Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy #1): Book Review

Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi is the first book of the Shiva Trilogy series published by Westland Books.

Book Rating: 4 Stars.

Book Review in one line: I loved the book, but it could have been shorter/tighter.

I like historical fiction books that have been written after exhaustive research. From the day I listened to Amish at the Hindu Lit for Life event I wanted to read this book. I finally bought the audio book version from Flipkart. So I finished ‘listening’ to it.

I think this was one of the best selling books in India back when it was launched, that too by a debut author.

Here is the book trailer:

What I liked about the book: A fresh Mythological subject that is NOT Ramayana or Mahabharata. Those two epics have been done to death, I am not sure why Amish chose to rewrite it for the millionth time with his current series!

Although character development is not excellent, it’s still good. The author takes us into a believable journey into a period that is so far back – 1900 A.D., and makes us believe these events may have actually happened. Historical India has been constructed well.

I also like the way the story developedwith right amounts of twists and suspense. I was anxious to know who was behind this, who was the traitor, etc. Strategically, the author has not revealed those crucial points in the first book. Result? I bought the second book and have read 50 pages already!

The best thing about the book, I feel, is the solid philosophy. When Shiva comes of age, we also do. And we feel we have traveled and learned along with Shiva, during the journey. Achieving that with adult readers into their 30s is a huge feat. I applaud the author for getting the message across very effectively without boring me.

What I did not like in this book: The book should have been at least 30% shorter. Some sections just drag on without much action or suspense. War strategies and scenes have been over-simplified and that makes war scenes (at least the final big one) unrealistic.

I hate books that leave the reader in a cliffhanger. But this once I forgive the author because the second book is already available 🙂

Must read. Excellent book.

Destination Infinity

4 thoughts on “Immortals of Meluha (Shiva Trilogy #1): Book Review

  1. Devilish Angel

    I enjoyed reading the book…

    1. Rajesh K

      Great. Did you read all three?

      Destination Infinity

  2. Nandhini Chandrasekaran

    I have all the three. When you are done with the second part, you can take the third from me. The second is more interesting than the first.

    1. Rajesh K

      Thanks for your offer, but I don’t read from books any longer. I listen to eBook via apps on my phone 🙂

      Destination Infinity

Leave a Reply to Nandhini Chandrasekaran Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *