Gopal's Bookshelf

“The love of books is a love which requires neither justification, apology, nor defense.” - J.A. Langford

Friday, August 12, 2016

My Review:: The Prince of Patliputra by Shreyas Bhave

The Prince of Patliputra (Asoka trilogy, #1).The Prince of Patliputra (Asoka trilogy, #1). by Shreyas Bhave
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genre right along side mythological fiction and thrillers. The bar for Indian historical & mythological fiction is quite high with authors like Ashok Banker, Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi making this their forte.

Shreyas Bhave in his debut book The Prince of Patliputra (Asoka trilogy, #1). stands up and asks to be counted among those illustrious names mentioned earlier.

Ashoka Maurya is a historical figure whose life is shrouded in mystery for the contemporary Indian. The man who is honored by India with the Ashok Chakra, the Ashok Stambha named after him remains an enigma. Shreyas Bhave has embarked on a journey to part some of the curtains surrounding this enigma with his ambitious 3 part trilogy chronicling the journey of this mighty warrior turned pacifist Buddhist King which turned a 1 among the 100 children of Samrat Bindusara into the 3rd Chakravartin Samrat of the Maurya Dynasty and man who took the Maurya kingdom to unprecedented heights.

The Book 1 starts strong, the story flows smooth from page to page, chapter to chapter. The action never ebbs, you never get the feeling that this is a debutant author and I can pay no higher compliment to the author other than saying that "You, my friend have arrived in the annals of Indian literature"

I strongly recommend to readers who like historical figures and historical fiction.

Labels: ,

4 Comments:

  • At August 12, 2016 at 9:42 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

    Thank you for the kind words. Book 2 is coming real soon :)

     
  • At August 13, 2016 at 6:11 AM , Blogger Christine said...

    Nice review, Gopal! Looks intriguing!

     
  • At August 15, 2016 at 3:08 PM , Blogger G said...

    Will surely look out for it Shreyas!!! BTW I liked the youtube trailer for the book as well...

     
  • At August 15, 2016 at 3:14 PM , Blogger G said...

    Hi Chris,

    Ashoka is a very important historical figure in India. He may be called the founding father of our nation. Ashoka's grandfather Chandragupta Maurya along with his prime minister Chanakya founded the first Indian empire.

    Chanakya was a renowned statesman, his monetary and fiscal policies, welfare, international relations, and war strategies in detail was written in Arthasashtra which is considered as the most complete treatise on the duties and obligations of a king. Some of the pointers are relevant in today's times as well
    Another of his famous works is Chanakya Neeti which is his collection of aphorisms from Arthasashtra.

     

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home