” Keepers of the Kalachakra has it all: political characters that remind you of real-life politicians, a racy, complex plot and enough improbable twists to keep you hooked. “
NO MAJOR SPOILERS
Ashwin Sanghi’s Keepers of Kaalchakra is fifth book in the Bharat series. Ashwin is considered as arguably the best mythological writer in India and ranks among India’s highest selling authors of English fiction. Ashwin knows how spin his yarn with utter perfection and this time too, he manages to weave a taut plot embellished with intricate details.
Keepers of Kaalchakra is a concoction of mythology and science fiction, intoxicating the readers with ingredients like interplay of beliefs, technology, treason, topology, murders, history, science, terrorism and religion. Needless to say, this a drink that leaves one wanting for more.
The prose of the book is hurtling through time and space. The book revolves around convoluted and recoiling conflicts of faith which has somehow led to precisely planned murder of apparently arbitrarily selected heads of state along with turpitude and truculence of all sorts. Caught in the midst of this mess is Vijay, a geek who through an ostensibly innocuous interview ends up researching in the Milesian Labs, a research facility in caliginous, murky forests of Uttrakhand. He soon stumbles upon a cardinal clue, a noumenon, that can catalyze the free fall of human species.
With this thriller Sanghi manages to provide to his readers with one of the most well researched novels. This trip of 200 chapters begins with a wonderful prologue as the Canadian Prime Minister faces an attempt of assassination at a summit in the USA. Prologue itself commands for attention and captivates readers. The chapters that follow have an awe inspiring rendezvous of religious and spiritual beliefs with factual science. While trying to blur the line between fact and fiction, there is a slight disproportion between the two. The scientific theories and research may be felt as exhausting by the readers as there is quite a lot of use of technical jargons making it heavy on grey matter. The premise of the book was massive, yet story might be seen as somewhat lacking. A reason for that might be modicum emotional connect of the ethos of the story and some redundancy in the explanations of discoveries. The outlines of the characters are drawn out with sheer brilliance. Sadly, they all lacked depth. Writing style is nice but the charm of intense drama and unpredictable twists is blemished by the facades of spiritual and mathematical theories with prosaic explanations.
To recapitulate, this complex and intense thriller forms an astoundingly gorgeous cosmic equation with mythology, human greed and science as variables although florid details make it a slightly fatiguing read.
Reviewed by:
Indrima Upadhyay
Added 2nd August 2018
