I don’t remember my mother reading me to sleep but I read my niece to sleep sometimes. She likes stories of dragon, witches, monsters and what not. And “The Ancient Book” is one such book that I can read to her. The story of King Zius and his daughter Sara narrated by Parikshit Rane narrates the victory of good over evil. The pace of the book is good too. You remember the flashbacks in the movies when everything goes black and white or too colorful and the narrator starts sharing his story of the past? The writing style adopted by the Parikshit Rane is somewhat similar. At least, that is what I felt. Apart from few editorial and proofreading errors here and there, I should appreciate author’s narrative skills.
Now, let’s talk about the story itself.
When everything was going just fine in Angdom, the good for nothing Satan shows up and destroys peace. He marries an equally cunning and cruel witch named Gilda. They build their own kingdom, Lyncastia, where they live with witches, vampires and other gruesome monsters. These creatures kill as many humans they can get their hands on.
King Zius, the ruler of Angdom and the protector of the ancient book that holds every secret of the world, marries a beautiful mermaid Isabella. They have a equally beautiful and talented daughter Sara within a year or so. She’s a very gifted witch who learns magic at a very tender age. Her sense of justice is something that shouldn’t go unmentioned and I’m sure you will like her broom too.
Well, that’s not all. There are aliens too. The aliens, who helped king Zius create the world, want the land for themselves now. They fight the Satan and his army, who had taken over the earth from Zius by then and was destroying its habitats. The lazer and other technologies that aliens use seemed beyond Satan and Gilda’s power in the beginning but Gilda had a solution for everything. No wonder Satan married her, right?
I need not tell you how it ends because it’s obvious that good wins over evil in the end but how it does is what differentiates “The ancient book” from other fantasy novels. It’s the usual fighting between heroes and villains but I’m sure it won’t bore you because the story is quite pacy.
Enough about the book now because I don’t want to give away the story anymore. Let’s talk a little about the author too, shall we? Parikshit Rane had been writing since his childhood. It seems like he loved writing essays and also got few of his poems published in his college magazine.
I shall rate the book 2.5 out of 5 and suggest everyone read it too because it reminded me of my childhood and the stories that I loved hearing when I was young.