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Book Review : The Serpent's Revenge

BOOK DETAILS:
Book Title : The Serpent's Revenge
Author : Sudha Murthy
ISBN : 9780143427858
Publisher : Penguin
Genre : Mythology
Publication : 2016
Pages : 200
Format : Paperback

BOOK BLURB:
How many names does Arjuna have? Why was Yama cursed? What lesson did a little mongoose teach Yudhisthira? The Kurukshetra war, fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas and which forced even the gods to take sides, may be well known, but there are innumerable stories set before, after and during the war that lend the Mahabharata its many varied shades and are largely unheard of. Award-winning author Sudha Murty reintroduces the fascinating world of India s greatest epic through the extraordinary tales in this collection, each of which is sure to fill you with a sense of wonder and bewilderment.

RATING: 2 ☆'s

REVIEW:
I have always been a fan of Sudha Murthy's works - her writing is so simple, yet it touches upon the deepest fibres of your soul...
And it is with this notion, that I picked up the book - to read unusual tales of the times gone by, albeit with a touch of Sudha Murthy's Magic of Writing.
But, this work here disappointed me so much, maybe because having read 'Jaya' - a retelling of Mahabharata written by Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik (published in 2010), all these tales were already known to. With a book that boasted about unusual tales from Mahabharata, I was looking for something that was not easily known.
This book felt as if I read the most concise version of Mahabharata which was narrated with the help of short stories to appeal to the readers reading only fiction.

WHAT I LOVED:
  1. The Simple and Interesting Narration --- the narration was kept simple and interesting for beginners who are starting to venture into the niche of Indian Mythology for the very first time
  2. Short but Complete --- even though it was a very short read and only discussed the epic with respect to these 'unusually' tales, it gave the complete gist of the epic Mahabharata - starting from the unrelated, related events that led to the war, the war and the after
WHAT I DISLIKED:

  1. Missing Murthy Magic --- even though the language and the writing style was clearly Murthy's, the book somehow didn't read like a Murthy book
  2. There was Nothing New --- of course I understand that there will be nothing new to add to Mahabharata but then maybe tales that are even lesser known could have been picked and if there was nothing that fell under the category, then this book was clearly not meant for people who have read other retellings of Mahabharata

THE VERDICT:
The book is perfect for people venturing into Mythology genre for the first time or haven't read Mahabharata before this, but for others and especially for those who have read Jaya by Devdutt Pattanaik before, you aren't missing out on anything if you skip this book.

READ, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR:

  • A Glimpse into Mahabharata
  • A Starter Book into Mythology
  • A Not Too Serious but Easy Mythology / Mahabharata Read
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