Readers Cosmos – The food and book life

Statistics

Format: eBook

Length: 330 pages

Genre: Historic fiction, Mystery, Paranormal

Publisher: VB Performance LLP

Date of publication: 10th January, 2018

Rating: 3/5 stars

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from Readers Cosmos in exchange for an honest review

When I saw that Readers cosmos had one of my favorite genres (historic fiction) up for review, I couldn’t not read it.

The Blurb

“Even death is afraid of the White Mask…”

1700 BCE, Harappa – The devta of Harappa has fallen…tortured and condemned to the dungeons of the dead. His murdered wife’s pious blood falls on the sands of the metropolis, sealing the black fate of Harappa…forever.

2017, Banaras – A master assassin bites into cyanide, but not before pronouncing the arrival of an unstoppable, dark force. A maha-taantric offers a chilling sacrifice.

325 AD, Bithynian City (modern-day Turkey) – Unable to foresee the monster he was untethering, an extraordinary monarch commissions a terrifying world-vision spanning millennia.

1700 BCE, East of Harappa – A mystical fish-man proclaims the onset of Pralay – the extinction of mankind. The Blood River rises to avenge her divine sons.

What happens to the devta of Harappa? Is Vidyut truly the prophesied saviour? Who are the veiled overlords behind the sinister World Order? What was the macabre blueprint of the mysterious emperor at Bithynian City? Turn the pages to unravel one of the world’s greatest conspiracies and the haunting story of a lost, ancient civilization.”

The Book

Pralay is the sequel to Harappa and continues where the first book ended. The book switches between the present day India set in 2017 and the old Hindustan set in 1700 BCE. The switches are clearly marked and do not confuse the reader. The author draws parallels between the two worlds throughout the book. The conspiracy theories, the revealing of the truth that has been buried under years of hearsay and the talk about Knights Templar and other mystical orders were reminiscent of the Dan Brown books without seeming to draw anything from them. The book felt fresh, if a tad bit slow.

The book begins with a summary of what transpired in the first book of the series. The Devta of Harappa is tortured by the very people who he worked tirelessly for. He swears vengeance on every citizen- man, woman, and child. The story in this book revolves around Manu, the savior of Harappa and Vidyut the last Devta, both of whom try to save the world. Manu is helped in his endeavor by Matsya, the mysterious God-like being and Vidyut by his grandfather, the Trikal Darshi. They also have a group of dedicated loyal friends with them.

Even though the book is 330 pages long, it felt like it was just setting the stage for the last book in the series. The story did not progress much from the first book and I was perplexed as to why the author needed to be so descriptive in this one. The modern day mafioso and the World Order seemed to not play any role in this book and it looked like it was written because the author knew that he would need them for the next book. What I liked about the book was the fact that the author was very clear in his definitions of Indian traditions, the Vedas and the words in regional languages. The descriptions of the paranormal occurrences were chilling. I just wish that the book could have had a definite conclusion so that it can also be read as a stand-alone.

The Author

Vineet is a first-generation entrepreneur. At age 22 he started his company Magnon which is now among the largest digital agencies in the subcontinent, and part of the Fortune 500 Omnicom Group.
He has won several entrepreneurship and corporate excellence awards, including the Entrepreneur of the Year 2016. He was recently listed among the 100 Most Influential People in India’s Digital Ecosystem.
Vineet’s second company Talentrack is disrupting the media, entertainment & creative industry in India. It is the fastest-growing online hiring and networking platform for the sector. He is an avid swimmer, a gaming enthusiast, a bonfire guitarist and a road-trip junkie.
His work include:

Build from Scratch: Strategies, Practical Insights and a Stepwise Guide Into Building a Successful Start-Up Enterprise (2004)
Street To The Highway: The Unspoken Secrets Behind Converting Small Businesses Into Large Companies (2011)
Build from Scratch (2013)
The 30-something CEO (2016)
Harappa: The Curse of the Blood River (2017)
Pralay: The Great Deluge (2018)