Book Review #26: Lanka's Princess: Kavita Kane

Mythological fiction has been the style of the season. With many books written in a particular characters point of view makes them an interesting read and even thought provoking. Read the book finally and for some time my mind went blank. That Krishna’s entry makes it even more interesting to read.

This story is the one which we all know and has been watching since childhood. The one till some months back, for most of us was always about Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman and Ravana.

We have, I guess never went past these characters and saw the other ones. We all have hated Surpanaka and have always felt that the way she was punished was justified. But when now I read it from her point of view, I realized she too was right in her own way. She was always over shadowed by Ravana and Vibhishana, always neglected by her parents and never appreciated. She was good in her own way but was pale in comparision with Ravanas wit and Vibhishanas thirst for knowledge.

One of the most under rated and misunderstood one at that. Yes Ravana was protective about her and maybe loved her in his own way but the treatment meted out to her doesn’t justify that. Lots of research done by the author on the characters and many traits of her personality are subtly put. The story starts from her birth and ends in her revenge and destruction of Ravana and then followed till she meets Lakshmana again. The pace of the story is good and never a dull moment in the book.

Without the facts being tempered the story makes an engaging read. All the characters are well portrayed. Like the authors previous ones this too has put across the female character strongly. Well done at that.

The author is only sharing the story from her point of view, not trying to justify or judge her as right or wrong. But this story speaks about an important aspect of how people are and why they are the way they are.

Rating:

I would rate the book 4.5/5 as this one has touched me. A well written story from one of the most hated characters of Ramayana. I have started to love this genre and hoping that many such stories are written.