Book– Ashvamedha- The Game Of Power
Author- Aparna Sinha
Previous Works– Debutant novel.
Author contact-
Publishers- Shrishti Publishers
Number of pages- 214
Review-
Ashvamedha is a thriller by Aparna Sinha, based on the political scenario of the country.
Ashvamedha is an ancient ritual which was practiced by the kings of the ancient India, a sturdy horse was chosen, worshipped and let loose to roam to the neighboring parts of a powerful king’s ruling.
The land the horse stepped on was considered as the land of the king and any other king who stopped the horse in it’s path was considered to declare war.
War or not, in the end the horse was sacrificed.
The plot of the book is somewhat based upon the horse, Ashwin Jamwal, a politician, honest enough to think for the well being of the people and crooked enough to overpower the dishonest ones.
Given unlimited power he had thought he earned, Ashwin rises to become the youngest Prime Minister of India. A favourite among the ladies, an icon of the youth and a man with his own ways of work, Ashwin had struggled his way onto the top, be it sacrificing his love, being entangled in conspiracies, near escape from assassination or dealing with a threat to the world, oblivious to the fact that his life was controlled by someone, someone with the hunger for power, Hades.
A story of desire for power, corruption, lies and hidden truth, Ashvamedha is the perfect diet for a still mind in a lazy afternoon.
The book unwraps the dirty side of the politics that links the high profile ministers to the local goons who do whatever necessary to stop an honest officer from doing his work.
Descriptive at its best, the book is well-written, informative, well-researched and interesting.
As the story unfolds, the reader shall deal with his/her own set of “oh“, “wow” and “eeks“.
Ratings- 3.5 out of 5 stars
The book might seem a little bit boring while the talk of foreign ministers on terrorism goes on, as it seems as an hindrance for the eager reader to read the climax, still its important for the execution of the plot so that relevation may not seem obvious and done to end the book.
The entire book is well written though the ending is a bit predictable for an avid reader.
All in all, the author has done a wonderful job as giving a well-written thriller is not child’s play.
Reviewed By – Banaja Prakashini
Buy The Book at- Ashvamedha: The Game of Power
Quotes-
* Power corrupts! And politics is meant for power.
* Ethical politics is a myth and clean governance is a chimerical dream.
* The human mind is not stubborn. It can be manipulated easily; all it needs is a slight glimpse of Elysian and an alpha to follow. It gets aligned to a cause and the herd starts following- following someone else’s dreams and aspirations.
* Politics is like an abysmal pit; you can get inside it, but can never come out.
* Human mind becomes more destructive when it loves, because it stops rationalising and also when it hates, because it stops functioning.
The author-
Aparna Sinha wrote her first poem when she was seven, which she recited on All India Radio. Since then, her literary work and industry specific articles have been published in various media, including reputed business magazines across Asia.
Equipped with a Master’s in management, when she was forced to quit her lucrative job because of a chronic disease, she focused on her sole passion – writing.
Very good review. keep it up. And quotes idea was nice. SOme spelling and grammatical mistakes. Overally??? what is that?
Umm.. Maybe a common grammatical error as “anyways” . Thanks for pointing it out, will edit. 🙂
Thanks for reading.