Book Review: Traitors in the Shadows (Empire of the Moghul, #6) by Alex Rutherford

After their rendition of Shah Jahan's rise and fall, I was eagerly awaiting Rutherford to take on Aurangzeb - the most complex character among the prominent Mughal kings with 'Traitors in the shadows'. Aurangzeb was a more than competent warrior king with fox-like cunning, and yet he is credited with being the emperor who precipitated the eventual fall of the Mughal empire. As a dichotomous, divisive character, Aurangzeb is one of those characters that fiction cannot create.

And thankfully, the series does him justice. Even though there are scattered pages of ramblings and heated debates between Aurangzeb and his sisters, they set the tone for his thought process, inside-out. The battle portions are competent as usual, as well. All-in-all, the book delivered what it promised - a hard to put down historical thriller.

I now look forward to the authors' take on the dynasty after Aurangzeb. That's when things get really interesting with kings lasting days or at times months, until the eventual culmination of the dynasty with Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1857.

Book Review: Dangerous Minds by Hussain Zaidi, Brijesh Singh

I stayed away from Dangerous Minds for some time, even though I am a sucker for Zaidi's writing. The last Zaidi book that he had co-authored had been the tremendously useless Mumbai Avengers which had also led to a far more useless movie. The co-authoring worried me. Was Zaidi becoming one of those Indian writers who write one good book and then are happy to 'ghost-write' or get paid for lending their name to forewords? - I wondered.

Thankfully, Zaidi is in control of Dangerous Minds, even though he is far from his best. The pacing is uneven at times and at times, the narrative isn't very clear. But Zaidi does what he does best - become a fly on the wall this time for men with a corrupted version of Islam, ranging from history-sheeters to ISIL volunteers.

Even with its flaws, a good one-time read.

Book Review: Black Flags - The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick

Joby Warrick's 'Black Flags' is essential reading to understand the rise of one of the most potent ideas of this century or even this millennium. Never before has a terrorist group so fundamentally endangered existence of normal peace-loving humans across the world; and never before has a terrorist group been able to attract citizens of so many countries on the strength of its central idea alone.

Warrick's is an important account of what I consider the most important historical event of the 21st century: a veritable World War III involving NATO, Russia, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, the Peshmerga Kurds and a host of other groups with shifting rivalries and friendships. Who would have thought that a minor student protest in Syria that Assad happened to pay attention to, would lead to the birth of the ISIL idea.Or for that matter, a small-time criminal in Jordan.

To add: if it was the USA's direct involvement that created the Taliban and then Al-Qaeda (and the hundreds of other Pakistan based terrorist groups), it is perhaps, the USA's lack of interest and criminal sloppiness in "accidentally" promoting Zarqawi that created ISIL/ Daesh. Disappointingly, the book stops right at the birth of ISIL (and that is reflected in the title!). I now await a writer of Warrick's salt to write about the Death of ISIL (given that they just lost Raqqa to SDF a few days back).

Related: Do watch City of Ghosts on Amazon Prime about the Citizen Journalists' group 'Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently' (RBSS).

Book Review: Black Tornado - The Military Operations of 26/11 by Sandeep Unnithan

I only expected Sandeep Unnithan's 'Black Tornado' to refresh my knowledge of the details of the terror attack that occurred what now seems like aeons ago. Having consumed several documentaries, movies and books (The Siege, Headley and I) on the attacks, Unnithan's book was strictly a purchase in the quick/ airport/ nothing-better-to read sense. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

If 'The Siege' is 26/11 from the Taj Hotel's perspective and 'Headley and I' from the terrorist's/ unwitting confidante's, 'Black Tornado' is 26/11 from the perspective of the security forces. In that sense, it fills a critical gap in the understanding of 26/11 - the military perspective. Unnithan removes the veil from the functioning of the bureaucracy and the various security forces ranging from the completely outmatched police force to the effective MARCOS and eventually NSG, in response to the attack.

Fitted with decades old gear and outmatched rifles, what struck me was the spirit of the Indian soldier. Black Tornado is essential reading as a history book, a book on urban warfare tactics and then, for the very human stories of the several bravehearts that looked those terrorists unblinkingly in the eye.

Book Review: Rustom and The Last Storyteller of Almora by Gaurav Parab

Let me start this review with an ominous sentence: Indian writers tend to be bad at storytelling. I was wary of picking this book up but then I happened to real Parab’s “About the author”. Slightly overcooked, but he still had my attention. And then I thought, well, what the heck… let’s give it a shot.

I couldn’t have been more wrong about Gaurav Parab and his delightful little book. Winding through the journey of Rustom – a suicidal spoilt rich boy-man – the book is powerfully funny and poignant in pieces. After a long time I found myself savoring passages, word-play and the beauty of writing. I was reminded of Arundhati Roy – in many ways Rustom is a rough edged, slightly off and approximate version of The God of Small Things.

There are rough edges – for instance, there are too many short chapters and the book wasn’t really un-put-down-able. The frequent breaks become a little jarring but the beauty of Parab’s writing stands like a sheer silk mesh that keeps you hooked. Were it not for these minor faults, the book would be a masterpiece. I am marking Gaurav Parab as an author I am keen to read the next book of – which is more than I will ever say for almost any other Indian author alive.

It is a tragedy that the Indian writing scene has the kind of heroes it does. In another country, Parab would be a full time author and not merely moonlighting as an author with a day job. In another country, Chetan Bhagat wouldn’t have been permitted the attention that he has been, so far.

Definitely Recommended.