Yes,
we are witnessing a new generation of writers, after many writers who have
accentuated through their books of being apostles of Chetan Bhagat and are now on
their way to extinct. The USP of these new budding writers is never-imagined-before
scenarios and Adi is party to that.
His
book ‘Tantra’ is a well-conceived story out of his imagination. The cover-page intrigues
as it shows non-familiar site of a woman sitting on roof top with dagger drenched
in blood. Her name is Anu Agarwal and she is out to search killers of her
boyfriend in New Delhi following a trail from New York.
Putting
up vampires in Indian context gives you two perspectives: firstly, it kinda
forces you to ponder over what if there were vampires in India against
presumption that Vampires are only limited to USA and the other; Vampires may
not fit into Indian picture. Throughout the book I was in dilemma whether I
liked what was being offered.
The
book scores well when it comes to character building of the protagonist Anu
Agarwal. Her infighting thoughts, the way she manages situations efficiently on
an impulse, her quest for setting up things right and determination to move on from
being traditional Vampire tamer to annihilation of cruel and dangerous Tantric
Baba Senaka.
The
book aptly describes the nuances between vampires in New York who are
considered to be always evil whereas in India vampires aren’t evil and hence
hardly tamed. Anu works secretly and only at night. She has to deal with her
personal problems on daily basis ranging from persuasion from her beloved Aunty
for marriage, spending time with her chirpy cousin, getting attracted to
handsome looking guy Gaurav- though she fights it hard to stay on the fact she
loved only one person who was murdered- to learning of Vedic shastras in
totally new language and applying this to combat master of Tantric power Baba
Senaka.
However,
when it comes to the plot and the expected thrill from cover-page and summary
of the book written behind, it fails to deliver its best. One thing which I like
to note in this book is that it's a no-paced thriller giving you chilled vibes and Goosebumps.
The reason for this is the time of its publishing; when books ranging on mythologies
are selling like hot cakes, a poor representation of Tantra, which again falls
under the category of mythology, makes you go haywire. It also may be due to my
mindset set by likes of Shiva Trilogy and The Krishna Key, but when compared with
meticulous description of Amish and Ashwin, it fails terribly.
You
can say it’s a mix of fantasy-cum-thriller-cum-mythological genre which depicts
neither of mentioned genres in entirety or to extent it holds reader together.
There is a caution I would like to add on the cover page: “Please do not read
the book if you have read Shiva Trilogy or Ashwin Sanghi’s books, or Krishna
Udayshankar’s Govinda; else you will not be able to give due credit for author
as you tend to compare the book with the formers.”
I
would rate it as 2.5/5 and recommend for one-time read. Sorry, No offence Adi!!
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