Title: The Krishna Key
Author: Ashwin Sanghi
After reading the Shiva Trilogy, my first from the genre of Mythological Fiction, I began to like it and explore more authors like Amish Tripathi. Thanks to Google, I found Ashwin Sanghi. He has a series of novel called the "Bharat Series" which is based on a common theme- an amalgamation of mythology with contemporary thrillers. I thought it was an interesting combination. The first book in the series, The Rozabal Line was based on a premise on which I have already read another novel (The Scroll, by our very own Dr. Sachin) and I didn't want to sour the taste by reading another novel on the same premise. The second one, Chanakya's Chant is award-winning, but I skipped it because I don't enjoy political thrillers and tussle to power. Hence, I zeroed down on the third- The Krishna Key. Here's my review of the experience and what I think about the author.
This novel has a very promising plot. Thousands of years ago, after the Mahabharata and the war of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna who is deified today, had left a secret to mankind. The secret still rests, somewhere! In the present day, Anil Varshney, a linguist, and symbolist seem to have gotten a clue from a recent excavation in the form of a seal that has four parts. He has contacted a few of the other experts and kept each part with each expert for further study and historian Ravi Mohan Saini, also his college buddy is one of these experts. Varshney is brutally murdered in mysterious circumstances and Ravi Mohan Saini is the prime suspect because he was the last man to meet him alive and his fingerprints are all over the crime scene! The rest of the story is about how Saini with his expertise in History, Mythology, and his current research study that finds links between the two helps him in proving his innocence. His student who is doing a doctorate with him, Priya is a daughter of a well-known Lawyer who helps him in his quest while he is on the run as a fugitive. The narration runs through a lot more brutal serial killings, more cryptic clues, and a mysterious man who helps him escape the police arrests again and again! The investigation is led by police inspector Radhika who is having a dark past.
The Good:
The writing has a pattern. The first 1 or 2 paragraphs of each chapter are actually the Mahabharata narrated in a nutshell. Though I watched the good old 90's serial as a kid, this was a good refresher for me!
Interesting premise, a serial killer on the prowl, an investigating officer, and a falsely accused and his efforts to dodge the police, sprinkled with conspiracy theories, historical facts garnished with pseudo-science, and religion- is a perfect recipe for an entertaining read.
Almost all characters are well defined with detailed descriptions of their appearance, back stories, and character traits. The writer sure is a seasoned one.
The writer mentioned a mountain of sources for his research before writing this novel. A huge list of books, web links, videos, and CDs- I am sure at least 1 year of research was done before the first line was penned.
The Bad:
The biggest put-off for me as a reader was that the identity of the killer is revealed very early on and we know all the while who is doing the killings. A little before mid-way we are introduced to another person who is hand-in-glove with the killer. This is supposed to be the twist that takes the reader by surprise. It may surprise some, or may not, but even if it does, this is the only real 'twist' in the novel. The rest of the pages are about discovering the motive of the conspiracy. These reveals don't really blow you away.
The central character is a historian and a professor, and the professor's character doesn't seem to be missing any chance of lecturing about historical facts, mythology, and his research so much so that he overdoes it and bores the reader. It also doesn't seem realistic that someone who is falsely accused in murder cases, is on the run from the police and the next killing may happen any time, and the person while in the hiding is delivering lectures on history!
Another point that is unrealistic, is there is another character introduced later who is not a historian, a theologist, or an 'expert' by any means and yet he delivers lectures and explanations of events in history and mythology and science like a professor- almost in the same tonality that Prof. Saini is doing in most parts of the book.
There are too many conspiracy theories and some may hurt religious sentiments. The overall idea that the author conveys through all this is how great ancient India and the scripts of those ages (like Vedas and Puranas) and how all other religions might have learned from this. Another problem is, we are shown conversations between Historians, Researchers, Paleontologist and Anthropologists with extensive use of phrases like "Maybe", "It is possible that..", "It could be..", and "Likely that..", which is not the way experts conclude their things in research. Any research in the field of science is evidence-based and goes through many peer reviews.
The attempt to show Mahabharat is indeed history and not mythology can be problematic. From a creative freedom perspective, it's a great idea and should be encouraged. However, it shouldn't trigger false claims of cultural superiority that may in turn hurt the harmony of the society.
It was an average read, that could have been easily 150 pages lesser if the explanations and lectures were edited. If you like conspiracy theories or if you are a History buff then you will enjoy it. If you are a rationalist, you may have the same issues that I had, as I too was in the later category. The identity reveals being made too early makes it less of a suspense mystery and more of a conspiracy theory novel. Ashwin Sanghi is often compared with Dan Brown and rightly so. The book has cryptic messages that need to be deciphered to reveal a big secret. That is pretty much Dan Brown-ish. However, in this case, some of the cryptic messages were easy to guess if you are a fan of word games. Do they finally find the secret? The answer to this is again, much like Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code". To keep the review spoiler-free, I will stop it at that. I would give it 2.5 stars. After this read, I would like to take a break from Mythology Fiction for some time and pick another one from this genre only when I am tired of other genres or when I find something that is set on a premise that really intrigues me.
No comments:
Post a Comment