"Tantra" By Adi ....Book Review

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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