaken place in India? Raman asks and answers these questions in his book, "A Treasure of Kafur"

From the banks of the Tapti to the Agra Fort, from the ravines of  Aravalli to the Deccan plateau, Raman weaves a story of intrigue, scheming and grandiose that keeps you engaged. This book is t action packed and it will keep you in suspense till the very end when you will finally know if Datta succeeded in saving the empire and his grandmother. Emperor Akbar's mightiness as well as his humane nature is  well conveyed in The Treasure of Kafur.

A must read  for all Indians who are not taught much about Kafur or the society of guardians.

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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?

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