Krishna Key | Book Review

October 17, 2012 11 Comments

The book is overstretched, over descriped and over hyped, making the otherwise interesting and what could be "fabulous" plot rather dull and wasted.
“Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but as reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Age – Kalyug. In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar. Only, he is a serial killer.“ ... Krishna Key
Author:       Ashwin Sanghi
ISBN:         978-93-81626-68-9
Price:          INR. 250/-
Publisher:   Westland
Genre:        Thriller & Mythology
Pages:         475
Rating:         2.5 / 5

I was all excited to read this book ever since it came in news and when I saw Blogadda offering it for review, I couldn't stop my excitement and applied.

The Krishna key like author's previous book- Chanakya Chant is a novel with a storyline in two parallel universe- Satyug & Modern age.

Without giving away much of the plot, Krishna Key is a story of serial killer who believes himself modern day incarnation of Lord Krishna and executes brilliantly schemed cold blood murders in the name of religion and God. And off course there are flashbacks telling the story of lord Krishna' birth and forth. 

As the pages unfolds, the author gets you hooked with his writing style, plot, narration and research and this continues to many pages ahead. The language is simple except the (over doze) Sankrit part where non Sanskrit scholars may stumble and find themselves eluded from it. The author seems have get extensive research for this book which after a certain point becomes detrimental to the story itself, often divulging the plot into many drifts and diluting the thrill. Off course there are lot of good things about the book but the unnecessary details as I said have kind of oppressed them. The illustrations in the book are interesting and has the ability to make readers hooked to it.

    The book is filled with facts and trivia. For instance, I didn’t know that Mohamed Ghazni broke Somnath’s Shiva linga and took the broken pieces to Ghazni,  thrown them on the steps of a mosque, only to make all the devotees who went to mosque to stamp them. Abhor-able!

The book seems more like lessons from theology, some scripted, some abridged though. Characters are bearable and less unreal than the ones in author's previous book which more or less came across like B grade Hindi movie where strategist is almighty and weaves everything under his spell, keeping the intelligence of other characters minimal and incompetent and yes cliched. The book has around 8 plus main characters with a background to their motive (yawn) and quite guesstimate worthy ones. The women of the story is more smart than it's men, often leading to confusion in the inter exchangeable nature of leads. Character development could have been better. The murders are gruesome, gory and too much. The book needs serious editing to make it crisp, cutting edge and justified to be pitched as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code of India. Unfortunately, it is nowhere near but has the potential.

Like Chanakya Chants, wherein the most interesting part of the books (in my humble opinion) were the life sketches of Chanakya, this book has Krishna' tale. Having said it all, I still have good faith on author and will look forward to his next book, hoping they would be crisp and to the point.

My Verdict: Krishna Key has all ingredients of a successful and path breaking novels but the fact that instead of doing full justice to its advantage, the narrative has been stretched unnecessarily, which acted against it and the effort that gone behind, a lot of time, places. This makes a thriller like this non gripping and poor cousin of Dan Brown. In case if you are confused wherether to pick a copy or not, do not hesitate to pick one. Its definitely an intriguing read amidst a lot that is offered around esp for mythology enthusiasts like me. Who knows if next mythological character helps the next book sharpen the act and we may call Dan Brown as Ashwin Sanghi or Shawn Haigins of India. Happy Reading. 

About the Author: Read here & here for his interview.


Trivia: These books reminds me of Hindi digests that use to storm B & C markets of India, well written and well accepted by Surendra Mohan Pathak. 




This book was received as a part of Blogadda's Book Review Program. Sign up for the Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers.
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The autor is half Human, half machine. Go Figure or just revel in what I write

11 comments:

  1. Pretty good review... But considering its length, i'm giving it less priority to buy soon.. Anyhow i'll read it someday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much...try reading...who knows if the story grips you or not :)

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    2. Cool and do share your opinion on same, Shareef!

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  2. I recently bought Chanakya Chant ... this one is next on my list !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First read Chanakya chants and then pick this one :)

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  3. Anonymous29 October

    good review ekta :) :)

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  4. I had always browsed through books while waiting for flight. Though I wanted to buy the Chanakya's chant, but didnt do that as I realised it is a novel. Will skip this book too. Nice review.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Sabyasachi...though my intention was not make people skip this book but to share my own review of the book.

      In case, you r a good reader (unlike me)and ok to read long novels, u can try his..Chanakya chant was quite a put off for me after certain pages. I wud rather read "a prodigal daughter" again than that book.

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  5. Hi,

    We would like to send our books for review in your blog. We are a leading publishing company and venture into all categories of Books. You can also visit www.leadstartcorp.com .

    Can you please confirm the name, contact details and your address for us to send in our books.

    And also you can have a look at the link mentioned below about the review of our bestseller "ASURA" of 2012
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty5k8H8BXQc#at=33

    Awaiting for your reply

    Thanks & Regards,


    Parag Mayekar,
    Leadstart Media Relations Team
    Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd
    Tel No - 022-24046889 , Mob No : 7506194464
    Email Id : parag.mayekar@leadstartcorp.com

    ReplyDelete

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