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The Varaha’s Vengeance by Arun Krishnan is told more from the point of view of prime ministers, captains, spy chiefs, spies, and soldiers. Their bravery and intelligence often remained unsung and only the kings were remembered. Read the book review and summary in detail in the article below.
Author: Arun Krishnan Cover
Plot
Book Review: Varaha’s Vengeance: The Battle of Vathapi Book 2 by Arun Krishnan
The Varaha’s Vengeance by Arun Krishnan is the second book in the Battle of Vathapi series. This book is a continuation of the book The Nandi’s Charge. The first book ends with Elango, Kannan, and Muthuvel reaching their destinations after fighting many hurdles. This book depicts the Chalukyas’ response to the challenge thrown by Pallava.
This book wonderfully describes Elango, Kannan, and Muthuvel who continue their journey by fighting hurdles, making new friends, defeating enemies, and falling in love.
Many male protagonists who were sleeping in the first one have come into action to answer the challenges thrown by their respective enemies.
In the book Varaha’s Vengeance, I felt that three female protagonists give equal competition to the male protagonists proving that they too can contribute equally to their motherland. Sangmitra came out as a powerful woman who entered an enemy’s war camp keeping her head high, princess Thaamarai saved injured Muthuvel, and Indumathi after finishing her duty toward her motherland nursed Kannan and his fellow soldiers day and night.
We know the current time wars are equipped with technology to pass important information but in 7th Century wars, they had to depend on their spy network. The information takes time and depends on trust.
The war leaders follow the ethics and cremate the dead soldiers and the losers are allowed to go back respectively. The moral dilemmas, betrayals, and unethical war strategies were played to win a war. Women are always treated with respect and at the end of battle losers are allowed to walk out with respect.
The tiny details and well-planned war tactics were explained descriptively. Some had well-planned war strategies which helped them to win the fight on the other side confusion was created among the soldiers due to the absence of full-proof strategies and a brave leader.
The Kings coming together and discussing political strategies and war tactics is interesting to read. Narasimhavaraman is a powerful and intelligent king but his enemy Chalukya king is no less than him. It seems King Narsimha had caused a lot of trouble by declaring war against Pulikeshi.
I realised that during the war it’s not the king who wins. The real brains behind its success are the ministers, spy chiefs, and captains. The actions are taken by brave soldiers who do not think twice before giving up their lives.
The first book describes the beautiful Pallava kingdom and its capable prime minister, commander, general, and captains. This one depicts the extensive Chalukya kingdom with full-blown resources, an extensive army, and intelligent human brains that ace the art of warcraft.
Varaha’s Vengeance by Arun Krishnan is packed with action, romance, drama, warcraft, witty statecraft, and much more which will keep the reader hooked from the first till the last page. Each chapter ends with suspense which forces the reader to dive into the next one. The smooth fast-paced flow with ups and downs keeps the reader invested in the story.
The descriptive narratives of beautiful palaces, forests, rivers, and magnificent temples made me aware of the extensive research done by the author before writing this story. This book cannot be read as a standalone since the story picks up from where the first book ends.
The author used simple English spiked with few vernacular words to give ancient essence to the reader. The meaning of each is given at the end of the page in English to make the understanding easy.
Although the author had given the list of characters, pictures, and map at the start of the book to help the reader. Still, there are chances that multiple characters may confuse a few readers. Apart, from that I didn’t find any flaws in the book. The book ends with suspense. Now I am eagerly waiting for the third part.
Overall, the story is motivational, intriguing, thrilling, adventurous, and unveils the role of unsung heroes of the war. If you love reading historical fiction then I will highly recommend you to read Varaha’s Vengeance by Arun Krishnan.
Book Summary: Varaha’s Vengeance: The Battle of Vathapi Book 2 by Arun Krishnan
King Narasimhavaram the Pallava king is busy building temples on one side and on the other side is planning to attack Chalukya king Pulikeshi. He sent Elango to King Harsha in the north, Muthuvel to King Manavamma in Lanka, and Kannan to create some trouble in the Ganga kingdom.
When the Chalukyan king discovered it, he invited his allies Ganga king Srivikrama, the Pandya king Jayanthavarman, and the Lanka king Tribhuvana to Aryapura. Here King Pulikeshi discussed political and war strategies against the Pallava king.
What happens when two powerful kingdoms collide on war grounds?
Was the Pallava army ready to face the powerful Chalukyan Army?
Will Pallava win or surrender?
To know more read Varaha’s Vengeance by Arun Krishnan.
This review is powered by the Blogchatter Book Review Program.