Book Review: Tantra

Book:- Tantra

Author:- Adi

ISBN:- 978-81-908636-2-9
Genre:- Fiction/Thriller

Price:- 195 (I got this book from Blogadda in a  book review program)

Pages:- 335

Publisher:- Apeejay Stya Publishing

Introduction: If you go by the title “Tantra” and the backdrop of it, you would probably think of a superwoman so called the guardian taking the burden of the entire city on her shoulders to protect them from any evil eyes in this case – ‘The Vampires’ but before you could even think of a befitting theme (for all those who are prone to Vampire movies) how do you think female lead with a vampire story be suitably paired to an Indian audience? All that glitters is not gold…amused? Well am in no way trying to evade from the story or the harsh realities of life…Still bemused? To cut the swath- Who do you think would perform a ‘Tantra’? You got it a Tantric. There are people whom we term as sacred or preach them as austere but here comes the punch line again–‘All that glitters is not gold’ and this story though a fiction would surely clear all vows of those raised eyebrows about the harsh realities of a Tantric…This story also imparts a fitting tale to ‘At times even our enemies comes to our savior’. Who are the Enemies of guardian-Vampires? Can vampires help out a guardian? Did I instill suspense through the opening lines? Well I’ll tell you one thing this story does have an inclination towards personal life and though am not a fan of Twilight series this is worth a read for all those voracious readers to taste something tangy.

Cover Page: By the look of it you would probably relate to a character…who is watching a thunder strike the city from a roof top with her blood drenched dagger and the demon marking her movies from the skies. The cover page is tempting enough for the readers to splash them to the flings of something dire unusual especially to an Indian Audience.

About the Author: Adi grew up reading fiction books by flashlight, hiding under the covers, pretending to be asleep. While it would certainly affect his academic life the next day, he did go on to get degrees from Stanford university and Harvard University, so it was not all that bad.
Somewhere along the line, a poetry book and a minor textbook were published. He wishes he could withdraw all copies of said poetry book from the market. At the time, it was poignant, but now it’s just embarrassing.
He’s always given credit for his successes in life to those of late-night reading habits of years ago than to the high school academics he trudged through, and he yearned to write one of those books himself.
Deeply impressed by the vast religious history of India, he could not help but pick this topic for his first novel.

Compositional Report: As devised by our ancient scholars, our fore fathers would put it – We are all bound to our karma and these karmic sages impels to preach what we are constituted to Achieve. Whether you call it to be our karma, fate or a sheer determination to hunt down the vampire who is responsible for the death of the Guardian’s only connection with the social binding, Anu Agarwal (A guardian) comes to India in search for a vampire who is responsible for her lover’s (Brian) death.

The first part of the story deals with Anu’s intervention with local guardian Amit, Local guardian head Suresh, her Aunt Nina, a combat with a child’s blood thirsty vampire Misra, and an oblivious rant with the vampire ‘panch’ head Chandra. It seemed as if the story would unfold how Anu traced her target but no, the artifacts were only the preparatory links for the main theme of the story that is how she takes up with an evil tantric (Baba Senaka) on his savage mission to destroy the rule over the city and the world soon after through the killing of small children.

Story also dwells with the connections of Vampires with that of Humans, Guardian and the Sages with their motives to exist together. And this survival for existence forced vampire Chandra to lend a helping hand to Anu to fight against the powers of tantric as he was overpowering them and turning them to his own side and strengthen his forces along with his followers acolytes. 
As you would have retorted…how can a guardian trained to kill vampires face off a Tantric. To sum this up she is ably guided by a scholar Dr. Sharma who helped her with the training of the sage Brahma rajas (a weapon to fight with the tantric), helped by Sage Pandit Grovar  to understand the links of the karmic connections and its implications to her new mission. Briefly empowered and inspired by the all powerful Karta’s act of neutrality by a Tandav dance which came just at the right time for Anu. The interaction of Anu with Pandit Grovar about Karmic threads and Karta’s in spite of being a neutral bystander –(the Tandav  Dance)were the highlights of the story which I must say is well versed.

Adi also tried to woo personal life of the main character Anu by being rather descriptive of her aunt’s willingness to find a suitable alliance for Anu, her connection with her niece Smiti and her freshly renewed longing for love in the form of Gaurav and with couple of other incidences of social upbringing. And by far these were the loose ends of the story as it would distract readers from the main theme and minor plots were rather descriptive be it for humor or for simply adding up to the main theme they were proving a occlusion to the intense layout building up the climax. 

Epilogue didn’t mention anything about Gaurav who was put up in the concluding part blending Anu’s professional and personal life thus ensuing with an abrupt end which doesn’t justify Gaurav’s inclusion to the climax.

For a first time writer, choosing an out of bound story and to blend a guardian (a protector from the vampires) to the Indian cultures and highlighting the dark side of our sages this is indeed a remarkable job which deserves a special mention. This is a fictional tangy flutter to the readers to change their taste buds. With the exorbitant script, an outrageous befitting Indian culture, superficial storytelling and a gracefully fed credence of opposite forces I would give TANTRA 3.5 out of 5.
Life Adjudication of the story: This story can be best enjoyed when life becomes monotonous and our day to day life turns to jargon. It’s time when you need a change this story would surely change up your mood and you’ll feel lively and fresh thereafter…A Tangy mood freshener up your sleeves.
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