BOOK REVIEW

The Vault of Vishnu by Ashwin Sanghi

- Swapna Peri

by Swapna Peri

Another awesome book from the greatest storyteller is what I call this book. The Vault of Vishnu though sounds religious or mythological, is the mythfiction with lots of history and facts in it at its best.

Before reading this book, I have read all his previous works and The Krishna

Key is what I have re-read at least 3 times. What stands unique is Ashwin's style of narrating fiction points added perfectly with the known facts. It would take a complete day if I start explaining how much his previous books have impressed me. Fun apart, this book delves into the most interesting concept of IndoChina relationship since ages to date at this wee hours pandemic.

The story starts with the incident at Doklam. The kind of fight the Indian soldiers experience from the Chinese brings many surprising questions. A young and dynamic woman, Paramjit Khurana aka Pam working at DRDO is summoned to understand and analyze the situation. Indian soldiers suspect a very mysterious or rather super human kind of force being used from the opposition. This makes the story start with an interesting twist. Pam's investigation starts with a Cambodian King who was actually a Pallava Prince, an old Chinese monk who travels to South India from China and a very old temple amidst the forest. The subsequent incidents create a maze with many loose ends and when they conjugate, the story becomes interesting.

The end of the story was not up to my liking maybe because of the fact that I didn't want the story to be ended or the storyline lost its grip.