A historical fiction has its own charm. The setting, people and places of a different era, the dresses, way of living, the struggles of those times; everything has to be meticulously presented otherwise there is no charm in reading the book.
When I started reading Battle of Vathapi: Nandi’s Charge by Arun Krishnan, I was immediately transported to India of the 7th century which I had read about only in History books. The constant tussle between the various kingdoms of the time and the battles they fought can be a brilliant premise for any storytelling and the author has used it to perfection.
The story starts with the Pallava king, Mammalla (or Narasimhavarman) who wants to fulfil two promises he has made to his dying father. The first wish is to complete his dream project of building sculpted temples along his kingdom’s shorelines. The second wish is to reconquer Pullalur, which they had lost to the Chalukyas a decade or so ago.
In this first book of the series, we see the Pallavas gathering their allies and making connections for the upcoming war against the Chalukyas. Commander Paranjyothi sets Elango, Muthuvel and Kannan on different paths to meet with rulers of different kingdoms and others to build alliances.
This book talks of the journey they undertake and the problems that they face. The three captains set out on their sojourn as advised by their commander and it is their different journeys that form the plot of this book.
The writing is crisp, interesting and the build up is near perfect. The book is quite long owing to the fact that it is very descriptive; every place and every event has been talked about in detail.
There is also some romance woven brilliantly in the story and at no point does it become boring or tedious. This book has proven to be an interesting historical read and I’m eagerly awaiting the release of next part in this series.
My rating: 4.6/5
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