The Great War of Hind

by Vaibhav Anand

“In the beginning, there was no such thing as heaven or hell. All that there was then, was earth… There are raconteurs and mischief-mongers in our ranks and I have no doubt they shall pervert the truth with their self-serving versions. The events of history – this history of our land – shall thus inevitably have many versions, doubtless. But, I was there with General Ramm, I fought by his side…”

-Sanjaay, official chronicler of General Ramm

Around 12000 B.C., Hindustan (or Hind) as we know it today, comprised five kingdoms of man, sandwiched between Parbat – the kingdom of the Gods in the north, and Lunka – the kingdom of the demons in the south. The ‘Legend of Ramm’ unravels the story of the military general called Ramm in the kingdom of Ayodh and how his actions came to define our world as we know it today.

Genres: Mythology, Fantasy, Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published June 8, 2014

About the author

Blogger/ writer/ poet/ satirist/ author/ resident editor, Opinion Circuit

Reviews

[Vishnu Chevli · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some books which make you desperate for it the moment you see covers and/or title. Being a big fan of mythological historical fiction, I always hunt for books in this genre. The legend of Ramm was gifted to me by author Vaibhav Anand in exchange for an honest review. In series of "the Legend of Ramm" by Vaibhav, "The Great War of Hind" is the first installment. Like Amrish who is re-portraying Ramayana with his own fictional work, Vaibhav has started his own version of Ramayana.

The story is written with 12000 BC timeline, where Hind was divided into six human kingdoms, 1 God kingdom, and 1 demon kingdom. Ayosh was the biggest and richest kingdom among human kingdoms. And our protagonist Ram was general (not a king or prince) in Ayodh army serving under king Vikramaditya. This part has covered the first battle of General Ramm against Persis king. Knowing prowess of Ayodh militia king of Persis used all wicked ways to bring Ayodh down. But the farsightedness of Hanohman along with the strategic planning of Ramm had countered tricks of Persis. Along with this war, something more interesting going on in the kingdom of Gods - Parbat. To know more check out this interesting book.

I loved the way character of Ram was built up through the story. The whole story is built upon war and author has given enough emphasis on strategic planning of war. Author has also used different ways to mention units of time, distance etc. 170-page long power pack action book is a perfect companion for a short trip or train journey. I have finished this book in a single sitting.

The author could have given more efforts on the map of Hind.

Detailed Review Link - http://chevusread.blogspot.com/2017/1...

[Swathi Shenoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read the blurb, I thought it would be a retelling of the great epic - Ramayana but a bit differently. I was all set for reading Ramayana once more. But when I started reading it, I realize how wrong I was. It is anything but the Ramayana I knew of! The author has modified the entire story and presented it in a new and brilliant manner, which leaves you asking for more. This book narrates the story of Ramm, not as the God we know but as a common man (!) just like us.

The story begins with General Ramm displaying his skills and winning one of the winter war games held in the presence of six kings seated together - his own king Vikramadetya, Sheikh Muhumud of Persis, King Talib of Kurd, Emperor Trystan of Nipalaya, Lord Garman of Ga and Russ, the cow king of the kingdom of Sur. The story soon jumps to Lunka, where Kaikesi narrates the young Raavan a bedtime story about the creation of man and demons and the curse bestowed upon Adum.

Back in Persis, Sheikh Muhumud plans a war against King Vikramadetya to conquer Awadh. The story picks up momentum from here. The war plans, the tricks and the actual course of the war cover up the rest of the book. There are also snippets from Prabat where Lord Vishnu seems to be agitated about something and the few and far fetched scenes of Prabat slowly unfold the mystery which leads to a shocking revelation in the end!

Things I Liked:
Read the full review here - Escape Reality - Book Reviews

[Gaurang Naik · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the ever growing genre of 'humanizing' the godly incarnates, comes a astonishing piece on the legend of Ram. The narrative is taut, the language is lucid and the storyline is distinctive. And yes, this is NOT the Ramayana!

[Pankaj Goyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my review on:

http://thetalespensieve.com/2015/09/b...

[Ranjeeth R · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a copycat of the Shiva Trilogy, but nowhere comes close to it. This is an utter crap and I will never recommend this book to a serious reader. I am not even sure if the Ramm of this book is the real Ram.
It is just a terrible mix of - Shiva Trilogy (wherein the ancient set up, description of Ram's stature and other things were copied), Prince of Persia (for the poorly chosen names of Persian or the 'Persisi' Empire, Mosadis who are mercenaries in this book similar to Hassasins of Prince of Persia), Art of War (to describe the war field, strategy, advantages & disadvantages. How the highlands of Ayodhi empire has avantage over the Persisi empire, etc).
I got lured into reading this book by the rating in Goodreads. Only the plot is good and some war strategy - again directly taken from Art of War by Sun Tzu. And there is some crap going on in the heaven (Parbat) wherein Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma discuss some non-philosophical crap and prophecies.

[V. Chandrashekhara Reddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting version of Ramayan

[Avtar Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

very entertaining... highly recommended for reading...
a nice book i read in long time...

[Vinod Agarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of all time... what a rollicking thriller. Congrats to Vaibhav for writing such a peach of a book. Riveting!

[Diwakar Grandhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rating is more like a 3.5 instead of 3.
Even though the names used seem similar to reading a different version of the Ramayana, this is a completely different story. Don't let the names sway you and make you believe that you are reading a well-known story.
The interpretation is decent which tells you that at that time, we had gods, humans, and demons living together on the earth. This story is about how humans fight among themselves for supremacy after years of peace. The book ends with a person named Ramm (named and intended to be very close to the legendary god in Hindu mythology, Lord Ram) turns out to be victorious.
The stage is set to witness the epic (and well-known) battle between Ramm and Ravan in the next book.

[Bandana · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, this is NOT Ramayana. This is a story which takes a life of its own when you admire the character of a protagonist but keep wondering if he/she would have lived the same life, created the same legends had he/she come from somewhere else, if they populated a completely different tale. And Vaibhav delivers brilliantly on that.
I especially loved the war strategy parts... brings to mind the Art of War by Sun Tzu. I do hope the subsequent installments elaborate more on Hanohman's story, as well as the Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva back story.
Look out for: A complex yet fast paced story, with enough layers to keep the reader engrossed and curious.

[Kalyan Panja · Rating 4 out of 5]

The descriptive sequences are present in a balanced way than intimating narrative, so that at each return stage the reader is able to find their way to pick up the thread of the speech, to understand them at all times better what is going on, sensing meanings and correlations between the facts and the characters.

Read the full review here...http://bit.ly/1OmAn43

[Srikanth Karanam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's was hard to contemplate the story early on with so many known characters in different dimension all together...but it was an amazing read with change of perspective... Never imagined that myth can be intertwined with history and the resulting story would be so good! Waiting eagerly for the next one!

[Ujjwala Singhania · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters may be the same as the epic 'Ramayana' but an altogether different storyline. A wonderful story and better read than Amish's latest Scion of Ikshvaku. Look forward to the second installment.

[Munjal Dalwadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of pure war totally different story than I thought when I started reading. War techniques and urdu stuff is much more advanced than 12000 BC but author knew and accepted at end so 4 stars. It would be better if story would have set in "AD" time some where around 500-600 AD.

[Sarath Karanam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this is another retelling of Ramayana, like Ashok Banker's or Amish Tripathi's versions. But I was wrong and I'm glad about it. I have reduced a star for poor presentation of Vishnu & Shiva.

[Amit Oberoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enthralling. The war scenes were the best parts of the book

[Kamal Rehani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant Games of Thrones-ish rendition of Ramm's world. Unputdownable.

[Madhu Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Geeta Saini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vaibhav is the new Amish. Kudos!

[Komal Deep · Rating 5 out of 5]

V. Good

[SUYANSH SINHA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good thriller

[Jai Yadav · Rating 5 out of 5]

MIND. BLOWN.

AWESOME.

[Nitin Jain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author didn't defined the character's depth, and just went on to narrate the story. Story also was more on incidents then on details.

[Vipin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not now

Not now.. can comment only after i read it,.. why to push for comnent before it.. .. .. .. ..

[Bhavana · Rating 2 out of 5]

its gud

[VISHAL SHARMA · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In the beginning, there was no such thing as heaven or hell. All that there was then, was earth…”

A book that starts off with these lines is worth a read. It seems like retelling of the epic - Ramayana, but is actually different.
General Ramm is not the Lord Ram we know of.
And he is definitely different from Ram, the prince of Sapt Sindhu, Son of Chakravartin Samrat Dasara from Amish Tripathi's Scion of Ikshvaku (Ram Chandra Series, #1). And in my opinion, Vaibhav surpasses Amish on couple of things & lags in few. Thus proving both are unique in their own way.

The book is another of mythological fictional, a genre quite popular today. But this one is better than the recently published ones.
Author writes a colorful tale in simple words.
But in my opinion he could have easily written more about the confrontation between the Trinity of Brahma-Vishnu-Shiv.
And increased the part of Lord Hanohman. But probably it's for next part of the series.

Plz do read the author's ‘Words for the Wise’ in the end. It is his best writing in the book.

Author in credit acknowledge the inspiration from Game of Thrones & Empire of Mughal series. Both in my reading wish list.

My take, worth a read. Especially if you were disappointed by Scion of Ikshvaku & wanted to read something good n brilliant like Immortals of Meluha. But this is not Amish.

This book forced me to start the author's debut novel ‘If God went to B-school’.

[Parmjit Chauhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read.

[Sindhura · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's amazing the way the author has portrayed humans, gods and demons....the curse of Adam, trickeries used to win the battle...overall the book is very interesting, you will be eager to read how each character of ramayana is portrayed.....can't wait to read the book in the series...