(Reviewed by Ishita RC)
Ashwin Jamal is a charismatic youth icon with a fan following that is larger than all the politicians combined and he just became the youngest Prime Minister of India. Little does he know that for the last 25 years, he has been groomed to be the most powerful leader of the world under the control of a master manipulator – Hades. While the world starts looking up to Ashwin as the saviour, will the pawn be sacrificed in the end?
The virtue of the internet or rather Amazon, to be more specific, is that you find such gems accidentally. What a fabulous find. The entire plot has been played out beautifully and you can see that a lot of thought has gone into the process. Each segment of the plot, all of the characters and every single element of intrigue and mystery has been written to showcase the brilliance of a good book. The plot is absolutely gripping and will keep your attention engaged till the very end. What is authentic about this book is the touch of Indian culture through the quotes that have been used at the start of each section of the book. The entire categorization of the book makes sense and each character that has been introduced plays well with the whole theme of dark and dirty politics. Each and every element of the book is perfectly in sync with each other.
What appealed to me specifically was the clever cover image of a pawn and the dark horse which is a brilliant pictorisation of the plot and its various multitudes of themes.
Ashvamedha: The Game of Power is an absolutely fantastic read that I am going to rave about for a very long time.
Favourite quotes:
“The position and the power to control changes an individual’s behaviour and outlook and he may end up doing the same things he protested against once. “
“Politics is such a bitch, it gives you pleasure, but takes away all you have. “
“I just wanted to be the ruler of the world. You have to dethrone a powerful man to be the most powerful. The ironies of the world. I was itching to defeat the single most powerful person and there wasn’t any. I was left with i ly one choice – To create a powerful person. “
