Raavan : Enemy of Aryavarta (Ram Chandra Series Book 3)

Well, what to say. The wait is finally over and I am so happy that I finally have the copy in my hand. Not getting into the usual characters, plot, climax, writing style, and entertainment quotient, I will quickly give you 7 reasons why I think this book is an absolute must-read for every lover of mythological fantasy fiction out there. 1. It is an action-packed adventure packed 5-star entertainer. Technically, I gave it 4.5 stars but you get the drift. 2. The character of Raavan is something to look forward to. There are many shades to Raavan and the entire character arc is done very well. You will admire him, maybe love him, detest him, pity him and would want to hate him to no end but there is no way you can deny the charisma of the man. Right till the end of the book, you never really get to know him completely. There is certainly a different kind of an enigma in the character. 3. The character of Kumbhkaran - he is yet another character whom you should look forward to, whose usual treatment in other fictions and popular culture has been quite caricaturish. But, Amish surprises you with Kumbhkaran. He is humble, polite, grounded and dharmic. His selfless devotion to his brother is the stuff dreams are made of. 4. The vivid descriptions of the cities and the palaces, the battle scenes and the people, the social fabric and the economic system - there is a lot of description in the narrative that adds to the beauty of the book. In addition to that, there is a good dose of knowledge to be gained from the book. 5. It's a racy read with simple language. The book makes use of a language that will appeal as much to a beginner as it will to a regular reader. Amish does well when he leaves out the irrelevant years of Raavan's life while focusing only on the important events which matter. 6. While we do get the answers to all the questions that were left unanswered in the previous books, Raavan creates some more mysteries on the way that will leave you on a cliffhanger once again. This makes sure that you are as excited about the next book as you were about this one. 7. It is just so different from any other fiction that has been written on and about Ram, Sita, Raavan, and Ramayana. In the end, the book is totally worth the wait and I am excitedly looking forward to the next in the series.

The long-awaited book in the Ramchandra Series, Ravana-Enemy of Aryavarta is the third book in the Ramchandra Series. To give you context of the plot, the Ramchandra Series is based on a multilinear narrative that explores the paths of the 3 main characters-Ram, Sita & Ravana in three separate books that culminate at one common point, which in this case is the abduction of Sita. The previous two books, Ram-Scion of Ikshvaku & Sita-Warrior of Mithila set the characters of Sita and Ram into the plot devised by Amish. Ravana-Enemy of Aryavarta begins way before Ram & Sita were born. Starting with the childhood, we are introduced to the life of Ravana in the Ashram of Vishrava, his father. Being born a Naga, he faces constant ridicule of his father and starts to despise him. Things take a turn when Vishrava’s wife, Kaikesi delivers Kumbhakarna, another Naga. Facing ridicule from his clan, he had ordered them to kill Kaikesi and the child if he was a Naga. Saved by her brother, Mareech, they run to save their lives. What happens next, continues to mould Ravana’s life and his actions as we see them. The book skips to specific instances in Ravana’s life. We see Ravana dissecting a live hare when he was barely a child, we see a brilliant strategist when he negotiates with Akampana for his ship and the way he deals with Kubaer in Lanka. We see an Artist who creates wonderful melodies with his Rudraveena. We also see an unrequited lover, paining to see the woman he fell in love with, A Kanyakumari he met in Vishrava’s Ashram when he was a kid. He continues to paint her portrait, imagining her age in his mind. We see Ravana as a devoted brother, who would do anything for Kumbhakarna. Another point that Amish makes in the story is how Ravana was used as a pawn by Vishwamitra to catalyse the chain of events leading to Sita’s Kidnapping. Even though the actions of Ravana were truly his own, his being played by Vishwamitra turned things for the worse. The highlight of the book was the point where Ravana breaks and takes a severe vow that starts the domino effect. Compared to other works by Amish, this one was not that exciting. Creating a character as complex as Ravana is difficult but the plots in Ram-Scion of Ikshvaku and Sita-Warrior of Mithila were better executed than Ravana-Enemy of Aryavarta. Jumping years at a time, each incident is wrapped up quickly, thus giving no time for the connection to sink in. The reference to Sabarimala was not required and it added no real material for the main plot. The change of name of the book is quite justified as we see how each incident turned him against his motherland. The characters are built properly with Kumbhakarna serving the voice of reason for Ravana. His contempt for his half siblings-Vibhishana & Surpanakha is shown though not much is dealt on it. Cunningness of Vishwamitra and the Malayaputras is depicted well. Is he the greatest villain in history or just a man in a dark place, all the time? Read Ravana-Enemy of Aryavarta by Amish to find out. I would rate the book 3.5/5.

Good

I received the Amish Tripathi Ram Chandra series in excellent condition. The packaging was great, and all the books are beautifully printed. If you’re interested in mythological fiction, I’d definitely recommend buying this series!

I love this book, I couldn't stop reading, well to be honest I started with Ram 2 weeks back and now I am already on War of Lanka. But Raavan story arc was the most engaging. To have such an humane portrayal of the villain and to let the reader empathise with him despite his cruelty tells you the impeccable writing of Amish. It doesn't justify his actions but it exemplifies the brutal consequences of domestic abuse and social ostracism which is very important to deeply understand as how it can lead to chaos and destruction, just like the movie Joker. Moreover, the bromance was beautiful. To have such a dharmic perspective of Kumbhkarna and his bravery was endearing to imagine and how much love and respect both brothers have for each other. Last and not the least, Vedavati. The portions that involved with her are life lessons that Amish is philosophically trying to project and that is why he's one of the most original thinkers. These books are not just stories. They are life lessons and you can come back to them again and again

After waiting for 2 long years for the next book in the Ram Chandra series, finally, I read the most anticipated book of the year - Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta. Most stories are narrated from the hero’s perspective and our greatest Indian epic, Ramayana is no exception to that, but Amish had taken an opposite approach for this book. Like the 1st two books of the series, this one was also a multi-linear narrative. It chronicles Raavan's life from his childhood till the abduction of Sita. I personally feel every character has its own perspective so when you switch the perspective of the same story, it gives you an altogether different angle of the same story and that's what had exactly done Amish in this book. Pros: 😊cover is a stunning & enchanting, where Raavan is shown as a pirate king, launching an attack on the Aryavarta land. It also gives you some clues about the story which you will realize once you complete the book. 😊writing style is smooth & effortless which makes the reading easy; the description of the places, temples, sea-faring ships, voyages etc were well described as if you are seeing them with your own eyes and the language used is so simple, that even a beginner would like it. 😊The battle scenes are absolutely marvelous, especially raid on Krakachabah where Raavan lead a night attack to steal the hidden treasure of governor of Chilika & the battle of Karachapa, where Raavan defeated Ayodha's army utterly & humbled Dasharatha's pride. 😊the way Kumbhakarna's character was drawn, I liked him & even at some time relates to him. He seems to be the real hero of this book who was forced to support Raavan & give him right advise at every point of time. 😊Climax was good which will compensate for the boring reading experience. It will answer some of the questions that arise in the previous two books like why Samichi betrayed Sita and who was Sita's biological parents. Cons: 😑I was thinking since 1st two books in the series can be read as standalone, so this book will be same, but I was wrong. If you haven't read the 1st two books then you might feel confused, because all the 3 books are inter-linked. 😑Raavan's character had many shades- he was great scholar, ferocious warrior, brilliant trader, exceptional politician, loving brother and father, amazing musician and an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva - which is not accurately portraited in the book. 😑Since this book is from Raavan's perspective alone, so a great number of characters - Mandodari, Vishrava, Marich, Suparnaka, Indrajit etc, their relations with Raavan and the depth of those relations were not described in detail/ignored totally. So there was no relation building. 😑Pacing of the book is very fast, which is needed to incorporate the whole life of Raavan, but this fails you to connect with the characters. Before you start to relate with a character, everything changes & you find yourself ahead in the time in a new setting. This makes your reading experience extraneous. 😑Now coming to character development, Amish had successfully portraited Raavan as born evil, who is very short-tempered, enjoy inflicting pain on others and want to win at any cost. But then how come he accept Kanyakumari's refusal of his love, which is completely opposite of his personality, I don't understand. Personally I feel this book is not the best work of amish, but still, just hope next book will coupe up to his level & may release soon (I just hate to wait). I would like to recommend this book to every fan of Amish. It is definitely worth to give atleast one try. My Rating: 🌟🌟 🌟

Book Review!! ‘Raavan’ by Amish Tripathi. Firstly, I have not read any of Amish’s books before this, but that’s the speciality of this book; even if I have not read the previous two books of Ram chandra series, it’s all fine as this is not a continuation but a whole different book. Seriously speaking, this is one of those books in which you really feel something very special, especially Raavan’s character is something you not only read but feel his deep and devilish emotions at the same time you know why he has made himself in such a monstrous way. Undoubtedly, Amish has done a lot of research and wrote this masterpiece, keeping all the readers in mind. If you’re a fan of Indian Mythology, then give a shot reading this book; believe me, you’ll thank me later. Each one of the chapters is so impactful that your emotions will keep on changing from feeling sad to getting your goosebumps. The brotherly bond between Raavan and Kumbha is superbly written, I have never read such amazing chemistry before, and it also gives you a sense of reality that happens between two brothers. Like, no one can even question Raavan, for the world, Raavan’s personality is so larger than life and scary, but in front of his small brother, even Raavan cannot do anything. Kumbha can tease Raavan, make fun of him, crack Pjs and do whatever he wants. Though, after the first half, this seems to change for a while, but not much. We won’t give spoilers; you must read it fresh. You’ll see the different side of Raavan, a more lover boy how he fell in love, his poetic ways of expressing his love, controlling his emotions and even bluffing in love. Hey, As his character, his way of expressing love is also different from the world. Damn, you just can’t miss this if you wanna learn about a love in which you need to sacrifice, bluff your emotions, and carry a smile forcefully just for the sake of the happiness of the partner. So overall, this is an amazing fictional book, I just wanna add here, you ought to enjoy this as a fictional book only without getting your sentiments hurt. Each one of the characters is placed finely, like; Vedvati, Sita, Ram, Dashrath, and so on. In some scenes, you’ll even feel bad for some characters as Raavan kills and tortures them so badly. But your mind will be curious to know what’s next? Writing: In the beginning, it sounded too heavy, but soon I got the grip with the flow. Characters: Again saying this, I don’t think anyone can write this way as Amish has written One of the Fav Quotes: “There is a lion and a deer within each of us. Only if we nurture the lion will we make something of ourselves. If we indulge the deer, we’ll be running and hiding all our lives.” Ratings: ⅘

This story is told from the perspective of Raavan. From childhood, he is disliked by his father, and this deeply affects his personality and emotions. Because of this rejection, Raavan grows up feeling anger and loneliness. In his life, two important influences shape him. One is his father, whose harsh treatment pushes Raavan toward darkness. The other is a girl he loves, who inspires him to become a better person and strive for a meaningful life. However, Raavan is forced onto a difficult path because he needs money for his brother’s expensive medical treatment. His circumstances gradually push him toward crime and power. In the story, Vishwamitra attempts to shape Raavan into the villain for the greater good of the land, believing that every hero needs a powerful enemy. Raavan eventually meets the woman he once loved again, but she is now married and pregnant. Fate takes a tragic turn when she dies and the child is lost. This tragedy fills Raavan with rage and grief, pushing him further toward the path of darkness. Although he possesses vast knowledge of the Vedas, Puranas, culture, art, astrology, and politics, he knowingly walks toward his destiny. Raavan understands that his path will eventually lead to his downfall, but he chooses to continue on it anyway.