Book Review – The Revenge Of Kaivalya by Sumana Khan

REVIEW:

The Revenge Of Kaivalya opens with the story of Kencha, a forest dweller who tags cobras in the Western Ghats, when he dies under mysterious circumstances with some words branded on his skin in an ancient Kannada script. On the other hand, in modern-day Bangalore, young Neel wakes up from a nightmare and a sickening smell of charred flesh and realizes he has wet his bed. I felt the first pang of fear when I realized that the smell was not just in the nightmare; Neel’s servants and his friend VJ felt it too! Then comes Shivaranjini of the Kudala Sangama estate who ventures into the deepest parts of the Sakleshpura forest and comes back with a pendant. She soon experiences a devastating seizure and emerges with a dangerous new personality. Though she has a history of panic attacks, this one reads different; it’s almost like a possession!

Right from the first chapter, the author captured my interest as the story kept moving at a fast pace. Many simultaneous threads in this one but all culminate to a single point of contact – Kaivalya, who has risen from the dead on the eve of the Tsunami to seek revenge from someone. But who is that someone? It couldn’t be Kencha since he was the first one to fall as a victim. Is it Neel who saw her in the nightmare? Or is it Shivaranjini whose body the enraged soul has possessed? And the most important question of all – who is Kaivalya and why does she want revenge? You must pick up the book my dear friends to know the answers to these questions and believe me, you won’t be disappointed.

The author used immaculate language in this book and painted the scene in front of my eyes. I consider any story that can evoke an emotional reaction from the reader to be brilliant and The Revenge Of Kaivalya does just that. I devour horror and thriller stories and there’s not much I haven’t seen done but this book left my pulse racing and the fear factor was a definite turn-on. Not only did I read the story, I smelt the charred flesh, listened to the deafening silence or the howling winds and claps of thunder and tasted the rice idli with melting butter on top. The author has been successful in evoking all my senses as a reader and that’s brilliant.

The book does seem a little bit slack towards the middle and perhaps a bit more wordy than usual but the language is fresh and flowing and leaves a strong impression. The climax, however, left me a bit disillusioned. Without giving away any spoilers let me just say that I’d have liked it better if the protagonists had got rid of the spirit themselves without ‘divine intervention’.

Overall, This is a must-pickup-to-read book if you love the paranormal genre or if you are just looking to get a little (or a lot) spooked. I thoroughly enjoyed the book think that this is a brilliant effort for a debutante.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the author in exchange of an honest review.

The Blurb

Deep within the womb-like forests of the Western Ghats, an entity manifests itself at the malevolent moment when the ocean rises to devour hundreds of thousands. Kencha, an unwitting witness to Its birth, is soon found dead – his body branded with a strange message written in HaLegannada, an ancient version of modern Kannada. Even as Dhruv Kaveriappa, Chief Conservator of Forests – Hassan division investigates Kencha’s death, he senses an unseen danger in the forests of Kukke, Bisle and Sakleshpura. Animals drop dead; plants wither away and just as he feared, the forest claims its first victim. Shivaranjini, on vacation in Sakleshpura, suffers a devastating tonic-clonic seizure moments after she returns from a visit to the forest. Soon, she begins to exhibit a bizarre personality disorder. Perhaps there is an outbreak of an unknown rabies-like disease? Or, as ridiculous as it seems, could it be a case of tantric witchcraft? 

The truth unfolds in a dizzying maelstrom of events – a truth far too terrifying to comprehend…

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The Author’s Thoughts

In the early stages of my manuscript, I knew the title of my novel had to be the name of the principal character. And it could not be just any name. It had to fit into the storyline – from a time perspective, as well as setting the atmosphere. It had to sound ancient and also define the character. Tall order!

As I read up on the history of Vijayanagara, I hoped to come across a good, strong name…but history, largely, is about men and their wars and conquests. I hoped to select a name from our puranas. But nothing clicked. What about our stotras? Maybe the lalitha sahasranama? Or ashtalakshmi stotra? One evening I sat mulling on ‘Kausalya’…thanks to the most famous line ‘Kausalya supraja Rama purva sandhya pravarthathe’ from the Suprabhata 🙂 I went to bed with that line in my head.

The next morning, somehow, ‘Kausalya’ had transformed to ‘Kaivalya’. I did not remember coming across the name in any of my previous research. Curious, I looked up what ‘Kaivalya’ stood for. And was fascinated.   Read More ……..