The Curse of Anuganga
Here is historical fiction which I didn’t think of reading but here I am going to have a post not reviewing but praising the literature created by the author. Historical fiction has never been by genre but I totally loved reading this one. I have one problem with the book is that the cover of the book doesn’t do justice for the read, maybe the only reason the proverb prevails that “Never Judge a book by its cover”. So let’s talk about the book.
Plot: The book has an interesting mystery plot-line where a rich man from the quarters has been killed ruthlessly by someone and the blame is on the poor goldsmith’s son but it turns out that the goldsmith’s son has an alibi and is out of the suspect list. Also, the son has a great sense of things happening and turns out that the police (or should I call Mahadandnayika ) asks the goldsmith to allow both his sons to help them in the case. Vinayasurya, the goldsmith, allows both of his son to help the police in the case and now both the boys are spying the suspicious things happening in the town. Shuddhodhana, the biological child of the goldsmith, is given the job to have an eye on the house of crime while Ashwini, the adopted one, is asked to be with all the actors who might be troublesome for the kingdom.
Timeline: As the story is set in 403 CE and takes place in Nandivardhana, during the reign of Prabhavatigupta (daughter of Chandragupta II), the author followed the timeline strictly and the characters were placed accordingly. I found the way characters greeted each other really interesting. They took care of each other designation and respected each other showing a great sense of moral values existed back then.
Characters: The book is full of characters and their description was given properly which gives a virtual image of what a person looks like and what would be his/her expression during a particular situation. I found it little hard to remember all the name as their names are not so common now. Or maybe the person had these type of name back then. My favourite character of all is Ahilya Devi, mother of Vinayasurya. The lady is full of wisdom and has a great sense of things happening. She believes in hard work and provided great insights to her grandchildren about all the links they were not able to connect.
Language: The language was tough for me. I had to refer to dictionary every now and then. But it was worthy. I learnt a-lot of new words from this book. My favourite being “fillip” meaning acting to a stimulus. So the book isn’t a recommendation for the new comers specially who are struggling with the books but totally a good read for the people who are reading from some time now.
But, I didn’t talk about some questions.
Were they able to find the culprit ?
Why did the murder happen ?
Why is the name “The Curse of Anuganga” ?
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