A review by rohit09
Son of Bhrigu by Christopher C. Doyle

4.0

This story is about 15 year old best friends, Maya and Arjun, who are unaware of the magical world they belong to. Although it is not really magic, everything is somehow explained with science but I read somewhere in a book once that "The part of science we don't understand, we call it magic". The story starts with Maya and Arjun's history teacher getting murdered in an unexplainable way. Then Maya's father gets brutally murdered in front of her and that triggers a series of events. They get to know that Shukra, son of Maharishi Bhrigu, who is son of Lord Brahma himself, is hell bent on raining havoc in the world and then we are introduced to the dreaded prophecy. It is a mix of action, adventure and fantasy and makes a very interesting read.

I read in many reviews that people are comparing it with Harry Potter. I guess they found similarities in the prophecy, the portal to the magic world, the dementor-like creatures (Pretas in this case). But that is where the comparison ends. The story has its own characters, its own world and written in the Christopher C Doyle style.

I've always considered the characters to be the life of any story or book and the characters here make all the difference. There isn't a single character that I didn't like. However, if I have to choose a favourite, it would be Maya. She is a strong willed person who could have easily turned bitter with the way things proceeded but she didn't. She cares for her friends and is ready to prove her mettle. There is always a sense of mystery throughout the book which makes it hard to put down. The action scenes are intriguing as well as the emotional ones. After reading the book, you would want to delve deep into the world of mantras. It is really sad we do not have enough Sanskrit scholars to decipher all of our ancient texts. Who know what secrets they contain!

Overall it is an enjoyable read. The second book in the series "The Mists of Brahma" is already out and I'm going to dive into it straight away. Highly recommended!