ASURA Tale of the Vanquished: The Story of Ravana and His People (The Vanquished Series) Paperback – December 1, 2012

Just started reading this book blind based on a recommendation. I was expecting a rehash of the Amar Chitra Katha stories I grew up with and boy was I surprised. It took two days to get over the Sita being daughter of Ravana thing and I almost quit reading the book, but 2 days later I was back again hooked. The story telling is excellent, and the attempt to somehow tie in to current affairs is very ambitious and it works. It is a barely believable social commentary into current Indian mindset, a little too much of caste bashing and laying the entire blame on the Devas.Highly recommend this book if you like the Indian mythology mixed in with History, and current affairs - a perfect Bhel.

I grew up with the stories of the Ramayana, often varied and not always from the version written by Valmiki. There were always hints in the texts about the greatness of Ravana as well as his humanity. These were often in utter contrast to other scenes of violence and injustice.In Asura, the author has done something truly startling for an Indian audience. He takes the Ramayana and turns it around. What if the vanquished got to tell their version of events? What if the story is one of religiosity vs freedom? Are there really any systems where injustice can cease to exist or is it just gradations of discrimination that are present everywhere?I suspect this book will offend many who see Valmiki's Ramayana as set in stone and not one of many versions read in south Asia. However, this is an intriguing premise and the exploration of who benefitted and benefits now from the strict enforcement of the caste system is definitely one worth considering.Does the author have an opinion? Oh yes. And he does not hide it at all. However, his logic and research is excellent and this book is definitely one that adds to literary discourse.One star off for being a little too verbose and including a lot of detail about structures, histories and tangents that did not always add to the story.

Compelling story.. You definitely sit up and take notice of the protagonist.. Raavana like never seen before.. But.. The lack of attention to detail.. looks like author lost track of the small details that he sets up even as recent a few scenes ago within the same chapter.Also the typos and grammatical errors make it a sub-par reading experience.

First, let me say I love and respect "The Ramayana". That stated, I also loved this re-telling, from the point of view of the infamous villain, Ravana. It's not about whether you agree or disagree with the other side's perspective, but imagining a more dimensional rendering. The book is written in first person, from Ravana and an Asura commoner whose experiences interweave with his emperor. The author gives us a highly entertaining and interesting tale of someone who is all too human. I had trouble putting it down; reading it at stop lights and long drive-thru lines. I would encourage anyone who has read or knows The Ramayana to read it. If you aren't acquainted with the history/legend of Rama, then this book will make you want to know more!

"Asura: Tale of the Vanquished" is probably the best work of fiction by an Indian author that I had the pleasure of reading in a long time. It is very entertaining as well as informative. The narration style is highly imaginative and introspective, consistent with the first-person mode of storytelling. The author does a brilliant job of explaining the wider social/political/economic context of the period in which the story takes place, from the perspective of Ravana and also another character who is a common man living in erstwhile Lanka. I read some comments about the language being too long-winded but honestly, I didn't feel that way. When you write a story in first person, the narration has to be more explicit anyway. In fact, I enjoyed getting into the main characters' minds and the pleasure was enhanced as Mr. Neelakantan has an excellent command of the language and a good sense of humor and irony. One flaw in my opinion is that some of the main characters such as Rama and Meghnada were not fully developed. Another thing is that due to the book being written from the perspective of just two characters, the author could not include a lot of direct dialog/conversations to illustrate situations where other characters are involved but not these two. Such situations are described indirectly from Ravana's or Bhadra's viewpoint only.However, despite these observations, I still enjoyed the book a lot. Guess I am going to read his next book as well!

It describes about Ravana and his attitude as a king, people study only about Rama and talk non sense about Ravana, My way of thinking is like good and bad are different sides of the coin, It is karma that one got to follow, same happened with Karna in Mahabharath, Since he joined on negative side, it doesn't mean that he is bad. People should always remember that even Rama respected Ravana because of his attitude and this is the only tale which talks about Ravana and his tale. Nice reading and thanks for the author.