Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta (Ram Chandra Book 3) Kindle Edition

This is Book 3 in the Ram Chandra Series by Amish. I appreciate his unique perspective on Raavan, humanizing him for the reader.The trajectory of this story is quite beautiful. And the storytelling is brilliant, as always.

How do you sympathize with a villain like Raavan? He was a scholar, a musician, an astrology expert, a great politician, an even greater leader and a warrior unparalleled by most heroes. All of the greatest traits of Raavan are in full display in this book, along with a very plausible and understandable setting for the reason behind his rise to power as a villain of ancient India as opposed to being a hero for India. If you always wondered how a man with the qualities of a great hero could go on to become the most feared and hated man in India, this book may be able to help you understand what drives such great men. I only wish that the delay in the book's release and all the aplomb that went with the marketing and thrill that was generated before it's release were somehow reflected in the book. There could have been many more instances when the book could have explained or demonstrated the decision that went behind the kidnapping of Sita or how the two brothers unraveled the secret of their kidnapped victim. The ending felt rushed and not as powerful as I had expected. Let's hope the fourth book can fill in some of the gaps and jumps this book had made in the end as the story of the true planning and scheming that went behind the scenes is uncovered. Fingers crossed!! I can't wait!!

As always the description had grapped me into the storyline and kept me close to the characters.Although I am still not sure if the reasons about the Ravan's enrage with the sapt sindhu had been in sync with the actual plot of Ramayan. Because if it isn't the plot may jeopardize the understanding of the newer generation.Apart from the storyline, I am not sure if the author needs to go into the amorous depiction getting him in sync with the other Indian authors for whome it had became a selling point. Though naturally it is not condemnable, but the connection of the storyline with the highly admired and respected scripture will definitely make it tend towards it.I believe the gripping storyline with the adventurous plot and the frequent moral compass discussion with the juxtaposition with current life scenarios, has already what it takes for the book to be a bestseller.Having said that, I am eagerly waiting for the next part where the story would converge towards it's culmination.

I have always liked Amish’s work and have read pretty much every book starting from Shiva Trilogy. The Ram Chandra series started out disappointingly as it felt repetitive of the Shiva trilogy, with Raven I wasn’t expecting much however I was happy to see a difference in this book and was engaged. The only part I felt was over the top was the use of country, city names and voyages and some other things during trade trips which were very Modern day and we all know that Ramayan the epic events took place if they did in ancient times before Christ, so personally I would have much preferred use of ancient town names locations to give relevance and incite the mind again to go back to history.

Although it pulls back from the other two books, it does tie up a lot of open ends from the first two books and presents the perspective of a widely disliked character and how it was used as pawn in the animosity of two old friends turned foes.

Was ok. Nice. Slightly repetitive but that’s the hazard of the way the book is written. Still, can’t wait for the next book.

History buff Amish's rendition of the traditional 'evil' against divine Rama and Sita is both brilliant and daring. The so called evil is never, in Indian tradition, absolute. But Amish captures this in his ever engaging narrative. I wonder if the publication of "Ravan" had preceded that of "Sita" -- because historically the events are inverted -- would have changed the narrative some. Sita being the daughter of Vedavati, whom Ravan adored, is a brilliant connector that would shock some with devout Indian sensitivity. But daring inventiveness is the hallmark of Amish's narratives. Most appealing for me is the rendition of brotherly love between Ravan and Kumbhkarna paralleling legendary Rama-Laxman's relation.

The true marvel of a fiction is taking the characters that we have read/seen/heard from ancient scribes and giving a backstory to that character and to make the readers understand as to why that character is important in the perspective of the whole story. Amish ticks all these boxes yet again in this beautiful, well written novel.And now we know why every hero needs a good villain and even a villain has lots of good qualities in him. And after reading the novel it was quite understandable as to why Amish changed the name of the novel from “Orphan of Aryavarta” to “Enemy of Aryavarta” though in all likelihood after reading the novel you might fell that he was neither orphan nor enemy rather he was manipulated to be a pawn by Aryavarta to raise the designated person to the stature of Vishnu.

Amish always keeps you hooked to the book , The immortals of meluha and secret of Nagas ended at a cliff , and since The scion of Ishkwaku and Sita both ended with a lesser climax, I read Raavan also knowing that the end would be Sita’s Kidnapping.But, Ravana did end with a superbly revealing Climax. It was indeed an amazing journey.Must read. As usual hats off to Amish's Researchful brain and his way to entangle the mythology to his fiction. Lesser known characters like vedvati and samichi are very well placed.Ravanas love life and his reasons for whatever he does leaves you with goosebumps.The brotherly love bond between Ravana and Kumbhakarna is so full of emotions.Lots of happy ,sad, proud and cry moments .I would say 4.5/5.

The book is the perfect installment for the series. Ultimately u will feel that he is not the bad guy as he is always shown

Spoilers Ahead!!When Amish launched Rama, the first book of Ramayana Series, he told that he would be writing this series in a multilinear way: the lives of Ram, Sita and Ravana will be described in three different books and then be merged together on a single most important event of their life: Kidnapping of Sita. The first thought that crossed my mind that time, was that of repetition of the same story in 3 books but with three different perspectives. It was a good try on the author’s part and I started the series.Rama was good: plot line was being set up and Sita was better: even if some things were repetitive, story-line was opening to a next level and writing was also good.But when I started Ravana, few pages into the books and my fears of repetition of the story started hitting me.When you will read this review, you will feel that how many times this guy has used Repetition word. This was actually how I felt when I read Ravana.Amish made one of the most feared Super-Villain into a lover boy and now everything he does, it’s out of love, whether killing a whole village to kidnapping of Sita. There is one instance at the ending which proves that battle between Vasistha and Vishwamitra was also because of some ‘She’. So, Ravana is fighting because of His love for vedvati, Rama is fighting because of His love for Sita, Kumbhakarna is fighting for his love for Ravana, Vishwamitra and Vasistha are fighting for their long-lost love. So, in a nutshell, everyone is fighting everyone because of love and there are no other emotions left in the Amish World. Sorry I couldn’t digest this.Sita is the child of Vedvati, it was so clear in the middle of the book that I was not at all surprised. Samichi part was better in Sita but the relationship between Samichi and Khara was not explored at all.Complete focus of the entire story was on Ravana, his love life Vedvati, his sorrow and pains when she left her and how his actions were defined after her death. Story of a Typical Bollywood movie.I loved the younger Ravana very much. He was dark, cruel and full of hatred but the feelings were pure. I think love towards Vedvati made him confused about his feelings and crippled him to become more truthful towards himself. He was a villain and he should have acknowledged it but his actions were always shadowed by her.I am not sure what actually went wrong with this book, maybe Amish was struggling with his personal life and he just wanted to get this completed because it was the most dark book he ever wrote. But maybe that rushed feeling, it’s attached to the book and it corrupted the true soul of the master villain of this book.There are no secrets/surprises as of now about what will happen in next two books. I am waiting for the twists of course and want Amish to prove me wrong!Jai Shri Rudra!

Nice book but I haven't received bookmark along with this book

The hyperlink approach is interesting but retelling the same story from different perspectives is fraught with its own problems of a certain repetitiveness. The Shiva Trilogy was simply brilliant. This series is very very good but perhaps not up to that standard. What is captivating is the storytelling and the vivid imagination that allows us to see known stories from a completely different perspective.