The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret
Followed by | The Secret of the Druids[1] |
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The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret is the second novel by Indian author
Plot synopsis
In 334 BC, Emperor Alexander the Great travels to India and discovers a secret with the aid of his general Eumenes; he dies prematurely and Eumenes removes the information of the secret from any historical records related to Alexander.
In present day, archaeologist Alice Turner and her team unearth the tomb of Olympias, mother of Alexander, and discover a small, mysterious cube there. However, her team are suddenly killed by mercenaries led by Peter Cooper, who blast off the tomb. Alice escapes to India to her ex-boyfriend Vijay's residence at Jaungarh fort. She details about her ordeal, and the group, consisting of Vijay, his friend Colin Baker, fiancée Radha, and her linguist father Dr. Shukla, listen to her and examine the cube. They find scripts on the six faces of the cube and try to decipher it.
In the meantime,
Vijay, Colin, Alice and Dr. Shukla go to a museum in Delhi to find out about an ancient metal plate, but are cornered by a group of assassins led by Riley. They kill Rajiv Sahu, the curator, but the group manages to escape. Meanwhile, Radha is kidnapped and is taken to a medical facility by Saxena. He explains to Radha that the facility, as well as the burnt down lab were lockups, where human testing of Alexander's secret was going on through the combination of
Vijay gets a call from the kidnappers asking him to surrender the cube and solve the puzzle regarding Alexander's quest, in exchange of Radha. He decides to go with the kidnappers and solve it, with Colin, Alice and Dr. Shukla helping him from Jaungarh. He travels to Afghanistan where he meets the leader, Christian Van Kleuck, an Austrian businessman associated with an ancient group called The Order. Van Kleuck explains to him that the secret referred to the potion of immortality, which Alexander had found. The legend was present in the
With help, Vijay guides Van Kleuck and his team to the
In New Delhi, the group, along with Kidwai continue searching for the Order and Radha, although knowing she might be dead. One night, Vijay receives a mysterious phone call from a person claiming to be his father's ally, but promises to meet him with important information only after six months.
Development
Doyle released his first novel, The Mahabharata Secret in 2013, calling it a story that he wrote for his daughter, which gradually expanded into a novel.[2][3] The book was a commercial success, leading to Westland Publishers signing Doyle for releasing a thriller trilogy with the Mahabharata as the main inspiration.[4]
Doyle started researching more for the second book, utilizing the ideas he developed for the first one, reading the Mahabharata and a host of other research and books.[2] When asked, The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret was described by Doyle as "a contemporary thriller which is an intriguing blend of history, science and mythology."[5] He created a series with the story, titling it The Mahabharata Series, and brought back the same principal characters from the first book.[6] However, Doyle explained that the book was not a sequel to The Mahabharata Secret, but a logical extension of it by combining the Mahabharata and Alexander's secrets.[7] The author explained his views about utilizing Alexander's campaign of India in the story:
I could not accept the traditional explanation that his soldiers revolted at the banks of the
Beas river saying they wanted to go back... For a man who had marched 20,000 miles in the quest of conquering the world would have ideally liked to conquer this territory as well. Instead he turned back mysteriously. So for me I saw this as a big gap and this is where I found the linkage in my book between the secret of the gods and Alexander's real purpose for visiting India.[6]
Doyle researched the scientific reasons to support the secret that he spoke off in the book, including travelling to
Release and aftermath
The book was released on 9 October 2014 by Westland.[9] Following its release, The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret sold 15,000 copies within a month. Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty from The Hindu believed that with the book, Doyle was "all set to establish [himself] as a fantasy writer who looks at legends and mythology through the tunnel of science, from the convenience of the modern-day world."[2] Nupur Gosai from Aaj Tak also gave a positive review, saying that "Doyle puts up a good image of the archaeology and the ancient history in front of the 'selfie-freak' generation, although they might find it difficult to grasp all the concepts... The best part about the book is its pace and the storytelling which will keep readers engrossed continuously."[10] Arunava Sinha from Scroll.in listed the book as one of the year's top selling mythological inspired books in India, saying that "book-buyers are still keen to have their traditional myths packaged into racy tales, and the more they can combine historical characters and different epochs of time, the better. Hence the success of [the book]".[11] A writer for Verve magazine agreed with the previous review, adding that the book "will surely appeal to fans of mystery books".[12]
The paperback version of the book sold around 50,000 copies making it a commercial success. In October 2015, Doyle launched an online club called The Quest Club, and released a mini-sequel to The Alexander Secret as an
See also
- Bacteriophage
- Phage therapy
- Kshir Sagar
- Reverse transcriptase
- Indian campaign of Alexander the Great
- Death of Alexander the Great
- Alexander the Great in legend
References
- ^ "Joining the (fictional) dots between the Mahabharata, Alexander and Stonehenge". Scroll.in. 8 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
- ^ a b c Barooah Pisharoty, Sangeeta (26 November 2014). "A taste of legends". The Hindu. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ The Mahabharata Secret, 2013, p. 2
- ^ "Westland ropes in 'The Mahabharata Secret' author for thriller trilogy". Zee News. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- The Kolkata Telegraph. Archived from the originalon 4 March 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Christopher Doyle's Mahabharat quest". Domain Business. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ a b "Christopher C. Doyle dwells into Alexander and the myths of the Mahabharata in his latest book". The Hindu. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ a b Vijayan, Naveena (1 December 2014). "Doyle and his 'Secret' Quest". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret. 9 October 2014. ASIN 9384030597.
- ^ Gosai, Nupur (3 December 2014). "बुक रिव्यूः महाभारत, रहस्य और सिकंदर का विजय अभियान" [Book Review: The Mahabharata Quest: The Alexander Secret] (in Hindi). Aaj Tak. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ Sinha, Arunava (28 December 2014). "The three genres that topped 2014: the gap between pulp and literary fiction just got wider". Scroll.in. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
- ^ "Slices of Love and Life... Book Reviews". Verve. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ Venkatesh, M (19 August 2016). "Readers in India still prefer paper to pixels: Christopher Doyle". Mint. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
- ^ "A Secret Revealed". ChristopherCDoyle.com. Retrieved 5 September 2016.