Tarikshir: The Awakening is the first novel by author Khayaal Patel.This is being reviewed as a part of the book review program by Writer’s Melon.All opinions are mine.
Let us move on to the review….
- Title – Tarikshir: The Awakening
- Author – Khayaal Patel
- Pages -335
- Publishers – Westland Publications Ltd
- ISBN – 9789387578500
- Format – Print [Also available as Ebook]
- Genre – Fiction
- Price – INR 399/-
A small princely state in Rajasthan is the last bastion of resistance against the might of the British Empire. While unrest surrounding the sudden death of the king of Devangarh grows, young prince Rudra Pratap Chauhan prepares to ascend the throne.
But the kingdom is in turmoil. The Devangarh army is outnumbered and the British forces are closing in. To make matters worse, Rudra discovers the king’s death may not have been accidental after all. The strange appearance and disappearance of a mysterious hooded stranger and a series of ritualistic murders in which the bodies have been drained of blood, spread panic across the realm.
As Rudra struggles to manage his new responsibilities and investigate his father’s death, he may uncover some secrets that will disrupt life as he knows it.
The list of characters is long but here are some of the important people who keep the story running…
- Valikesh whom we encounter in the prologue which forms the important part of the story.
- Raja Ravindra -The King of Devangarh
- Bikram Bir Singh- Raja Ravindra’s hefty bodygaurd
- The Rani
- Prince Rudra
- Nawab Mir Abdul Ghazi -The vizier in the Raja’s court
- Shamsheer – Raja Ravindra’s self exiled brother and the leader of a militant group who lives with his gang in the Red Tiger fortress.
- Duryadutta – The Royal Physician and legendary warrior.
- Lord Richard Walken – The diplomat in Her Royal Majesty’s service
- Shen Zhou- Rudra’s Chinese Martial arts teacher
- Nafisa
- Loads of zombies, an evil witch ,traitors and loyals,Wind Asuras.
- Last but not the least – Tarikshir and Tamingila.
The prologue looks like the story has something to do with Mythology! The war between Ram and Ravan has just ended and the monkey warriors are busy enjoying the spoils of the war and Valikesh, one of the money warrior is murdered by an unknown creature while he is looking for riches to take back home.
Then starts the actual story in the court of the Raja Ravindra of Devangarh.The British are taking over each kingdom by force or by making an alliance and Lord Walkin come with his troupe to seek audience with the Raja. When the negotiations fail, he returns back and the Rajput King gets ready to face him in a war.
Things go terribly wrong and there is an ambush! They somehow overcome that but the King’s tent catches fire and Raja Ravindra and Brikram are charred to death.
Young Prince Rudra is now the heir to the throne and the Rani / Queen is vexed! The Prince vows to find the murderer while his mother persuades him otherwise.He has a list of suspects .Shen Zhou walks in and his mother begs the Prince not to trust the Chinese master but the Prince seeks his guidance and also that of Ghazi who the King had thrown out of his court after a disagreement just before the negotiation.
His path in finding his father’s murderers is not smooth.He decides to check out his Uncles hideout and that’s when the real drams starts. He meets the young and charming Nafisa and escapes from a lion which is pulled in by a black form!
He escapes and then starts looking for his grandfathers second diary that has more secrets and information about Son’s of Hanuman – a secret society.
More secrets spill out from his mother and things get so complicated that Rudra does not know whom to believe or trust.There are some gruesome murders and some dark creatures to deal with.
Who killed his father? Who / What is Tarikshir? Who are the traitors? How does Rudra find out about the dark secrets and how does he overcome them? Is the King really dead? Who is Baa Yaani and what is her role in this story?
Well, all these are for you to find out when you read this book!!!
What I liked about this book:
- A fast paced thriller that gets you hooked to the story right from the beginning.
- The language is simple and easy to follow
- The story flows effortlessly and the end of each chapter will leave you wondering what will happen next!
- The plot and the characterization are flawless.
- I really did not have the urge to skip pages. Normally when the story drags, I am so tempted to skip a few pages and catch up the story from there. But with this book, you will keep turning the pages faster and faster to get to the end and to find out all about Tarikshir!
- The climax of the story is not something that I was anticipating. The epilogue left me totally surprised and I hope there is a sequel to this book!Yes, there are a lot of unexpected twists and turns and you can never see them coming!
- The cover of the book as an aura of mystery and seems to tell that there is something dark in the story!
This book is sort of a mixed genre- Thriller, History, Fantasy, Mythology. If you love any one of these genre, then you will definitely love this book. Go for it without any hesitation and I am sure you will be on a nail biting journey right from the start of the story!
Khayaal Patel is working on newer stories set in Rudra’s exciting universe, and when he is not, you can find him reading comic books, watching movies, trying to figure out the secrets of the universe and indulging in his incredibly unhealthy addiction to anything chocolate. This is his first novel.
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A huge thanks to Writer’s Melon and Westland Publications for sending across this book for review.
Check out the 50+ books that I have reviewed so far in the Book Reviews page.