I have been offered this book by it's publishers and initially I was hesitant in reviewing it. However, one thing about this book I found very interesting and it was the mention of 'Angkor Wat'. When I was student of Class 7 or 8th (I don't remember correctly), my Hindi book had a chapter about the famous Angkor Wat temple which has various Hindu Deities as its guardians. The mere indication that my religion and country had its traces of identity elsewhere in the world gave me goosebumps and I wouldn't be shying away from the fact that it became one of my most favorite chapters in that book and I visited it innumerable times. So Dr. Ezhuth Aani's book had one interesting thing for me and that was enough to bring me on-board.
So I started reading it. The first thing I noticed was that it was originally written by Dr. Aani in Tamil and received critical acclaim in Tamil literary community. So my expectations, having read this mention, rose manifolds. Secondly, 15-20 pages in, you would notice the author's intentions to details. You would do well to read its blurb for knowing more about it but I want to say that having been a tremendous traveler himself (Dr. Aani's introduction says so on back cover of the book), he has explored countries of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, China, India to their bones and given his readers vivid descriptions of their history, culture, rituals and way of living. Then there are mentions of our Vedas and Tri-Pitaka of Buddhism. They find their mention almost everywhere in the book. Readers have been let known about the teachings of these great literature and then the author has picked up on the rich, founding principles of Hinduism and Buddhism. Various other impressive developments are detailed here such as the Mongolian invasion of China, Chronicles of Ming Dynasty, History of Sri Lanka and the apparent threat of Tamils expansions there etc. Now, given so much there to soak in, I dropped my guard at a certain point and decided to award it 5 stars, my maximum rating points but then I tried to look closely and found some chinks in this book's repertoire.
First of all, printing mistakes at least in the first two parts of the book are glaring. Secondly, the space gap between two paragraphs is inconsistent throughout the book and that's not comforting to look at. Thirdly, since the book has gone to great heights in exploring the spiritual, theological and political development of many countries, many sections and conversations bore repetitiousness and they make certain pages of books 'most boring'. This book can do away with a great editor. Fourthly, why didn't the author and its publisher think of dividing this book in many sections/chapters consider it has got so many stories to tell? I was most disappointed about this fourth aspect because it leaves the book in a 'cluttered mess'.
Now all these mistakes have to do with technical specifications but if you are writing a historical fiction, please bear in mind that until and unless you get your subject right and interesting, you couldn't sell it and in order to sell it, you will have to make it presentable. So I shall suggest the concerned authorities to address these concerns and make this book a most wonderful one in second offering.
Rating: 4.0/5 because of whatever there was, was worth devouring for me.
So I started reading it. The first thing I noticed was that it was originally written by Dr. Aani in Tamil and received critical acclaim in Tamil literary community. So my expectations, having read this mention, rose manifolds. Secondly, 15-20 pages in, you would notice the author's intentions to details. You would do well to read its blurb for knowing more about it but I want to say that having been a tremendous traveler himself (Dr. Aani's introduction says so on back cover of the book), he has explored countries of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, China, India to their bones and given his readers vivid descriptions of their history, culture, rituals and way of living. Then there are mentions of our Vedas and Tri-Pitaka of Buddhism. They find their mention almost everywhere in the book. Readers have been let known about the teachings of these great literature and then the author has picked up on the rich, founding principles of Hinduism and Buddhism. Various other impressive developments are detailed here such as the Mongolian invasion of China, Chronicles of Ming Dynasty, History of Sri Lanka and the apparent threat of Tamils expansions there etc. Now, given so much there to soak in, I dropped my guard at a certain point and decided to award it 5 stars, my maximum rating points but then I tried to look closely and found some chinks in this book's repertoire.
First of all, printing mistakes at least in the first two parts of the book are glaring. Secondly, the space gap between two paragraphs is inconsistent throughout the book and that's not comforting to look at. Thirdly, since the book has gone to great heights in exploring the spiritual, theological and political development of many countries, many sections and conversations bore repetitiousness and they make certain pages of books 'most boring'. This book can do away with a great editor. Fourthly, why didn't the author and its publisher think of dividing this book in many sections/chapters consider it has got so many stories to tell? I was most disappointed about this fourth aspect because it leaves the book in a 'cluttered mess'.
Now all these mistakes have to do with technical specifications but if you are writing a historical fiction, please bear in mind that until and unless you get your subject right and interesting, you couldn't sell it and in order to sell it, you will have to make it presentable. So I shall suggest the concerned authorities to address these concerns and make this book a most wonderful one in second offering.
Rating: 4.0/5 because of whatever there was, was worth devouring for me.
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