The Oath of the Vayuputras is the third and final book in the Shiva Trilogy. In case you haven’t done it yet, do make sure to check out our review of the first and second book in the Trilogy.
The evil has risen. Neelkanth has to gather his forces and fight with it, to protect the sacred land of India. As new alliances are forged, Shiva has to choose his own course to triumph over the dreaded enemy. Shiva reaches Panchavati and is amazed to see his brother-in-arms and best friend Brihaspati alive. He has many unanswered questions and is livid with Brihaspati for faking his own death. Brihaspati explains the reasons for his disappearance and the emergence of the true evil. But what exactly is the evil?
The author explains the real evil in the first few chapters of the book. Many others details like, what happens at the Maika, how the Nagas are separated from their parents and sent away to Panchavati, the role of Daksha in spreading the evil for his own benefit, the history of the Vayuputras and how they create the Mahadev, are discussed in the initial few chapters of this novel.
Shiva comes to know that the all-powerful Somras is the real evil. As good and bad are the two sides of the same coin, Somras too has some ill effects that cause some people to be born with disorders, not to mention the plague in Branga. It is also responsible for the depletion of the water in the Saraswati river. The Meluhans are well aware of the adverse impact of the Somras, but do not want to stop its mass production, fearing that it will bring the curtain down on their supremacy and dominance.
Shiva is duly guided by the Vasudevs, but no one can help the Neelkanth in the war against his mighty enemy. He must contact the Vayuputras to seek their assistance in the battle. But the Vayuputras are the ones responsible for the creation of the Mahadev and do not believe that an uncultured man from the forest tribe has got what it takes to be their next Mahadev, the successor of Lord Rudra.
Shiva loses many of his family members and friends, but he must not stop; he just cannot afford to fail. He fights many a battle, both physical and mental, and finally vanquishes the evil. He loses the love of his life, Sati, in that battle, but he still has to keep fighting until the evil is completely annihilated. The dangerous daivi astras, which the Vayuputras vowed to protect and never use, are used in the final battle and Shiva has to bear the consequences.
In his attempt to tie all the loose ends, Amish has come up with a not-so-interesting conclusion to the gripping sequence of events presented throughout the first two books. The paperback novel consists of 575 pages and is divided into 54 chapters. The third installment of the series does not match its prequels, neither in its plot construction nor in the pace of events. All the important details are unveiled over the initial 100 pages, after which the story drags a bit. At this point, it would be unfair to blame the readers for losing all their interest due to this sluggish tempo. Add to this the sheer amount of characters introduced over the course of the novel, and it becomes increasingly arduous for the readers to relate to them.
The Oath of the Vayuputras deserves nothing more and nothing less than 3 stars. Though the book is intriguing in parts, its failure to live up to the hype generated by the first two books in the series is glaringly obvious. The introduction of a subplot too many in the story makes it hard for the reader not to lose track of the original plot. In an attempt to give a conclusion to all those subplots, the author ends up losing control over the events. The detailed descriptions of the war strategy gets boring after a certain point. The repeated references to and explanations of the “good and evil” seem unnecessary. All in all, it’s a decent, if not the perfect, end to the Shiva Trilogy. Do give it a read if you wish to know the fate Shiva meets in the end.
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