Many places have very different myths. Egyptian myths, Greek myths, Indian myths and others. All of them are equally complicated. But what if you combined two different types of myths and made it an adventure story? Come let's explore yet another book series - The book of Guardians Trilogy by Giti Chandra (Hachette India Publications).
First thoughts
In the beginning of the story, it is a bit hard to understand how the characters are introduced. This is because of the unique way the author has written. From one point of the scene it jumps to another scene. At first you may not understand this but when you go further into the book you will get the hang of it! While I was reading the book, I could clearly imagine the scenes in my mind. I started thinking that this book is also good enough to make a movie!
While I was reading the book, I noticed that the main characters all have the last name as 'Chandra'. That's when I found out that this book's characters are based on Giti Chandra's family! The author's father and mother who are known as Harish and Kumud Chandra have been made as characters in this book. In the acknowledgements, the author thanks her Icelandic parents-in-law, in which I noticed that most Icelandic names end with 'dottir' and 'son'. The author has also put this kind of name in the book. This book falls under the genre of 'Fantasy fiction', 'Adventure' and even 'Mythology'.
Book 1: The Fang of Summoning
When Vasuki, the snake dragon and the protector of mankind leaves behind a secret it is discovered a thousand years later by six children who have extraordinary powers. They are the guardians of the star stones, which have Vasuki's life stored in them. Together, they must prevent Edasich, the Hyena-faced-creature from getting his hands on the powerful star stones and feed on the Snake-Dragon's life force.
These six children, who are named as: Adit, Akshat, Ananya, Amar, Noor, and Tarini discover their powers in startling accidents. This book tells of how Edasich plots against these children, attacking them when they are at the least security. But most of the time, they escape his clutches. The children, who are frantically searching for the mysterious star stones do not realize that one of the star stones is right under their noses...
The Marvelous Mrs.Myth
I have read many other books on mythology. But none like this. I notice that the book has mostly Norse myths, but I could sense a hint of Indian in it too. All the names and words in this book are mostly Icelandic - Edasich, Ragnar, Hsmiah, Elrai. But the Snake-Dragon also known in Indian Mythology as Vasuki, has an Icelandic name called Elrai, which means 'The Good Shepherd'. I learnt that Indian myths can be viewed in different ways, and not only Indian, but in many other types of mythology!
Book 2: The Bones of Stars
In the second book (The Bones of Stars), a few months after the events from the Fang of Summoning, one of the young heroes, Akshat, disappears. After all these mysterious events, Harish Chandra decided to separate his family for safety's sake. Tarini and Noor, the youngest of the guardians go to Iceland with their parents, Ananya and Amar, because they have tight school schedules, stay in Gurgaon, India. And finally, Adit and Akshat, the oldest, go to America without their parents to be taken care of by a friend.
Akshat disappears from was the Yellow Stone National Park. This whole park is actually a volcano which was thought not to erupt. But, it erupted in the small size of a geyser, which was unusual. What was even more unusual, was it was supposed to erupt in a shade of purple. Instead, it burst above in a bright colour of Red! And when Adit and his friend, Yvonne, looked back, Akshat was gone! This event made the family realize that Edasich was not gone. They had thought the children, with the help of Vasuki defeated Edasich and sent him back to his dying star. But he had escaped and this time, planned to crack Earth in half by making the Yellowstone Volcano (Which is, by the way, the size of a country) erupt. This will kill all the people on Earth, giving Edasich billions of souls to feed on and gain lots of strength, and probably even send a tremor across the Solar System.
The Star stones, which will be buried under scorching lava and molten rock will break and also give their energy to Edasich, making him even more powerful. Spoiler alert: the second Star Stone, which was a mystery to all of you who read the Fang of Summoning review, is reincarnated as a young girl. And this young girl is Tarini, who unlike the other five guardians, did not have a superpower. And this was the reason why. Now that the two star stones are found, (One is guarded by Harish Chandra and the second is reincarnated as Tarini) the third one remains a mystery.
For this mission on saving the world again, Harish Chandra's clan teams up with new allies, which means new and exciting characters for the reader. We already know one of the allies as Hsmiah, the fang collector ( He is the only fictional character in the trilogy). The new two include a coven of skilled witches, (Yvonne Marie, Hyunyoung, and Ethan Hall) and Alfhildur, the queen of elves and keeper of Yggdrasil, the center of the Earth.
In the end, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Harish Chandra's clan finally find Akshat who was hidden inside the volcano the whole time. And the bad news is that when they foil Edasich's mega plan, him and Elrai, the good shepherd take their very very big fight to Yggdrasil, the center of the Earth.
Book 3: The Eye of the Archer
Three years later, In the third book, (The Eye of the Archer) the fight between Elrai, the good shepherd and Edasich, the Hyena is still going on. The Guardians can see signs of Elrai weakening on earth, like smoky shadows walking next to random people in the street. Adit, one of the Guardians wishes to journey to Yggdrasil - the center of the earth. He takes the help of Vera, a 'powerful witch gone rogue', who in return wants to find her long lost sister believed to be dead. While Adit is on this journey, Akshat must 'bring back the book of guardians alive'. The other four prepare for the final battle of Edasich in Pingvellir. Edasich has also teamed up with Antares's creatures (orphans under the care of the scorpion Antares and are evil). Meanwhile, the uncle of the Guardian, Harshvardhan has a new avatar, a centaur named Kinnar. He can foresee the future.
The Third Starstone - the Sunstone is revealed in this final book. It is located in Asgard, the city of the Gods. This was why the family could not find the stone in the normal world until Noor, the youngest Guardians draws the Bifrost, the gateway to Asgard. She breathes life into Heimdallur the watchman of the Gods by drawing him.
I really enjoyed this trilogy. I never took my hands of the book when I read it. I really liked the characters and their unique traits and powers.
Comentarios