SkySerpents – Jash Sen : Book Review

Title : SkySerpents

Author : Jash Sen

Book Blurb : ‘One day they were here and the next day they were gone.’

The world is in great danger. Kali, the powerful god, has a new weapon—the deadly Skyserpents—and the avatar, Bilal, and his twin, Anya, are the only ones who can save Earth from complete destruction.

Hope exists; and if they succeed, more than one world can be saved.

In the second book of The Wordkeepers Trilogy, the twins’ journey takes them from the prison towers of Vishasha to Victorian London to the idyllic world of Alkapuri, where Anya learns a staggering secret …

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After finishing The Wordkeepers, the first book of this trilogy by Jash Sen [Link to review] I simply knew that I had to read the next one, SkySerpents without fail. The simplicity with which the author lures us into the futuristic world of 2028 where the Earth is in grave danger and a silent war is being waged by Kali is awesome. The ease with she uses familiar names from Indian mythology and weaves these characters into an imaginative storyline has to be commended.

This book picks up the action right from the last words of the previous one and the action moves forward at reasonably breakneck pace as well. Starting in Vishasha and ending at Alkapuri, the legendary city of gold built and ruled by Kubera, this book takes us on a journey where the chosen twins, Anya and Bilal learn more about themselves, their powers and their roles in human history. Given that they are still confused teenagers, the way in which the author presents their characters and their maturity is very believable.

We are introduced to a couple of more familiar mythological characters, the names of whom I will not reveal in this review as it might end up being a spoiler. Suffice to say that this character is universally loved by one and all and am sure all readers will sport a smile whenever this character becomes part of the action in this story.

After having read these two books, my wait for the third and concluding part of this trilogy has become all the more painful and anxious. And given that the second book released only recently, am sure I will have to wait at least 6 months more 😦

 

Related information

Name	SkySerpents
Author/s	Jash Sen
Publisher	Duckbill
Year published	2013
ISBN 13	9789383331062
Goodreads link	Link
Flipkart link	Link
Amazon link	Link

The Wordkeepers – Jash Sen – Book Review

Title: The Wordkeepers

Author: Jash Sen

Book Blurb: “The wordkeeper was taken; abducted right under my nose. That left my final hope, the new wordkeeper.”

Anya’s carefree teenage life is thrown into turmoil when her mother is abducted, passing on the mantle of wordkeeper to her. Her only ally for this task is a cursed immortal warrior.

In another part of the country, village boy Bilal dismisses tales about a prophecy claiming he is a messiah … until the day his dearest friend is killed in a case of mistaken identity.

Anya and Bilal need to find each other so they can fulfill the old prophecy and destroy their common enemy, the vengeful god who pursues them.

The first of a trilogy, this book takes you on a breathtaking journey of fantasy and adventure, through modern cities, ancient cremation grounds, mythical planets and mystical mountains.

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To be honest the only reason I actually have this book is because this was part of the 15 eBooks that amazon.in gave away when they launched the website probably around 4 odd months back. And when I was looking for something light to read I happened to come across this book and started reading it. And man, did that turn out to be a good decision or what.

As the blurb states, the book begins with the disappearance of Anya’s mother and her subsequent discovery that her life is not all that normal as it seems. Anya turns out be one of the wordkeepers, a secret group of people who have been entrusted with keeping a particular secret safe for more than a few centuries. Life as she knew it till then would never be the same again.

Bilal meanwhile is a boy who is happy playing cricket and having fun with his friends in his village. However, all this changes when a friend who is aware of Bilal’s secret gift dies and suddenly he is on the run from unknown enemies.

Anya and Bilal are only two small pawns in a larger game that had started eons ago. In fact, the story starts at the end of the Treta Yuga and just about when Kali Yuga is about to begin. And little do these two teenagers realize that they have significant parts to play in the history of their world.

Jash Sen, the author of this wonderful book takes a significant chunk of Indian mythology, makes it her own, plays around with it quite liberally and churns out this wonderfully imagined yarn about the so called immortals or chiranjeevis from our mythological tales. Letting loose her imagination, she builds upon this concept and brings in various forces of good and evil from these tales and creates this wonderfully fashioned concept where humans are but mere pawns in a bigger celestial game. And given my growing interest in Indian mythology as regular readers of my blog are aware, I personally found the author’s premise extremely interesting and quite enjoyed it.

While the publisher and author have stated that this book is probably more suited for young readers between the ages of 9-15, I would recommend this book for anybody who is interested in a light read and more so for people interested in Indian mythology. The way the author uses stories and names and concepts we have heard of is very interesting and very engaging as well. And in my opinion, Jash Sen has a sure-shot winner with this particular trilogy.

I, for one, am surely going to pick up the remaining two books, more so because the publishers are forward enough to release eBook versions simultaneously with the normal paperback versions.

 

 

Related information

Name	The Wordkeepers
Author/s	Jash Sen
Publisher	Duckbill
Year published	2013
ISBN 13	9789382618164
Goodreads link	Link
Flipkart link	Link
Amazon link	Link