Dwarakecha Suryasta (द्वारकेचा सूर्यास्त) by Anagha Prabhudesai (अनघा प्रभूदेसाई)

"Dwarakecha Suryasta (द्वारकेचा सूर्यास्त)" a Marathi book by Anagha Prabhudesai (अनघा प्रभूदेसाई). This book is published by diamond Publications in 2011 and has 108 pages. This book is a translation of original Gujrati book 'Sami sanjhana padchaya' by Dinkar Joshi

This book covers Krishna's life after Kurukshetra, mainly towards his death. It was a span of 36 years, after Kurukshetra, during which Krishna stayed in Dwarka.

Krishna (कृष्ण) is portrayed in this book as unfortunate. He doesn't get to feed off his mother's breast. He has to leave Gokul (गोकुळ) for good when Kans (कंस) called him, as not doing so would have meant destruction of Gokul. He kills Kans but has to leave Mathura (मथुरा) to avoid city's obliteration by Jarasandh's repeated attacks. Then he has to set up Dwarka as new capital. He was accused of stealing most precious gem Syamantak by Yadav's and none other than his brother and his wife. He was aware that due to Gandhari's curse ( Despite all unsuccessful efforts by Krishna to avoid war, Gandhari curses the destruction of Yadav clan for not stopping the war) his entire clan will become extinct before his own eyes and he even has to aid it happen.

This book covers a brief period before extinction of Yadav clan. Krishna tries his best to minimize the impact of the curse of Sage Kashyap (कश्यप), but Yadav's do not pay any heed to his efforts and keep traveling towards eventual end.

Marathi used in this book is very heavy. A lot of words are not used in day to day Marathi. It also means that the same must be true for the original Gujarati novel. But since it's a small book it doesn't become unpalatable.

The book contains lot of philosophy, a lot of advice and a journey towards end from the eyes of Krishna, the God who can not help extinction and death of his near and dear ones.

It's a different kind of book with preaching narration. Author has paid special attention to not make the story spicy.

Read if you don't mind heavy Marathi.

The Avenger by Juggi Bhasin

"The Avenger" by Juggi Bhasin. This book is published by Penguin India in 2013 and has 508 pages. This is Book 2 of Suvir Suri series.

Sikandar Khan, a dreaded Pakistani terrorist, executes a horrific terrorist attack in Delhi and manages to escape. A group of grieving industrialists, fed up with the impotence of government, decide to take the situation in their hands and commission a mission to find and eliminate Sikandar. Person chosen for the task is Suvir Suri.

Why is Suvir hiding in forest with Kalpana? Will Suvir accept?  Who will help him? Will he succeed? Will he be released from pain?

This book takes Suvir to Pakistan. Not once, not twice, not thrice but four times. Start of the book is very interesting but after Suvir's entry the story drifts in the general direction of conclusion without a purpose or conviction. It stays that way till the mother of all terrorist attack against India is launched by Sikandar in Pakistan. Here onwards the story picks up pace and becomes interesting again.

The climax is thrilling, action packed and interesting. A thrilling movie can be made out of this book. Author has used the trick of 'revival of incapacitated' twice. It was avoidable.

There are a few incongruencies and deficiencies in the story. They raise certain unanswered questions. Why snipers were not deployed when NSG commandos attacked the plane? How can Suvir fall in love again? Why does the journalist Ipshita decides to help Suvir? Why Nazish, a low level surveillance officer, is allowed to talk to an Indian asset. How Sikandar musters support of armed forces and all the terrorist organizations?

The book might have become more interesting had it been a few pages shorter and had the middle portion been crispy. Even without it, it's a good thriller.

If you have read first book, read this. Third one is already released.

47 Ronin by John Allyn

"47 Ronin" by John Allyn. This book is published by Tuttle publishing in 2012 and has 256 pages.

Feudal Japan, Year 1701. Lord Asano of Ako refuses to give bribe to Kira, Master of ceremonies in Shogun's court in Edo (Tokyo). Kira insults him and Asano draws sword and slashes at him. He has committed cardinal sin of drawing sword in Shogun's court. He is compelled to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). His Samurai fighters decide to take revenge.

What will they do? Can they fight the might of Shogun? Is Kira dead? Is the vengeance honourable?

Oishi, chief retainer of Lord Asano, decides to take revenge on Kira for the loss of prestige and property of House of Asano. He and his follower Samurai wait for one year and make everyone believe that they have accepted fate and are not going to cause trouble and then mount an attack to realize their revenge. This is a fictionalized account of an actual historical event. It is not known what insult by Kira insinuated Lord Asano to draw sword. The book, however, provides the fictionalized answer.

The story is narrated in an interesting manner. Old time Japan is effectively created. Geisha culture, Samurai, Ronin, Honour, family name etc is depicted very well. Characterization is good. Oishi is the balanced personality, Hara and Oribe are the hot headed ones, Karaoka has faith in Oishi, Geisha is in love with Oishi, Kira is malevolent with power and afraid after retirement. It's a relatively short story to make a novel. Author has done well to do it.

Ronin is a man (a fighter, a samurai) without a master, generally past his prime. In short leaderless samurai, without station or prestige. Swordsman without a cause to serve.

There are differing opinions about this attack. Foreword says the attack was a cowardly act of revenge that was portrayed and later accepted as act of honour. Samurai were facing identity crisis in the peace time and this attack provided the much needed rallying point. This attack thus became emblematic of loyalty, sacrifice, persistence and honour.

In short it's a fictionalized account of a historical event and is a very famous story of Japanese vendetta.

A good book. Recommend reading.

The Peshwa by Ram Sivasankaran

"The Peshwa" by Ram Sivasankaran. This book is published by Westland in 2015 and has 338 pages. This is author's debut novel.

Peshwe Balaji Vishwanath Bhat marches to Delhi to rescue Rajmata Yesubai. Young Bajirao accompanies him. Nizam-Ul-Mulq plans to assassinate Peshwe. Peshwe's actions set events in motion. Bajirao and Nizam are destined to meet again.

What is the action? What happens to Nizam? Why is he against Peshwe? What was Peshwe's action? Why does Bajirao break his promise?

Due to the recent release of a Hindi movie on Bajirao, general public has become aware of this lesser known historical character who ruled the Maratha kingdom as Peshwe and who won every single battle he fought in his career. Author has chosen the period between; before Bajirao became Peshwa and his first war after he became Peshwa. In this book his father Balaji Vishwanath is a prominent character.

This book uses historical characters to tell a story that is semi fiction. Historical events are tweaked to create a story of author's liking.

Narration is good. Story is interesting. Bajirao is not shown larger than life. His relationship with his father, his wife and Chatrapati Shahu is shown very well.

The book however has a few flaws. It shows that Chimajiappa died when he was @10. Bajirao was called Rau, but the book addresses him Rao. Shinde are called Scindia. Actually Scindia was a later transformation. There are a few more. The elaboration of such details gives away that the author is not very knowledgeable about the Chitpavan Brahmin and Maratha customs of the time.

The book was released after the release of movie. It's it author's attempt to capitalize on the publicity of movie 'Bajirao Mastani'? Author has also introduced Mastani in epilogue thereby making provision for a sequel.

I should mention good cover of this book. It shows an intent Bajirao riding a stallion. However it's not clear why the book is called 'The Peshwa: The lion and the stallion'?

A good book. Recommend reading.

Rogue lawyer by John Grisham

"Rogue lawyer" by John Grisham. This book is published by Hodder & Stoughton in Oct 2015 and has 480 pages. 

Sebastian Rudd, an unconventional defense lawyer operates out of his car. He uses less than conventional means to fight his cases and his clientele include innocent to petty criminals to cage fighters to shady characters to mafia dons and so on.

This book is a collection of various cases handled by Rudd, his personal life and his fights with his divorced wife over their son.

Some of the cases are: Gardy who has a very low IQ and is accused of murder of two girls, Tadeo, a cage fighter, who in a fit of rage has inadvertently killed the referee, Link Scanlon, a mobster, who is on a death row for killing a judge. An old man accused of firing on police during home invasion by SWAT team, a crook who has kidnapped and sold young daughter of assistant Chief of police etc. In addition to that there is kidnapping of his son,  spats with his divorced wife for their son and his love life etc. He even goes to jail for contempt of court.

Rogue, here, means one who challenges the system, uses unconventional means and is controversial. He uses less than conventional, less than legal and sometimes less than moral means to fight his cases. He is not afraid of bargaining with the judicial system and cutting deals.

Sebastian is a lovable, though controversial, character. In all the under hands tactics he employs, there is a steak of a good human being.

The book is a mishmash of stories strung together in a garland by the thread called Sebastian Rudd. Although you don't get bored while reading the book, at the end of it you wonder what it was? and what did I take away? and the answer is 'Nothing'. What was the purpose of this novel?

The end of book is also abrupt and leaves the reader clueless as to why it ended where it ended.

Read it if you have time otherwise give it a miss.

The Crows of Agra by Sharath Komarraju

"The Crows of Agra" by Sharath Komarraju. This book is published by Amazing Reads in 2015 and has 281 pages. This is a Birbal mystery.

Bairam Khan, guardian of Akbar and regent of Mughal empire, is ordered by Akbar to relinquish his responsibilities and proceed to Mecca. The night before his departure he is murdered. In an unrelated incident, Mahesh Das, who miraculously arrives on time to save Akbar's life and subsequently gains his trust, is assigned the task of finding who and why of murder.

Who is Mahesh Das? What is his secret? Why does Akbar entertain him? Who killed Bairam Khan? Can Mahesh Das find the killer? Whodunit?

Story is set in 1562 AD. The characterization is good. Ruqaiya Begum - Akbar's wife, Shamsuddin Khan - Bairam's friend and competitor, Maham Anga - Akbar's wet nurse and one he considers mother, Adham Khan - Son of Maham Anga, Gulbadan Begum - Akbar's aunt and Salima - Bairam's young wife and Akbar's friend are the main players in addition to Akbar and Mahesh Das.

The title has a reference to Akbar's famous question to Birbal 'How many Crows are there in Agra?'. Here the crows are the suspected individuals. Birbal has to find murderers from the crowd of Agra.

It's a good mystery that keeps you interested. The investigation and deduction take their time and keep the reader guessing. This is a mystery with a limited number of suspects and an amateure detective who's future employment is dependent on him finding the murderer.

It's a murder mystery with historical flavour. Historical characters and time period is used to provide a 'change' in regular murder mystery. It's a welcome change. The characters are real, the story is not. Bairam Khan was murdered, but not in palace. He was murdered by another person, not the one in this book. Birbal's background and agree is also changed. However it's a good read.

A good change. Recommend reading.