Harappa : Curse of the Blood River

lecherous_v

After exhausting (in a good sense ofcourse) reading of Michel Danino's The Lost River, I picked up this fiction, which is somehow connected to it. The lost civilisation of Harappa. I thought this will provide some 'fiction' relief to my mytho-fiction lover mind. But somewhere this left me angry at the writer (will tell this in last para).

To talk about Vineet Bajpai's this first outing as a fiction writer, it holds your attention to this interesting tale of revenge and conspiracies, set in Vedic (or pre-vedic times). Taking on aspects of Vedic and western influences, the story set stage for revengeful tale which runs parraellaly with present where the prophecy is still running and in danger. Engaging narrative jumping in past an present holds you to the pages. Fast paced and easy writing is advantage for the reader who is looking for a good thriller, but.....

I literally got angry when almost at middle of the tale, the writer tried to play with 'real' names. The actual ones, who did give great contribution to the excavation of Harrappa and numerous other sites of Indus-Sarasvati civilisation. Cunningham and Burton Brothers. Who actually found that the site was in rubbles due to ignorance of railway line laying laymen, who used the bricks for laying the ballast. And stopped it and uncovered Harrappa to what it is today. Not just that but numerous such sites were uncovered by newly found Archeological Survey Of India. I agree a fiction writer can take liberty, but it can't be like THIS, that it tarnish the image of actual persons who did great work in the field. If you see what the governments of today in both the countries are doing for excavation and even protection of this site, you would literally thank the Englishmen for whatever they did.  

There goes one star minus due to this crap portrayed....
Its actually a 2.5 / 5 for me.

Meself

I'll go for a 3 out of 5. Mostly because it was a daring imagination in the writer's part. ItsI almost drilled into our brains that there was an Aryan Invasion and that Dravidians were the original inhabitants. Even after the theory being busted and reduced to nothing you have takers on this one. I believe it was this idea that gave birth to writing out the novel in discussion.




What I personally liked about the novel was it's Dan Brown-esque grandeur in creating a genuine inquisitiveness. After a while it was a massive run against time and a sinister plot of both the past and the present. I equally loved the side characters especially Naina for she seemed to be very much shrouded in mystery.




But for all its brilliance, the book also falls flay on many occasions. The repeated drumming if half human and half god nearly killed my interest. Add to it deliberate extension of the plot just to break it into three books and making a villain out of Cunningham and almost all British historian was actually not done. All in all it was a good read. The follow up to it is better given it explores the plot a little more than this one.

lecherous_v

Meself 5-7-2018 12:52 PM
I'll go for a 3 out of 5. Mostly because it was a daring imagination in the writer's part. ItsI almo ...

I was convinced by the time I finish Michel Danino's book The Lost river, that Aryan Invasion was a hoax. But it bugged me a lot when in this book specifically, the name of ASI was maligned. So I was angry.

But as you said, and as I am now 25% done with sequel, I am convinced that it is solidly plotted story. Don't know about the stretched plot yet, but yes, I agree with half human-half god and even 'so fast recory' and other repeated hammering is just too much by now. Lets see !

Sherl0ck

The book is OK. Probably light fun reading, but a little more research could be better

andy161161

I really liked this book initially but after the sequel, felt that the series per se could do better

Danielle

Okay so the writing was fun and lucid. I won't go into the details of the representation of Vedic Period, the book worked for me in bits and pieces!

Nabs

Thanks for the Review. I was looking forward to an honest review of the book and finally I've found what I was looking for.