Book Review : Ajaya – Roll of the Dice #1 by Anand Neelakantan @itsanandneel

Title : Roll of the Dice (Epic of the Gaurava Clan #1)

Author : Anand Neelakantan

Genre : Mythological Fiction

Pages : 456

Thank you so much my dear long time friend Pradeep Pradge for gifting me this amazing duology as soon as I asked for it!! Sorry it nearly took me a year to get started with this book 😀

Blurb

THE MAHABHARATA ENDURES AS THE GREAT EPIC OF INDIA. But while Jaya is the story of the Pandavas, told from the perspective of the victors of Kurukshetra; Ajaya is the narrative of the ‘unconquerable’ Kauravas, who were decimated to the last man.

***
At the heart of India’s most powerful empire, a revolution is brewing. Bhishma, the noble patriarch of Hastinapura, is struggling to maintain the unity of his empire. On the throne sits Dhritarashtra, the blind King, and his foreign-born Queen – Gandhari. In the shadow of the throne stands Kunti, the Dowager-Queen, burning with ambition to see her firstborn become the ruler, acknowledged by all.

And in the wings:
* Parashurama, the enigmatic Guru of the powerful Southern Confederate, bides his time to take over and impose his will from mountains to ocean.
* Ekalavya, a young Nishada, yearns to break free of caste restrictions and become a warrior.
* Karna, son of a humble charioteer, travels to the South to study under the foremost Guru of the day and become the greatest archer in the land.
* Balarama, the charismatic leader of the Yadavas, dreams of building the perfect city by the sea and seeing his people prosperous and proud once more.
* Takshaka, guerilla leader of the Nagas, foments a revolution by the downtrodden as he lies in wait in the jungles of India, where survival is the only dharma.
* Jara, the beggar, and his blind dog Dharma, walk the dusty streets of India, witness to people and events far greater than they, as the Pandavas and the Kauravas confront their searing destinies.

Amidst the chaos, Prince Suyodhana, heir of Hastinapura, stands tall, determined to claim his birthright and act according to his conscience. He is the maker of his own destiny – or so he believes. While in the corridors of the Hastinapura palace, a foreign Prince plots to destroy India. And the dice falls… 

Review

Roll of the Dice is the first book in the Ajaya duology by Anand Neelakantan. This book re-imagines the story of Mahabharata from the perspective of the most vilified character of all time, Suyodhana, well known as Dhuryodhana.

Anand Neelakantan had brought about the side of Dhuryodhana which no one has ever dare to showcase ever before in their mythological re-tellings, may it be books or movies or series. The kind of plot he undertook this time was extremely challenging because with Asura, most of us would’ve at least heard a few good things, characteristics and traits of Ravana, so showing him in a good light would’ve been considerably easier and okayish when compared to justifying Dhuryodhana’s character. Because as far as I could remember there isn’t any solid interpretation other than the JAYA by Vyasa itself, nothing or nobody has said a good thing about Dhuryodhana. He is always made to be believed as one evil character who doesn’t have a ounce of goodness in him. He is always evil, selfish, narcissistic and all the bad things in the world represented with Dhuryodhana. So basically casting him from good and heroic light is the most difficult thing but Anand Neelakantan is an expert in the art of showing people from a new light and perspective. And that’s why I’m one of his greatest fans.

The writing style of the author was absolutely wonderful. The way certain sentences and dialogues hits the readers hard on their conscience was extraordinary. Whenever I start reading Anand Neelakantan’s book, I only sit with a pen because I cannot stop myself from highlighting his words and sentences. This book was very descriptive that it almost brought about every single detail in the book vividly in front of our eyes while reading.

What I personally like about Anand Neelakantan’s writing is, while reading the first line a doubt will pop up in your head or your mind might counterattack it with something but when you read the second line the author would’ve written your exact thought without rephrasing it. That’s how in-sync the author and reader relationship will be throughout the book. This kind of satisfaction and sync will not happen that often, at least for me.

What was the most interesting and my favorite part of the book was the way in which each character in the book was introduced. At the end of each chapter, the author would introduce a new character with a massive introduction and it happened for around the first hundred pages but I’m telling you it wasn’t repetitive or boring. Each introduction was one of its kind and all these characters obviously deserves that kind of an introduction.

The characterization of all the characters was absolutely tremendous. I have never really known that much about Kripacharaya but the author showed the true identity and beliefs of Kripa in a great detail. The law abiding and sincere character of Vidhura immediately gained my respect. And also there was this minor character called Jara who also played a significant role. There were lot of characters who were exceptionally good, say for example Jarasandha, Hiranyadhanus, Mayasura and many more. And the character of Balarama was too really inspiring.

So now I really need talk about Suyodhana’s character. I have always liked Dhuryodhana that was mainly because my top most favourite character in the entire epic has always been Karna, just because Dhuryodhana befriended Karna and saved him from the most humiliating moment of his life, I liked Dhuryodhana. But with this book everything changed, now my top most favourite character would be Suyodhana aka Dhuryodhana without a second’s thought.

Karna has been always portrayed as the epitome of friendship and it is something that is often spoken about very proudly in southern parts of India. And almost all the interpretations of the Mahabharata says Dhuryodhana befriended Karna in the first place for his selfish motive of defeating the Pandavas which is not true and with this book you will understand why and how? After reading this book I understood Dhuryodhana is the epitome of friendship because all he had for Karna and Ashwathama was only pure love but in the case of Karna it was a sense of loyalty, gratitude and duty. And we all know love is the most pure and valuable of all.

Dhuryodhana was the only person in the epic who has an unadulterated goodness, he had the sense of righteousness, he always followed equality and fraternity even in those times when varnas and caste were at its peak. He was considered evil and portrayed in a bad light because he didn’t believe in the practice of varnas, castes, inequality, discrimination and untouchability. He was beyond his age and era. He was soft, compassionate and emphatic personality. His maturity level was par excellence when he decided to let go off his love Subhadra when she betrayed and eloped with Arjuna. You will understand Dhuryodhana is the goddamn hero of this entire epic if you read this book.

The book also covered story of Ekalayva, karna and Ashwathama in great detail. It also shows the motive behind Kunti’s behaviours and actions. This book had human-ified every magical aspects of the epic and that made it more relatable and believable. How the author had brilliantly interpreted each and every scenario from Dhuryodhana’s perspective was mind-blowing. It was an eyeopening experience to have read this book. The only problem I faced while reading the book was, it was said “India” very frequently. Since India is the name which was adopted to the country many thousands of years after this epic, it sounded irrelevant and fake because the epic and mythological feelings and settings of the book was sucked out our brains as soon as coming across the word India. The author could’ve used some other words like Bharat or something like that, it would’ve given that epic feel.

And every incidents and situations said in the book seems to be still very much relevant in today’s Indian society. Anand Neelakantan is a scholar who has a tremendous ability to produce an epic in a most relevant and akin manner.

My Views

We all know how obsessed Anand Neelakantan is in telling the story of the vanquished and he is absolutely spectacular in writing the other side of the story way beyond convincingly. I always love seeing things from different perspective and it feels kind of really great and different to read things which are against popular opinion and beliefs. I generally love mythology but after reading Anand Neelakantan, I cannot make myself to read normal conventional Hindu Mythology which more or less tells the same story again and again in the same manner. My appetite to read the other side of the story had increased by gazillion times after encountering Anand Neelakantan’s Books. Today I can boldly and proudly say that Anand Neelakantan is my favourite author and my only favourite Mythology writer. I want to read more from him.

Now it has kind of become a new ritual at home for me and my father. Whenever we come across Anand Neelakantan’s book especially if it is a mythology, we start buddy reading out loudly and discuss endlessly with our family and friends over and over again. Unknowingly Anand Neelakantan had made us form a little informal book club of our own. And whenever someone asks for a book suggestion I introduce mythology and Anand Neelakantan to them. I might have started reading mythology with Amish Tripathi but it was Anand Neelakantan who made me think clearly and analytically. His writings had brought about a lot of positive and good impacts on me. Thank you so much sir. My father and I, we both adore you, your writing style, your way of thinking and the way you correlate the epics with your books.

On the whole, my father and I, we absolutely loved this book to bits and pieces. If you ask me to talk or write about this book or Anand Neelakantan’s writing I would spend all day doing that without getting tired or bored. But I don’t want to prolong this post any further as it is already very long!!!

Our rating for this book would be 5 out of 5 stars

I would recommend this book to all the mythology lovers. It is a must because you need to know the other side of the story as well to come up with your own opinion isn’t it ? And also if you’re someone who loves to read stories from the other side or if you’re someone who loves villains over heroes (though he is not the villain but just a human who had been wronged in the pages of various interpretation by the victors), then this book is for you.

Everyone please read this book!! This man, Dhuryodhana (Suyodhana) deserves to be read!!

I really wish S.S Rajamouli would make a movie out of this book 😀 It would be the best!!

PS : I watched this Mahabharata series that came in Star channels some six seven years back and that had a great impact on me and the casting was so amazing. My mind only materialized all these characters I watched on the series while reading the book.

Get this amazing book here!!

Hope you will love this book as much as I loved it!!

Happy Reading Folks!!

~ Meenu

“Roll of the Dice” by Anand Neelakantan!!! Check out the Book Review to know how spectacular the book is and do not forget to read the book for yourself!!

Tweet