Review: Dharmayoddha Kalki: Avatar Of Vishnu

Dharmayoddha Kalki: Avatar Of Vishnu Dharmayoddha Kalki: Avatar Of Vishnu by Kevin Missal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lord Vishnu is the operator of universes. He comes to earth in human form when there is extreme evil to finish it off. There are four Yugs. Lord Vishnu incarnated as Ram in Treata Yug and Krishna in Dwapar. It is prophesied that he will be born as Kalki in Kaliyuga i.e. the present age.

This is story of eternal battle between good and evil represented by Kalki and Kali respectively. Kalki is son of Vishnuyath and younger brother of Arjan. He is a simple village boy having amazing strength. Kali along with his sister Drukuti wants to establish an empire. Only hurdle in his path is Kalki.

The author has given a note in the beginning itself that this is a fantasy and not a modern retelling of Kalki Purana (I didn’t know there was a book like that Wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalki_P... ). The influences are many from GOT, star wars, LOTR and Bahubali. He wanted to create epic characters and not epic story. Fair enough.

The book is long and this is just book one. I liked the format of very short chapters and crisp clear dialogues. There are numerous characters and tribes, details of which are given in end. Subtle but significant difference between Pisacha, Asur, Rakshahsa, Nagas etc is told. All these details were difficult to assimilate and confused me at times.

I can see the influence of Amish Triptahi’s Meluha trilogy clearly. The Soma and Nagas are mentioned in that too. Amish also takes puranic characters and weaves a imaginary fantasy around them. However Amish kept the plot tight and story interesting, here the plot went sideways many a times and story slackens. But it is too early to pass judgement as this is book one. I will wait and watch.

3.5/ 5 stars.




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