Was it worth it? I don’t know. But I have realised that there is something attached to the power of politics that is addictive. Power to influence, power to make yourself heard, power to make you important;
- Ashvamedha, The Game of Power
A story is interesting as long as the plot is strong and the characters are dynamic. One such book that held me captive is Ashvamedha!
Name: Ashvamedha, The Game of Power
Author: Aparna Sinha
Publisher: Srishti Publishers
ISBN: 978-93-82665-76-2
Description of Ashvamedha:
Ashwin Jamwal, an ordinary man leading an ordinary life is chosen to be the most powerful man across the globe. His surroundings and the people arround him have been manipulated, threatened and even murdered to get him to the ultimate seat of power.
However the question remains: Why?
On the other hand there waits a man in the shadow of darkness, planning for years to be the most powerful man in the world. However, that can be achieved in only one way: to defeat the current most powerful person on the Earth.
Since power has been divided among people of various sectors, the only way to defeat the most powerful man to create him first. Hades is out there to do just that.
The story of power, politics, love and torture come together to make a gripping story that takes a reader to another level of mystery and crime. With a bated breath jump on this journey with Ashwin to reach the peak of power.
A fair warning: Power is addictive!
To check out the trailer:
My take on Ashvamedha, The Game of Power:
Every story has a protagonist and an antagonist. Never had I ever read about an antagonist create and help the protagonist to become powerful.
That is the sole reason I chose to read this book. The verdict: the read till the end was definitely worth the effort!
The story is well written and starts off with Ashwin put into a political drama. The death of a minister and his lover is a great way to bring the curiosity to edge.
Then the story takes us back to Ashiwn’s past and his journey to become the most powerful person in the world.
Here the story seems little unbelievable as most of us know that power is a very fickle thing. Extreme planning may not yield the expected results when power, money and cunning minds are involved. Blow the plot into a global scale and the plot seems rather unrealistic.
However, once the reader crosses the threshold of believing or not, the story is unparallel and reminds me of Sidney Sheldon’s “Tell Me Your Dreams”. I had loved that book as it had left me speechless and now Aparna Sinha’s “Ashvamedha” has left me in the same state.
Maybe power is something that belongs to the mind. It is an illusion, a palace of glass that shatters the mind once the control slips. The story leads the reader to firmly believe in this aspect.
The best part however is the climax!
Never, ever had I guessed the direction it was heading in and it left me both speechless and shocked.
It was like “all along I saw the signs that lead me to the destination. I ignored it. Then when the destination was just beyond the range of visibility, it slapped me hard in the face while pouring ice-cold water on my head!”
Perfect ending!
The story may have its share of loop holes and the hero worship involved, however, it makes up with the dramatic style of writing and the suspense it keeps on building with each page.
The other thing that made me love the story was the unique way of character development. The introduction of character was delayed leading the reader further into the author’s trap of suspense.
Together the story was something I really enjoyed reading and I am awfully sorry for the delayed review. I apologize for the radio silence in the matter of books!
My end of semester exams are going on and will last till 7th of January.
If this book had the capacity to make me quit studying for exam, imagine power it wielded over me!!
The plot is 100 times better than all of my text books put together! So I rate it a 4/5 stars!
Lots of love to the author for sending me the book and being ultra patient with me! Also a huge shout out to Tushti Bhatia for the amazing book!
Bag full of books 