The Mauryan: The Legend of Ashoka

by Komal Bhanver

Can Ashoka conquer his enemies or will his own demons get the better of him?

Known in far reaches of the world as a great conqueror, King Bindusara rules over much of India with an iron fist. When a Brahmin prophesies that his wife, the beautiful Subhadragi, will birth a legendary ruler, Bindusara is ecstatic. But when the child is born a frail, ordinary-looking boy, the emperor, filled with disappointment and disgust, leaves him to his mother and turns all attention to grooming Susima, his eldest son, as heir to the Mauryan throne.

Shunned by his father, and bullied and humiliated by Susima, Ashoka learns from a very early age to be the master of his own fate. Under the determined tutelage of his mother and in the company of a few loyal companions, he begins to challenge Susima at every step. When he meets a beautiful and spirited young woman who teaches him the true meaning of courage and changes him forever, he begins to dream of ruling the vast empire.

But kaal has other plans for him, for his ambition and steady rise are being noted by those who want to end the threat to Susima's succession once and for all.

Will Ashoka allow the obstacles in the path of his destiny to overwhelm him, or can he rise above them to become the greatest emperor who ever lived?

Genres: Historical Fiction

448 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2017

About the author

A management graduate, Komal Bhanver began her career in the IT industry. After working for a decade, she decided to take a brief sabbatical to raise her children. Post that, she worked in management consulting as a Director with PeopleFirst. She is the co-founder of ‘The Next Milestone Technologies’, an organization with a vision to enhance employability. The author in her awakened quite accidently but, to her delight, she immensely enjoyed the process of weaving stories. Click! a story of India’s e-commerce boom is co-authored by her, along with Jagmohan Bhanver. 'The Mauryan', published by Hachette marks the advent of Indian writing in the historical fiction genre. She lives in Mumbai with her husband, two children and a pet Labrador.
Interact with her on facebook using
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www.linkedin.com/in/komalbhanver/

Reviews

[Jayasree B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book being the first part of a trilogy has managed to set up the stage for a great play. With excellent backdrops, well-defined characters and brilliant writing The Legend of Ashoka was a good read. I can't wait to get my hands on the second instalment of the series.

For the entire review, visit Frost At Midnite.

[Bookish Indulgenges with b00k r3vi3ws · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a slow start as it sets up the world for its readers. As this this the first instalment in the series, it is almost expected and as such did not bother me much. It is almost halfway through that the plot starts to pick up and things start to boil down. Once that happens the book turns out to be quite interesting. The various characters depicted in the plot are mostly developed up to the scratch, though I imagine there is much more awaiting to happen to the characters of Ashoka and Susima in the coming books.

Read the full review on Bookish Indulgences with b00k r3vi3ws

[Jagmohan Bhanver · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mauryan: The Legend of Ashoka is an incredible book. It exemplifies the immense background research done by the author. The characters are well formed and the plot is complex enough to excite one's imagination. It is not blemished by the frequent black-and-white hues used by a lot of writers. Rather, the book comes into its own when it is a matter of ascribing grey shades to some of the key characters. It's safe to say that no character simply ambles in and out in this book. Every character has a role to play and in some cases where it is not overtly visible in this book, it is certain that those characters would play a deeper role in the sequel; and that the author has artfully set up the reader to expect more from the next volume. The story is gripping and the narrative masterful. Congratulations, Komal Bhanver, on your second book.

[Riti · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book begins with the conquest of Mahishur by Bindusara in a well strategized and executed battle plan. This sets the foundation of the book which establishes Bindusara as an emperor and administrator who ensures the Mauryan administration is run with an iron-fist.
When it was prophesied that the son of The Emperor Bindusara, -son of Chandragupta and ruler of the Mauryan empire with the Brahmin Shubhadrangi would be a legendary king, Bindusara marries Shubhadrangi much to the annoyance of the Agramahishi Rakshita who took a lot of effort to make her feel unwelcome in the royal household. However Ashoka is born dark-skinned and lacking in the royal bearing of a future emperor much to Bindusara's disappointment and thus Sushima, son of Rakshita becomes the favoured son and heir apparent to the throne.
In her palace, Shubradangi focuses on the education of Ashoka, reading to him complex texts like arthashastra as well. When the time comes for both prices to take formal education, clearly Ashoka is the better student across all aspects and Sushima is the slacker and quick to take short-cuts much to the exasperation of their teacher Akila.
When in Taxila, a case of counterfeit coins is uncovered, Ashoka is sent on the mission with his bodyguards and trusted aids.
Several attempts to his life are made during the course of his journey and stay in Takshashila but Ashoka is saved all the time. In Takshashila, he meets Menaka, the daughter of the treasurer Attreya and falls in love. Between the treacherous task to uncover the mystery of counterfeit coins and saving himself from being killed, love finds a way. Will Ashoka be successful in both love and war? Will he be named the successor ?
https://itchingtoread.blogspot.in/201...

[Lepakshi]

Title: The Mauryan The Legend of Ashoka
Author: Komal Bhanver
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 2017
Pages: 448
My Rating: NIL

I don’t normally go for books I haven’t heard of, but this book sounded very intriguing to me for two reasons- one, I really like books having anything to do with the Indian history, and two, Ashoka is a king from our past I truly admire, respect and look up to. It wouldn’t be exaggeration when we refer to him as The Greatest King ever lived.

But I DNFed the book very quickly….

Okay, so the story starts off with the time of Ashoka’s birth and Ashoka’s father King Bindusara making plans for a war in the Mahishur kingdom down south. And so, the first fifty pages, the whole of it, was just this war! Like seriously… I wanted to read about Ashoka, his childhood and stuff… But the war dragged on with so much details like it would never end. It got super-uninteresting…

AND I DNFED IT!

[Samir Manocha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I normally dont read the reviews of books that i intend to read, I did not read for this too. However I expected a little bit more in terms of a narrative. I am not aware this is part of some grand trilogy, and this is the first book in the series.
Overall, its a much better read than the tripe Amish and his ilk have been spouting in name of mythological/historical fiction. But its definitely not in the league of a William Dalrymple, bit Komal shows and demonstrates, via her writing to be one.
There were 2 glaring errors, the frist being when she referred to the country as India, as far as my knowledge of history is concerend, India did not exist in Ashoka's time, and the 2nd being referrence to "Quaranic" verses"? If it referred to ISlam, then the author sure had clairvoyant powers to forsee another major religion taking birth almost 800 years prior to its birth.

[Eraneh Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a perfect setting for the trilogy of the mauryan empire, begins by setting up an awesome empire of Bindusara and telling us his emotions and goals. This book is a perfect book not because of its story and characters but because of the imperfections shown in the personas of the characters. It showed their internal conflicts, their good parts as well as bad parts. How Ashoka grew into a strong individual while keeping his friends close to himself and learning ways to win his father's heart. The strategic and brutal mind of Ashoka is also portrayed at several settings which not only helps him achieve the respect of his soldiers but also awards him fear from them.

[Ananth Elangovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts brightly with a battle plan executed to perfection , then the rivalry between two brothers is well portrayed . Anyways the narration becomes slow in the second half of the book and this couldn’t cope up with the expectation set in the initial pages of the book .Towards the end of the book It was little boring . More questions than answers . Looking forward to the next book in the series.

[Sudipto Shekhar · Rating 2 out of 5]

two stars for the author to take the pain in writing this book. nothing much to expect out of this book. nothing closely related to the era which Asoka was about to rule. detailing missing, with a very sloppy love story framed around Asoka.

[Ashok · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a thrilling read!

[Deepthi Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect book for lovers of Indian history... kept me hooked up from page one to the last page..

[Rohan Amberkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where's the sequel, you can't leave the protagonists at the lowest point of his life and don't give us a closure, people who don't like chill hanger sad endings should avoid this book

[Aniruddh Naik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story in many parts. Equally there are many parts that could have been skipped. I skipped the last 70 pages and dropped to last 2 chapters. There wasn't anything I had missed!

[Shriram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Click here to view the entire review:

http://reviewsnspoilers.blogspot.in/2...

[Ashutosh Nakhate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this aspect of ashoka.

A well written historical story. Will certainly help everyone including to fight our demons. A must read for all for sure.

[Vivek Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very griping, waiting for the next part

[Aarushi]

Very good book.
When will the second part come ?