Let me be upfront. The Chola Tigers is the most ambitious of the books Amish Tripathi has written so far. This historical fiction, which is Amish’s genre, has moved to the next level of a thriller. A fast-paced, brutal thriller with enough twists and turns, mixing of history with fiction to come up with a heady cocktail, not tried to this level of action by him so far. Before someone tries to tell me to rethink my premise, let me tell the readers that I have read all the books of Amish Tripathi.

The earlier book in this series, Suheldev, was a pathbreaking book. It presented real history in the form of fiction. The Chola Tigers is a fiction created out of real-life historic figures. Suheldev was his attempt to bring to light a historic character that had disappeared from the national memory, though present in local folklores of Uttar Pradesh, tragically reduced to a caste hero. The present book helps you recreate a historic period vividly through a thriller.

I was a bit disappointed by the last book, Raavan, of Shri Ramchandra Series. This book brings me back into his fold as a fan. The story is set in 1000 CE. The plot is woven around the destruction of the grand Somnath temple by Mahmud of Ghazni and the determination of a Gujarati trader to avenge the insult and destruction of the most sacred object of his devotion. He puts together a fascinating and audacious plan to assassinate Mahmud of Ghazni! How to execute his plan? He needs allies who have the required skills and power.

He travels to the Chola........

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