Hey guys what is up welcome back to my blog I’m so thankful that you guys took the time out of your day to read my blog post. The Secret of the Nagas is the second book in the Shiva Trilogy so I recommend reading the previous post then coming back. I had got this and the third book immediately after finishing the first because I liked it and I wanted to know more. SPOILER WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOK.
This book picks up exactly where the last one left off *SPOILER FOR THE ENDING OF THE FIRST BOOK PLEASE SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH * with Shiva chasing after the Naga with Sati. The Naga escapes leaving them puzzled and they discover that they need to travel deeper into the lands of the Chandravanshi’s to solve the mysteries of the greatest evil which Shiva has to destroy.
We set off a new journey this time the action mostly takes place in the Chandravanshi kingdom. As in the last book Shiva is told that the Chandravanshis had also been told of the same prophecy as the Suryavanshis and that the utter destruction he has caused was for nothing. Shiva consults a Vasudev Pundit and gets guided that he had to enter the war from either side and he had to be an outsider so that his judgement is not clouded. We explore Ayodhya, Kashi, Land of the Brangas and ultimately to the Naga Capital Panchvati. Amish has expertly described the journey and the beautiful temples and monuments relying on his knowledge of the geography of the place. Shiva is now much calmer and wants to prevent meaningless killing and bloodshed. The rouge foreigner chief of the Gunas had transformed into the Neelkanth or as some liked to call him the Mahadev. Shiva by this time has a faithful entrouge and a highly motivated army ready to die for their God. He travels to Kashi the land of Lord Rudra where he is accepted with grandeur and glorified as the next Mahadev. Shiva learns that the people of Branga suffer from a terrible plague and need Naga medicine to survive. Sati is left in Kashi while Shiva continues on first to deal with a threat and gain an ally then onwards to the land of Branga.
Shiva’s status as the Neelkanth grants him access to Branga where he first hand sees the suffering of the people. He vows to get them the Naga medicine. Shiva’s character here is really selfless and kind showing yet again that he is worthy of the title of Neelkanth. Sati gives birth and we see a new character Maharishi Bhrigu who is mysterious and wise. He is seen as controlling, manipulative and deeply respected by all. Bhrigu can be considered the ultimate adversary of Shiva as 2 deeply respected and highly important people clashing against each other. Sati after giving birth deals with a problem of the Kashi leaving her son in the care of her servant Krittika. Sati here shows immense ferocity, moral values and good sense of judgement. She is also shown as selfless and prepared to face death. It is in this incident that we see the true nature of the Nagas and the reason why Sati was being stalked by one. Secrets are revealed showing that the Nagas are not the pure evil that they were thought of. Shiva with the help of the Naga after Sati who is revealed to have much deeper connections that previously thought of and the Queen travels to Panchvati to find the Secret of the Nagas one which will help him identify the greatest evil and fulfil his destiny. Shiva though due to a previous incident is distrustful of the Nagas another incident later on makes him trust them.
The connection shared by Shiva and sati with the Nagas is one that can be guessed by people who know the legend. However, the way in which Amish set it up shows that he is a genius and is not just throwing in elements and characters as he feels but deeply follows the plot that he sets up and does nothing without any reason. The way in which he introduced these characters cleared all doubts from my mind and I knew that it was a masterpiece that Amish had created. The book follows the legend quite closely though the story is edited greatly still some aspects and characters are the same. It could be said that Amish has re imagined the story and turned it into his own work. The book was still great we get to see a lot of characters and go deep with their values and their dedication or hatred for Shiva. No doubt a lot of things are misinterpreted but Amish is also a human just like us and the legend has many variations but Amish has provided the best adaptation I have seen.
The second book picks up the pace and gets into the action a lot of strategy and fighting is involved along with the conversations with the Vasudevs which are still deeply insightful and philosophical. The ending is again a cliff hanger with the secret of the Nagas revealed which is greatly unexpected. The next book is the best of the three and this one I say with a heavy heart is a bit boring mainly due to switching between so many places and so many characters. I think this book was just to extend the plot up to the masterpiece that the third book is. I’ll post the review of the last book too so please check it out.
So that is it for this post guys hope you got some value from this. Thank you guys for reading to the end hit me up on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn with your thoughts and if you have any ideas which I should write about. Thank you again and I’ll see you all next week.
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