The second book in Arun’s Battle of Vathapi trilogy was worth the wait. All of us who are his friends and batchmates were pestering him about the release date and finally it did get released. I had pre-ordered on Kindle and started reading it as soon as it became available.
Do read my review of the first book – Book Review – Battle of Vathapi, Nandi’s Charge. The same characters continue in the second book but some perish in the many battles that happen during the course of this book.
Arun’s second book exceeds expectations and two of the battle scenes were just outstanding – the Upstart King Manavamma’s forces fighting against General Karunaratna’s forces and the way old colleagues, Thissa and Karunaratna, fought their last battle. The difference between living the hard life of the jungle/village and the easy life of the city is telling in the end !
The second battle scene, was even more outstanding – Captain Annamalai’s stand against the Ganga forces. Annamalai’s character just stands out and like him am sure many of the Indian Army soldiers would be wondering about the kind of people they end up defending, especially when some stupid politicians make stupid statements. Veera Vel, Vetri Vel.
Well, the real life Annamalai also is facing an epic battle in a couple of days and may Bhagwan Murugan, the supreme commander of God’s army, bless him with victory.
I loved the references to Dharma throughout the book. Yes, battles have to be fought, wars are essential, but upholding Dharma is very important. The world today keeps forgetting about that…. otherwise we would have an Ukraine fighting with Russia nor Israel having to defend itself against its enemies. In both these cases, dharma was flouted and an adharmic war is still going on. Now there are murmurings of a World War …. Anyway, that’s for another day and another post.
Folks, do read Arun’s second book in the Battle of Vathapi trilogy – we will try and pressurise him to release the third book sooner. I want to know so many things… does Kannan survive, what happens to Thamirai, what happens to Muthuvel and ofcourse the Pallavas. Am very biased towards Mamalla ever since I read Sivakamiyin Sabadham Vol #1, so am hoping that Arun ensures the Pallavas win even though it is historical fiction.
My Rating – 5/5. Highly recommended.
p.s for closet editors like me, this book is a delight with no irritating typos or grammatical mistakes.