Chronicles of Kali: The Secret Book of Asurs by Prithvi Raj | Book Review

[A full video review went up on my YouTube channel. You can watch it here: Chronicles of Kali – The Secret Book of Asurs.]

A book that would explain the philosophical understanding of the human mind as well as add fantasy and fantastically mythological elements to the plot – that’s how I would summarize Chronicles of Kali: The Secret Book of Asurs. With such a seemingly complicated world to carry on its shoulders, this book could have gone any which way. The road not taken, perhaps. But then again, as Kali says in the course of this story, “stick to the middle”, it sort of does stick there somewhere, confused between whether to make you think or to wow you with the fantastical elements.

First off, let’s begin with one point that I wouldn’t blame the author for. The grammar, punctuation, spelling mistakes, and the usage of incorrect words. For example, “a draft of wind” is wrong while “a draught of wind” is the right one. Both words have the same pronunciation, but their written usage is vastly different. This could also be pointed out to the author, but editor – you needed to catch these mistakes.

Chronicles of Kali: The Secret Book of Asurs is the story of how Kali, a girl with supernatural powers, is destined to bring the Asurs to their knees. The Asurs are a sect of subterranean people who want to bring darkness to the world by spreading chaos through deliberate infiltration of humanity. All of this has a history, like anything else has, and connecting the dots while trying not to be too finicky makes for a slightly compelling one-time read.

The whole concept of how to bring humanity into harmony by reducing the “mental chatter” could have been used so much better in this book. In places, it gets really preachy. A reader needs to be told the concept subtly and not put it in quotes on large neon signs all over their front yard. There are repetitive mentions of “mental chatter” over and over again in the narrative, not to forget that some of the sentences too, seem like they have been recycled from a different point in the book.

Having said that, however, I really think that the points raised in this book, about how humans allow their thoughts to control them, how to actually get out of that box and start thinking of ways to broaden our horizons, a different way of looking at the world around us (especially living beings other than humans), and how to keep calm in situations and use them to our benefit.

So if you’re looking for a mythological fantasy cum adventure and are prepared to ignore the negatives and concentrate on the philosophical lessons alone, Chronicles of Kali: The Secret Book of Asurs is one book you can pick.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Until next time, keep reading and add melodrama to your life. 🙂

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