The Rise of Sivagami by Anand Neelakantan : Book Review

Title : The Rise of Sivagami

Author : Anand Neelakantan

Genre : Historical Fiction ; Fantasy

Pages : 474

Blurb

When a five-year old Sivagami witnesses her father being branded a traitor and executed by the Maharaja of Mahishmati, she vows to one day destroy the kingdom. At seventeen, she recovers a manuscript from her crumbling ancestral mansion. Written in a strange language called Paisachi, the manuscript contains a secret that may redeem her father or condemn him further.

Meanwhile, Kattappa, a proud and idealistic young slave who blindly believes in his duty, finds himself in the service of a spoilt prince. Alongside, he must try and keep his brother, who resents their social position and yearns for freedom, out of trouble.

As Sivagami tries to unravel the secret of the manuscript, she finds that the empire of Mahishmati is teeming with conspirators, palace intrigues, corrupt officials and revolutionaries. An ambitious nobelman will do anything for power and money. A secret group of warriors under the leadership of a seventy-year-old woman is determined to stop the slave trade. A forest tribe, deeply resentful of having been driven away from their holy mountain three hundred years ago, is preparing to wage a war against the King.

Review

The Rise of Sivagami is a prequel to the most celebrated Indian Cinema Bahubali (Bahubali Franchise). This book is before the Bahubali : The Beginning and the first book in the trilogy. Indian mythology writer Anand Neelakantan is the author of this trilogy . Anand Neelakantan is known for his distinctive approach towards the Indian mythology. To be precise he tells story from the defeated side’s perspective and he damn good at it.

We all know how wonderful the Bahubali movies were and we also happened to admire the strong, bold and valiant Queen mother, Sivagami devi. The actor, Ramya Krishna who played the character of Sivagami in the movie had done a tremendous job that we all became a fan of that very character instantly.

This book was released in 2017, a couple months after the release of Bahubali : The conclusion and gained a lot of attention and appreciation right after it’s release. It is a worthy prequel to Bahubali movie franchise. S.S Rajamouli has given the job to write the worthy prequel, to the right person. Nobody other than Anand Neelakantan could done this job as meticulously as him.

The Rise of Sivagami was a totally shown from a very different perspective. Nobody in a million years would’ve thought Sivagami badly wanted to destroy the Kingdom of Mahishmati. This itself raised the anticipation of the readers by multiple levels. The author had ingeniously penned down the plot. There were lot of characters and the plot revealed itself by these manifold of characters and their characteristic.

The way in which the plot jumps from one scenario to another, one perspective to another was absolutely magnificent. Anand Neelakantan knows to when reveal an information and when not to, he is truly a master in this craft. All the characters in this book were distinct, the only characters people know well in this book were that of Sivagami and Kattappa’s but this book broadcasted them both from a totally different light. It will also help the readers understand how they became what they were in the Bahubali movies.

There were two brave and heroic characters which will haul attention and admiration of the readers a lot. They are Kattappa’s brother, Shivappa and Prime Minister/ Mahapradhana Skandadas. Shivappa was a revolutionary and his visions were clear and more reasonable than that of Kattapa’s. Shivappa is more like the hero of the book after Sivagami. And also Shivappa’s relationship with his lover Kamakshi was beautifully portrayed. On the other hand, Skandadas is that one good and honest character in the story, for whom you will root from the very beginning.

The writing style of the author was serene and flowy, it will make the readers read the book effortlessly. The dialogues and the statements made in the book had the typical Anand Neelakantan’s touch to it, they were sharp, point-blank and direct. The fight sequences and adventures sequences into the wild were written down very interestingly. There were a plethora of nail-biding and heart-wobbling sequences which made the book truly engaging and fast moving.

There wasn’t any major setbacks with the book but if you are expecting for an extravaganza atmospheric description and grandeur setting of the Mahishmati Kingdom as shown in the movie, you will be in for a slight disappointment. Maybe, the author might have thought, ‘it has all been covered in the movie itself, it would be irrelevant and repetitive’ and so he would’ve deliberately avoid it. But to balance it, he had a solid and a wonderful plot, a plethora of characters with various dimensions and amazing dialogues.

There were lot of shocking revelations and twists, which will keep you wondering about it for many nights just like you were wondering “Why Kattappa killed Bahubali” constantly, after the release of Bahubali : The beginning. The end was quite heartbreaking and painful. But at the same time, it also had a twist in a good way.

My views

I read this book right after it’s release, in 2017 because I’m a massive fan of Bahubali and I wanted to know about it all. I still remember I was forcefully telling the story of The Rise of Sivagami to my parents as they didn’t find sufficient time to read the book. But it is such a good story and it deserved to be heard so I told them and they absolutely loved it. I also made a couple of my friends read it and they also adored and loved it.

So, the second book in the trilogy, Chaturanga released recently and so before the arrival of my book I wanted to read the first book again. Because only after reading it extensively I could come up with review. So now I have read the book for the second time and I loved it even more than the first time. I noticed a lot of trivial and inner details the author has placed in the book with this second reading. And I’m glad I did it.

My rating for this book would be 4.5 out of 5 stars

I would recommend this book to all the Bahubali fans, I’m damn sure you will love it. I don’t think there is anybody who haven’t watched or loved Bahubali in this country. So, I guess this book would be a suitable read for most of the population.

Do read this book and tell me how you feel about it.

The book review of Chaturanga is coming really soon! Believe me!

Happy Reading Folks!!!

~ Meenu

Read “The Rise of Sivagami” by Anand Neelakantan to know what happened before Bahubali : The beginning. And stay a little bit more in the Kingdom of Mahishmati created by SS Rajamouli on screen, through the words of Anand Neelakantan!!

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