Book Review: VASU AND THE MATSYA TEMPLE by Rajeev Tanwar

VASU AND THE MATSYA TEMPLE
(BOOK ONE OF ASTHAMANGALA ADVENTURES OF VASU)
By RAJEEV TANWAR

- a book review

From the back cover:
Will he be able to find the long lost Divine Ashtamangala Symbols to defeat the evil Samraat Viraat Shatru?

Join Vasu in his quest that takes him on an incresible journey into the depths of Ocean where no Bhoomivasi has ever been before!

The Ashtamangala trilogy begins...
There can be
No triumph without loss
No victory without suffering
No freedom without sacrifice
And no peace without war!
All will be sacrificed
All will be lost. Unless all unite and join, Vasu's fight against Evil.

About the author:
Rajeev Tanwar is a practicing Orthopaedic Surgeon and runs his own nursing home with his wife Dr.Manish, an Obstetrician at Hansi. A passionate storyteller from his early days, he has written many short stories for magazines and also has Oped articles to his credit in daily newspaper.

About the book:

Book Title: Vasu and the Matsya temple
Author: Rajeev Tanwar
Publisher: Write India Publishers
No.of.pages: 211
Genre: Fiction/ Fantasy
Cost: 250 INR

About the plot:
The basic genre is fantasy. Now, who would not like fantasy? After a weary and dull day, wouldn't you like to immerse yourself in the different world, where the way things work is so different from ours. Similarly this book has a plot that is different from others. There exists similar worlds apart from our own.

The story starts with an archaeologist, Sridhar, excavating a site. He is battling his ideas to finish the project when the workers alert him about a serious issue. He goes there and finds a necklace, which is shining so bright and looking as good as new. Once the necklace was taken from the site, weird things start to happen. The archaeologist's wife gives birth to a son and they name him VASU. The archaeologist places the necklace around his son's neck and beams in joy.
That interesting piece of article starts the story. And thus it becomes Vasu's story and VASU and the Matsya temple. The Evil forces try to take the necklace from the baby and failing to do so, they kidnap the newborn Vasu.

Even when the archaeologist finds the necklace, he could hear the locals talking about Ashtamangala. And this forms the Ashtamangala and now he has started a battle between the good and the bad, the former trying to prevent the latter from acquiring it.

Thus this book starts with the deep descriptions of the different kingdoms and their history. Everything is explained in detail as this will be the first book in the proposed Ashtamangala trilogy. And the descriptions and the journeys also make an important part of this book.
The rest makes the story and the ending forms a platform for the trilogy.
I completed it in two days with huge breaks in between. If you are going to read it in a single sitting, you can finish it within a day.

I was never bored in between. The different and parallel worlds, the adventurous journeys and many more made this book a very worthy read.

At first sight, I thought this book will appeal only to young adults. But I guess I was wrong. The more the ageing occurs, the need of fantasy is more. But if you are a person who are adamant not to stretch your horizon of fantastic imaginations, then you should not be reading it.

I was in need of a fantasy kind of book and this genre by Indian authors is very rare and I was surprised at first. Only some Indian authors go beyond the fixed genre in the market - the contemporary romance. And this being the first part, I think the author will include more plots in the next two books and that would make it even more enjoyable.
About the way of writing:
The way of writing is good and it is not boring. As the book is filled with multiple plots, like, a villian among the heroes, a bad person among the good. At the beginning, it makes you curious and as you continue, the knots are unwind and the plot becomes interesting.
Rating: 8/10
Final Verdict:
Totally, this book was a joyous read and I sure enjoyed journeying with the characters.
am surely going to read the next part in the series whenever it comes.