The Immortals of Meluha

Book Info

Original Title- The Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy #1)

Author- Amish Tripathi

Original Published- 1st April 2010

Genre- Fantasy, Mythological fiction, Historical Fiction

Page Count- 420

Mythology is a fast-growing genre in India. The first book by the godfather of the genre, Amish Tripathi was “The Immortals of Meluha”. Also, it is the first book in the Amishverse; followed by 2 other in Shiva Trilogy and 5 books in Ram Chandra series. This book is about a tribal man, who becomes the Mahadev (God of the Gods) because of his karma. The Mahadev was also said to be, the saver of the people and the Destroyer of Evil. There are some astonishing movements and stunning revelations in this book. Also, it shows a vivid picture of ancient India.

“A man becomes a Mahadev, only when he fights for good. A Mahadev is not born from his mother's womb. He is forged in the heat of battle, when he wages a war to destroy evil. Har Har Mahadev - All of us are Mahadev.”

This book is set in the 1900 BCE when India was divided into Meluha, the Suryavanshi’s sub-continent and Swadweep, the Chandravanshi’s subcontinent. Both Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis were the enemy of each other. The Nagas were another enemy of Suryavanshis who covers their face with a mask and seemed to be allied with the Chandravanshis. The only hope of the Suryavanshis was an ancient legend that emerged as a Tibetan immigrant Shiva.

Shiva was a tribal man who appears to be a magnificent leader, a passionate lover and a fearsome warrior. Shiva became the saver of the people; he was the destroyer of evil. People believe that he is the next Mahadev. Some revelations are stunning. Shiva falls in love with Sati, the princes of Meluha. Sati is a warrior, too. Her skills are admirable, she never shows cowardice. However, there’re many twists and turns in the plot. Also, many secrets are going to unveiled in the next book.

This book is a fast-paced and thrilling retelling. All the scientific references in the book are brilliant. Altering women characters shows a strong female perspective; like altering Sati into a warrior. Amish has an admirable narrative style. Also, it has some stunning revelations and awful movements. Seldom Shiva appears rather childish as a legend. The next book in the series is a bit bland sometimes, yet it is an excellent thrilling sequel to this book. However, the last book in the series is not so good. It does have some memorable movements but the non-uniform pace, some uncompleted stories and a poor role model will make these movements terrible. Even the first two parts will seem not as good as after reading the third. Even though there are so many problems with the third part this book is a must-read.

I’ll rate this book A- and suggest that if you’re looking for a mythological fiction or fantasy fiction book, then it’s a must-read for you.

A-