3.5 stars, rounded up.
Every country in the world receives transcripts from an unmanned deep space probe called the Voyager 1, which predicts the end of the world unless an ancient Tatva, a principle, which is believed to be inside a Vimana, is uncovered. The world is now in uproar, and governments are scrambling to make sense of this threat that could destroy the world.
Meanwhile, we have Vikram Rathod, a treasure hunter, and Avitav Deshmukh, a languages and religions professor who must find the ancient Indian temple under which this Tatva could be buried.
How will they find this Tatva? And can humankind be saved?
My review:
- The combination of science fiction, Hindu mythology, and history is done very well. The choices the author made about this story are intriguing and informative.
- The humor - lots of laugh-out-loud moments right up to the very end.
- The cliffhangers were well-placed and adrenaline-inducing.
- It will make you interested in studying temples and Hinduism as a religion and philosophical order. Plus, using the different types of temple architecture to build on a quest of this level is impressive to say the least.
- The story is well-paced, well-researched, and is rounded off in a way that will keep you wanting more.
- And though I think that the story is well-paced overall, there are crucial points in the story where it shifts into a lower gear just when things are getting interesting. It becomes a little repetitive and this change in pace causes the reader’s interest to flag a little.
Overall, I think The Vimana Transcripts is a good, fun, quest story, with the stakes being as high as they can possibly get. You have existential questions and debates, Bollywood drama and action, numerous twists and turns that will take you for a spin, and the ultimate question - Creation or Evolution?
So if you’re looking for a book that has science fiction x mythology x history, The Vimana Transcripts will be well worth your time!