Goodreads blurb: ‘The fate of an Empire trembles in the balance…’
Hindustan, 1580 AD. The Mughal Emperor Akbar is at the height of his power, seemingly invincible. But twenty years of war have earned him many enemies, and rebellion is brewing, led by Asaf Baig, the tyrannical ruler of Khandesh. Baig has stumbled upon the knowledge that the fabulous lost treasure of Malik Kafur, that will guarantee victory to Akbar’s enemies, is known to an old woman called Ambu.
Baig kidnaps Ambu to wrest the knowledge of the treasure from her; but her twenty-year-old grandson, Dattatreya, escapes and flees across Hindustan to enlist the help of the one person who has the most reason to stop Baig – the Mughal Emperor himself.
Staying one step ahead of capture and death, Datta is swept up in a world of kings and warrior princesses, of uncommon friendships and an implacable evil; and a desperate race against time to save his grandmother – and the Empire.
Aroon Raman, national bestselling author of The Shadow Throne now brings us a riveting saga of action and adventure set in Mughal India.
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With “The Treasure of Kafur”, author Aroon Raman weaves a wonderful tale of fantasy filled adventure with lost treasure, talking animals, a race against time which involves a tortuous journey, a teenage boy’s journey to coming of age and more. As if this wasn’t good enough, he goes ahead and sets this narrative in Mughal India in a time when Akbar’s reign is possibly at its highest point. This book is truly a joy to read and will surely remind readers of books such as the Harry Potter ones and the Chronicles of Narnia series.
Cleverly weaving history and fantasy fiction together, the author manages to draw us all into the world of the main protagonist Dattatreya (Datta) whose grandmother Ambu is kidnapped by tyrant ruler Asaf Baig to extract the location of the famed lost treasure of Malik Kafur. The only option available to Datta to save himself and Ambu from the clutches of Baig is to make his way to Agra, capital city of the Mughal empire and ask Emperor Akbar for assistance.
The first part of the book deals with this treacherous journey where Datta and his motley crew of friends comprising of a cow, a tortoise, a couple of ravens and a parakeet narrowly escape death at the hands of Baig’s forces and make their journey to Agra. This portion of the book sets up the rest of the novel very well and has enough and more action to whet the appetite of the readers. The second part deals with how Datta manages to apprise Akbar of the situation and also impress upon the impending rebellion being planned by Baig and his partners in crime. The third and the climactic part of the book deals with a showdown between the Mughals and the rebels.
With a good hold on the pace and the intensity of the narrative, Aroon Raman manages to ensure that the readers keep turning the pages one after the other without being able to put the book down at all. And even if they do put the book down, I am sure that almost all readers will continuously have the story running in their heads when they are doing whatever else it is that they are doing. A wonderful combination of well written characters, a riveting action-filled narrative, lovely pacing and good writing ensure that this book delivers on its promise of being ‘an action filled entertainer’. Couple this with the subtexts of Datta’s friendship with Dilawar Khan, his coming of age in a world of humans, his suppressed feelings for Princess Ahilya of Amber, and you have a wonderful mix of all the elements required for a good read.
Surely, a must read book for adventure lovers and readers who like the fantasy fiction genre. So, what are you waiting for, go ahead and purchase the book from Flipkart [Link] or Amazon [Link] right away.
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Disclaimer : Although I will make a small commission if you purchase the book from either of the links above, your purchase price will remain the same.
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| Name | The Treasure of Kafur |
| Author/s | Aroon Raman |
| Publisher | Pan MacMillan |
| Year published | 2013 |
| ISBN 13 | 9789382616122 |
| Goodreads link | Link |
| Flipkart link | Flipkart |
| Amazon link | Amazon |
Mahabore's Mumblings 
so many books to read and so little time!!
thank you for the review Jai 🙂
@pixie, this is an especially good book, do try and grab a copy if you can 🙂
I will. Thank you 🙂
Your review definitely makes one wish to pick the book up. I normally don’t like fantasy fiction so I am in two minds. I did see this one at the Library in new arrivals.
@Rachna, there is not too much ‘fantasy’ per se in this book, am sure your sons would love the adventure in this particular book, if they are old enough to read it of course 🙂 And am sure you will also enjoy it quite a bit, if not for anything, at least for how the author has tactfully played around with real historical figures and given his own twist to the same 🙂
Sound interesting enough to add to my reading list :).
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