Krishna Key: Bharat Series 3

This is the first novel by the author that I read. It did not disappoint! The storyline and plot is extremely imaginative, though I could not help seeing similarities between this work and Dan Brown's the da Vinci Code. Obviously, it is not to say that this is in anyway unoriginal.The storytelling and narrative is extremely fast paced, taut and smooth, and the book flies. The way the author has juxtaposed ancient Hindu scriptures and believes into modern day notions of science almost beguiles the reader into believing this fictional tale! It is an excellent mix of sci-fi, fantasy, action and adventure, something like Dan Brown's writings. The research into ancient scriptures and Indian mythology is deep, unlike many newbie authors who end up being shallow in such departments. The gist of the plot is succinctly captured in the blurb, so I am not going into any of it here.Instead, I must comment on the style of writing of the author; the approach that the author seems to have taken in writing this novel. It becomes apparent the author has written this novel with an international audience in mind. There are many instances where I couldn't help smile at the result of this deliberate attempt to 'belong' to a wider audience (and mostly US audience at that). For instance, there is a narrative that describes an Indian police officer arresting an important character. At the time of arrest, the officer informs the accused that a certain Article of the Indian Constitution gives him the right against self-incrimination, and that he may wish to engage a lawyer. This style of presentation is alien and made-up. It does not happen in India this way. Police officer comes and arrests - simple. That's how it happens in India. This is clearly an attempt at making the novel more international, since audiences today are fed an overdose of Hollywood movies ("you have the right to remain silent", etc....the Miranda rights). A 'petrol pump', which is the standard term used in India, instead becomes a "gas station". Characters have sandwiches and coffee at a road side eatery, rather than standard Indian dishes. There are various other smaller instances likewise where I couldn't help get a similar feeling.Another thing the book lacks is character development. As with many other high octane adventure centric plots, the emphasis is on the thrill of the moment rather than in-depth characterisation. Finally, the end is rather abrupt, sudden and a bit of an anti-climax.These hiccups do not take away from the inherent attraction of the novel, though. It is intended to be a thriller, and that it does! Good quality entertainment.

This is author Ashwin Sanghi's third novel and it shows. From what I could make out after comparing his second novel-'Chanakya's Chant- Chanakya's Chant ' what I can say is that the author has improved. Tremendously. But is it enough? Let me walk you thought the basic pros/cons list-PROS-Well thought out.AMAZINGLY well researched.Nice character development.Contains nice twists.A real page turner / button presser (for you Kindle users out there :P)CONS-Writing seems choppy and forced at some placesYou could say that the author is making extremely wild connectionsMay be a bit extreme for some peopleAfter reading the book, this is what I have to say- Buy the book. If you like your history, you would love this book. Even if you area sci-fi fan, you will love this book. My note to Ashwin Sanghi-Get a better editor.And yes, to those who are comparing Ashwin Sanghi to Dan Brown, here's what I have to say- Ashwin Sanghi has a LOT of potential.

This is a researched book - couldn't miss a very similar feeling as when reading Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I found the research into Indian mythology and history was rather well done, and gave some very different angles to stories that I had grown up listening to.The connection to present day India is very well done too - including the final journey! A good story overall.Reading the book on my Kindle on iPad, what I found fascinating was that I could jump to my browser and search and read on many of the historic facts and come back to the story.What I didn't probably like much was the characters. Many times felt they were forced into their roles rather than them having evolved. This is where I think Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code probably did better.

It was a good read. It reminded me of The lost symbol written by Dan Brown many times. There were nuclear physics and Einstein's theories explained in a few chapters that I enjoyed but I am not sure whether other readers would do the same.

Could not put it down. Was blown away by the science, numerology, history and sacred texts set within a larger story.

There are average stories that stand out due to sheer prowess of author's writing and there are great stories let down by average writing.This is one such book that is of the latter kind. Like a reviewer before me said, its not that this book is bad. This is a good and immensely readable book. An incredible amount of research and imagination has gone into this book and it requires a standing ovation.There are a few things that badly drags down the book. The characters are under developed. Probably the author had the baggage of an already burgeoning book and did not want to spend more pages on character development. At some points in the book the character flaws are annoying. For instance a character 'Taarak', who is supposedly well trained on Indian history, philosophy etc etc., asks some very rudimentary questions that you feel does not gel with a well educated character.The other sore point about the book is the lectures. Its required for a book of this style to delve into long explanations and reasoning on hows and whys of historical events. But boy, this book seems to be made up of only lectures and whats worse is that everyone in the book lectures. The protagonist, the antagonist, the sidekick, professors(well, that's what professors do.. so at least cant blame them). After a point, i found it a bit tiring.The other thing that weighs down this book is the average writing. The dialogues, choice of words, all look a bitodd at many places, especially in the initial portions of the book. Can't shake of the feeling that Mr.Sanghvi has written this book primarily for an international audience.At the end of it, its what the title says. A well researched, great plot, average writing, yet immensely readable.

Just finished Ashwin Sanghi's- 'The Krishna Key'. It took me some 10 days to reach the end. Judging by that one can failry guess how intriguing or captivating the book is.I read the synopsis of the book before I bought the novel. If I had to write a review of the synopsis that is written at the back of the book I'd give it 5/5. More than the reviews by others who have already read the book it is the synopsis that has always mattered to me when buying a novel. But after reading The krishna Key , I probably wont rely on synopsis alone for a book from same author. Its not like watching a movie that even if it doesn't turn out to be good , it doesn't matter as I have invested only two hours in it. In a book hours and hours of effort goes into. So if a book doesn't turn out to be good as it could have been or as you'd have expected it to then in the end you only feel unsatisfied and feel like you've wasted hours into it.Talking about the book there are many flaws in it. First of all its not a thriller! Of course the author has tried to make it a thriller but it fails to enthral. The strength of some characters changed multiple times. For example - the lady inspector when introduced she was said to have - 'beagle like ability to follow the scent to its source , dogeddness of a mule and strength of an ox!' .Point taken. But 60% in to the book and that changes completely. Of course she has changed sides but now she is frail , fragile ,out of ideas and clueless. We knew her as someone who didn't take long in solving her cases but towards the end she was keen on dropping the case! Totally disliked it. Problem was I was already two third in to the book. Too late to drop. The only reason that kept me going was the epic tales from Lord Krishna's life and tales from Mahabharata. If you say this book is unputdownable then this has to be the only reason. Even in the tales section it is not flawless though - at one point the author mentions that Krishna gave up his life under a peepal tree and at other he says Krishna gave up his life under Banyan tree. The protagonist - the historian suddenly knows something that helps him in solving a riddle and then suddenly he doesn't because of which they are stuck. Next time he knows more and that helps him proceed further. This can't be unless he went back to doing some research or study of his own related to the matter. Also the hapless ending it was like you worked so long for something precious and threw it away when you are about to lay your hands on it. Just the last 2 pages were so disappointing that I felt like tearing those and writing 2 pages on my own in stead. I could list out many reasons not to read this book while only one in favour of reading the book - Tales from Lord krishna's life. My rating - 3/10

first book i've read from the writer. well written and look forward to reading more

Facts presented lucidly whilst maintaining a string of events unravelling a suspense plot. Good read for every age group and all walks of life.

Loved this book, really enjoyable and great plot with a nice twist! Also I do love to read anything to do with the cultural aspect of India and religions and this one was particularly engaging.

Firstly this is said to be in mythological thriller genre. Author has put an immense effort to research about mythology, Theology Archeology, History along with many interdisciplinary connections among these. In the acknowledgement section the author has told that he wanted to write a fiction that would based upon sound research...and he has succeeded appreciably at that point. This book would unlock a whole new world of the concerned subjects to the people reading this type of piece for the first time. .Now comes the plot. It's neither completely good nor completely bad. But it may not seem gripping enough for readers who loves thriller a lot. Most of the twists are very clichéd and lack any kind of logic. Some of the facts are not at all agreeable. There are plenty of questionable explanations of some facts. Still, some parts of this book is indeed remarkable. I love the Mahabharata backdrop throughout the book. Some interpretation of facts from Mahabharata is really amazing.. There is Dan Brown vibe at most of the places.If anybody try to analyse characters under microscope then I would definitely restrain him/her. Only some layers of Krishna's character has been portrayed with a little detail.But above all the ending is heart warming. The message this book wants to convey is really beautiful. As I always review spoiler free so I'm not disclosing much. Although I didn't enjoy it that much there are a lot of people who have enjoyed this novel. For beginners it would be quite enjoyable.At the very end, once more, I'm applauding the intense research of the author behind.