Rise of the Sun Prince by Shubha Vilas (Book Review:4.25*/5)

       

   After reading lots of epic fiction, I finally picked up this book based on pure mythology. "Rise of the Sun Prince" written by Shubha Vilas. It's first book in the series of "Ramayana: The Game Of Life" (whole series is going to be of 6 books). Jaico Books known for publishing similar stuffs once again gives us a book which has a soul of Ramayana and character of Rama right from its cover page to the words written to describe this beautiful tale. Book 1 is wholly dedicated to the life of Lord Rama from his birth to his marriage. Another specialty is its protagonist. Most of us would think peeping into cover page and synopsis that it would be Rama but the real protagonist of this book is Vishwamitra and then Dasaratha. That's what Book 1 gives you as a surprise. :-)

           When we talk about Ramayana, we talk only about the incidents that plays big part in the epic. But how did the hatred and origin of that particular incident occur, Shubha Vilas concentrates upon that in this book. E.g. How Rama(in his childhood) once plays a small prank with Manthra because of which she starts hating him more than before and that hatred results Rama going to exile for 14 years two decades later.

       Even the fight between Vishwamitra and Vasishtha is something new and exciting to read. How does Ramayana lands into Valmiki's responsibility to write is with what this book starts with. The story of Ahilya turning into stone, the formation of Srilanka, the competition between Vayu and snake etc. are also given the main preferences in the book along with main occurrences in Ramayana. 

     

   The usage of capital H in "He" and "His" even when the words arrived in the middle of a sentence to describe Lord Rama shows the amount of respect author has for Him. I read a book "The Exiled Prince" few days ago. You can call this book an improved version of it. The small notes and messages in the footer of pages are as beautiful as the story. I want to only read it once again specially because for most of the time, they acted as interruption to the story(drawback). Also, the "Laws" of few things that author has noted in between of chapters are inspirational. 

            The chapter from the Book 2 introduced in the end of this book didn't worked well with me. I felt it took away the excitement of climax from Book 1. Also, the cover page of this book though beautiful, serene and attractive makes it look as if the book is for school children. That's the only reason why adults won't pick up the book misinterpreting animation as children's muse. But read this book to know about Vishwamitra's elegance, Dasaratha's simplicity and Lord Rama's rise. In all, I would give this book 4.25* out of 5. It's definitely readable. Go For It!

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 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU!!!