Saturday, April 20, 2013

Book Review-Tantra by Adi



Title: Tantra

Author:Adi

About the book:

A vampire slayer travels all the way from New York to New Delhi for vengeance, to avenge the death of her lover, Brian, who was brutally killed by vampires. The guardian, Anu Aggarwal, finds the vampire scene in Delhi to be quite different from the one in New York. The vampires and the vampire hunters are almost amicable with each other. But behind the façade of peaceful environs, a storm is brewing in the name of Baba Senaka, a tantric practitioner and a mad priest drunk with the powers of tantra. And the whole onus of saving the world from the mad tantric falls on the shoulders of Anu.

Anu, guided by an eccentric college professor, Dr. Sharma, learns the art of tantra, to fight fire with fire. Aiding her on this dangerous mission is Amit, her trusty colleague and co-guardian. 

To add to all the dramatic twists happening in Anu’s life, her aunt is hell bent on hitching her niece with a well-groomed Indian boy. There are hosts of other mysterious characters too, Chandra the Panch or the leader of the vampires, Kartha, the powerful one who despite his powers choses to remain neutral in the war between the saatvic and tantric.

And when Anu is not fighting she is busy falling in love with Gaurav, a random guy she met in a wedding. Even though she is appalled by her own attraction towards Gaurav, she can hardly resist the temptation.

Can Anu stop the mad priest in destroying the whole of Delhi? Can she avenge the death of her lover? Can she stop Baba Senaka from sacrificing the lives of thousands of children to attain the ultimate power? Can she master the art of Tantra? 

Read the book to find out :-)

Review:

First of all, I applaud the author for selecting such an enigmatic and mysterious backdrop to base his first novel on. And for selecting a female protagonist as the vampire slayer. Move over Spiderman and Shaktiman, we have our own vampire-slayer-woman.

On a serious note though, the book is definitely a worthy read. Although sometimes it delves deep into fantasy, taking it a bit too far-fetched, it keeps the reader hooked through the 300-odd pages of the book. The internal battle within Anu between her duty and her personal life is etched flawlessly. I felt her character was mulish and headstrong in the initial pages but her warm and endearing character kind of grows onto you after the first 100 pages. I also liked the way humor was interspersed in the novel which made the characters more conceivable.

What I would have liked is more of interactions between Anu and Brian, because except for few flashbacks, the bond between the two is not really portrayed, which in turn makes the reader not really empathize with her loss and her reason for revenge.

The book is fast paced which made me turn the pages and finish the book in record time. And some of the questions left unanswered at the end indicated the probability of a sequel in the near future. 

Verdict: Thrilling, fast-paced and I would definitely recommend it for a read. I would rate it 3.5/5.

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4 comments:

  1. Oooh, good, your review is tempting me to pick up a copy. Reading the blurb, I wouldn't have. Not into vampires and such :)

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  2. Nice review. The book is so nicely presented that it tempts me to pick it up ASAP.

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  3. Great review, will definitely give it a go !

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  4. Yes it is a good book. Nice to know that you share my views, Prasanna:)

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