BY Karan Vir Arora

·         Paperback: 228 pages

·         Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd (2017)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 935201586X

·         ISBN-13: 978-9352015863

THE PLOT IN BRIEF-

Karan vir Oberoi, a real-estate magnate living in New York has recurrent dreams of someone that looks like an ancient warrior clad in golden armour adorning golden earrings. He feels a deep bond with the warrior but the dreams remain a mystery to him. After miraculously surviving an assassination attempt, Oberoi is determined to seek answers. His quest for truth leads him back to his homeland India where his true destiny awaits him. Karna, the legendary hero from the Mahabharata is considered as one of the most valiant and generous kings of his era. He defied social customs and traditions to achieve immortal glory by his virtues and skills. He became a king and trusted friend of Duroyadhana – the crown prince of Hastinapur. Embark on a journey with Oberoi as the two worlds blend and as he seeks the answer to his existence. Will history repeat itself or will Oberoi choose to venture into an uncharted territory? Unravel the mystery. Read the legend! The Sixth – The legend of Karna is a masterpiece in storytelling by Karan Vir Arora – an Award winning CEO/Creative Director Vimanika Comics. He ushers us not only into his passionate research of fifteen years but the grandeur of a forgotten era, and presents before us a completely new and unexplored facets of Kama in his debut novel and the rumoured bestseller.

THE TITLE-

Why Karna? Basically both the Pandavas and Kauravas came from a extremely privileged position. They are wealthy princes, they get the best education that was available at the time and they are generally pampered by everyone. They keep on competing/fighting with each other for petty reason and finally go to big war against each other for paltry reason of property dispute between cousins. There was no real structural injustice against the Pandavas or Kauravas.

But with Karna its a different story (and with Eaklavya). He had to face hurdles every step on the way. He was raised as a poor ‘sutputra’ and did not have any special privileges like Kaurava or Pandavas. Dronacharya denied teaching him because he was not a Kshatriya and nobody cared if he was there or not. He had to resort to lie for learning from Parshurama where he learned so well that Parshurama said that Karna had reached his own level. But because he had to lie he invited terrible curse from Parshurama. He was conned by Indra to give up his Kavacha (armor). The list of structural difficulties and injustice just goes on…

Basically, I consider Karna to the real hero of Mahabharata because he was the one who had to fight the system. He was not just fighting ‘other people’ but he was fighting against the injustice within the societal structure of the time.

Similarly to this context, our present day hero is Karan.

The title and the word together amalgamate to give us the theme of the conclusion of sadness. Since the beginning of time, people have been trying to change the world so that they can be happy. This hasn’t ever worked, because it approaches the problem backward. What The Work gives us is a way to change the projector—mind—rather than the projected. It’s like when there’s a piece of lint on a projector’s lens. We think there’s a flaw on the screen, and we try to change this person and that person, whomever the flaw appears on next. But it’s futile to try to change the projected images. Once we realize where the lint is, we can clear the lens itself. This is the end of suffering, and the beginning of a little joy in paradise.

REVIEW OF THE Book-

I just loved the characterization within the plot.The characters within the book were, from a certain point of view, identical on some fundamental level ‒ there weren’t any images of them, no physical tangibility whatsoever. They were pictures in the reader’s head, constructs of imagination and ideas, given shape by the writer’s work and skill and the reader’s imagination. Parents, of a sort.  This book will give you a feeling that Stories start in all sorts of places. Where they begin often tells the reader of what to expect as they progress. Castles often lead to dragons, country estates to deeds of deepest love (or of hate), and ambiguously presented settings usually lead to equally as ambiguous characters and plot, leaving a reader with an ambiguous feeling of disappointment. That’s one of the worst kinds.

I loved the essence of the presence of two stories running parallel with each other. The plot refers that when people’s parallel truth collides with their real truth, they may have a hard time in subduing all the fanciful items and characters of their invented world.

Karna is a historical fiction, but with a tinge of modernisms with it. The sketches used within the plot provide an additional enthusiasm to the readers. A special mention also goes to the cover for the beautiful illustration and portrayal of a true hero.

This book portrays very beautifully that Past Present and Future Exist All At Once as Parallel Moments in Time. Karna is truly the sixth hero after the pandavas, but what happens to the real estate magnate? Can history and present be merged?

If you have to find the answers to the above questions please order the book from

http://www.amazon.in/dp/935201586X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501856858&sr=8-1&keywords=the+legend+of+karna

Overall I would like to rate the book 42 on a scale of 50.

4 stars out of 5

1.     Originality of the plot and sub plots- 9/10

2.     Net emotions in the story- 8/10

3.     Usage of words and phrases-8/10

4.     The title, cover and the illustration-8/10

5.     The net impact on the readers- 9/10

Reviewed by-

Sayan Basak

Kolkata