Mar 31, 2004 03:25 PM
3772 Views
(Updated Apr 02, 2004 01:08 PM)
Move over Tolkein, Brooks and Rowling, India has its own sff (science fiction/fantasy) English author to boast of, and a heady one at that, Samit Basu, 23. He gives us a book where our own vanar sena and rakshasas fight for page space with centaurs and dragons. Mahabharata teaches Beowulf a thing or two about magic, while an amalgamation of Indian, English and Greek mythology breathes fresh air into minds overdosed on trolls, elves and dwarves. It is just what the doc in the castle in the sky ordered.
Brief:
In a world the creator doesn’t remember creating, one prophecy foretells the rise of a fallen rakshas ‘Danh-Gem’ (reminds me of Stephen King’s Desperation) after 200 years, while another tells about a hero who would vanquish him. A Hero, Asvin, is searched for, found and trained to successfully complete the task. But, things aren’t supposed to be so simple as Danh-Gem’s followers gather and attempt to raise him while hindered by Asvin and his supporters, another potent magical force called Kirin roams the land with his deadly assistant Spikes, both trying to fulfill their destinies, intertwined with that of this strange world.
Critique:
While the premise offers great scope for innovation, Basu makes up for its lack, in his patronizing sense of humour. Parodies on ‘Harry Potter’ follow spoofs on ‘The Lord of the Rings’ accompanied by a satire on ‘King Arthur and his knights’. Does it get any better, when the ‘Duracell Bunny’ decides to fight for a living, Robin Hood tries his hand at shooting the fish’s eye in a savyamwar, mowgli is the disgruntled adopted brother of Bali, seagulls are named S.P.Gyanasundaram and O.Veerappan, an eagle called Lalmohan, a lamp genie doesn’t want to grant a wish (forget three), a rejected prince marries a rakshasi (a la bheem), a fantasy world CIA called the ‘Silver Phalanx’, Don Quixotic knights and Harry potter style puzzle solving in a pyramid, they all come together to intrigue and entertain the readers.
All is not rosy in Basu land though, the novel suffers from what is obvious in the above paragraph, over characterization. It’s as if Basu can’t make up his mind, whether to tell a story or an unlinked chain of lampooned events. The novel thus suffers from too many under utilized characters, e.g. a werewolf who turns into a beautiful naked maiden every full moon and doesn’t go beyond singing songs. More unsequenced events contribute in confusing the reader, already bombarded with inconsequential dialogues whose only purpose is to show off the author’s wit. The ending too is bit of a let down as it fails to live upto the pace generated by the novel, leaving a lot of things hazy, over depending on the upcoming sequel.
Yet, considering its Basu’s first and refreshingly unique, it would be very difficult for someone to plunge into this rigmarole of a fantasy and not come out amused, affected and hungry for more. Not to mention its underlying message the book sends out, that good and evil are a matter of perception, there is more gray than ‘black and white’ and history is what the victorious wrote it to be, not always what it actually was. Only thing missing now is an Indian Peter Jackson.
Miscellaneous Details:
PUBLISHER: Penguin Books
ISBN: 0-14-303043-4
PRICE: Rs.250/-
P.S. For a short story published by the same author, visit: https://sffworld.com/authors/b/basu_samit/fiction/plasmoids1.html
Copyright © 2004 Vishal Pipraiya