Book Review: The Himalayan Revelation by Pankaj Misra

Book: The Himalayan Revelation

Author: Pankaj Misra

No. of Pages: 346

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Power Publishers

 

My new and second source of books for review – The Tales Pensieve – came up with Himalayan Revelation for book review and the book blurb sounded interesting.

Bringing together the majestic Himalayas, the Hampi heritage site, the mighty Vijayanagar Empire and the political tension of Indo-China war – Pankaj has created a novel which grips the reader and doesn't let go.

Pankaj has done a good job of fusing these seemingly unconnected unrelated factors in a story. The plot twists surprise you 'slowly' as the author shifts your focus from one thing to another.

This is an interesting aspect of the book - the way the subject of focus constantly shifts as the story moves along. There are times when you think you are reading about the most important aspect of the story while there are times when you are tempted to skip a few paragraphs thinking them to be unnecessary fillers in the book. You might be wrong on both counts. So be patient with the novel and read it through.

 The characters develop gradually although I wouldn't say the author spent too many words in 'character development'. The characters are pretty much shallow and uni-dimensional but its ok because the story and the twists take the center-stage. There is history and there is treasure hunt which them becomes a race to find something of immense economic and political importance. The race goes right to the Indo-China border and a war is brimming up on the seams … and even breaks out to some extent.

 

I would personally recommend this novel. I liked it and I think you might like it too.

The book was received as part of Reviewers Programme on The Tales Pensieve