Sunday 8 February 2015

Review of 'Wisdom of the White Mountain' by Kandathil Sebastian

Title: Wisdom of the White Mountain
Author: Kandathil Sebastian
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing
Page count: 210
My Rating: 4.75/5


Blurb: Some powerful men—including performers of black magic, underworld gangsters, sleuths, extremist zealots, and sellers of spirituality—chased a powerless, low caste man from a Kerala village through Mumbai, Karachi and Delhi till he finally escaped into the mountain ranges of Himalayas. All of them wanted to capture this man alive and keep him with them! However, none of these men could catch and keep this elusive man, as he always found his way to freedom. In the process of working out his escapes this man also unearthed some important mysteries of human life!

Why did some powerful men continuously chase a low caste man? How did the man always find his way to freedom? What are the riddles he solved while he was trying to escape from his captors?

Wisdom of the White Mountain is a suspenseful and adventurous story told in the cultural, spiritual and philosophical context of the South Asia. It is also about Karma, Kama and Jihad! It ultimately unravels greed and selfishness of powerful men who mix religion and politics to manipulate common people for advancing personal interests.


Verdict: ‘Wisdom of the white Mountain’ is the second installment of the mountain trilogy. After reading the first book of the trilogy ‘Dolmens of the blue mountain’, the expectation from the second part was high and I must say the author has made it up to the mark.

The cover looks quite same like the cover of the previous book which is acceptable because these books are a part of a series. The name perfectly goes with the story and the presence of a white mountain on the front supports the name too. I loved the blurb. It gives a perfect outline of the story and attracts the readers to sneak inside the book.

 Those who have already read the first book can easily anticipate that this story is also going to be another unusual story. This story is about Thomas, a boy who finds it tough to survive in the small village of Kerala when he decides to flee to the city. The crisis of Thomas aka Thoma was shown in a delightful way. The author has shown how tough it is for a powerless, low cast Christian, whose biological father conspires against him, whose foster father hates him, to survive. After dodging death, Thoma runs away with his friend Balu, and reaches Kochi. His life takes a different turn when he lands up in the lap of a gang of goons and they adopt him. At almost every chapter the book has a different twist to offer. How Thomas left the gang? How he met the Islamic fundamentals? And how he reached Pakistan? It is this that the book has in store.

The narrating style is appreciable. I can’t say that the author has chosen a very simple narrating style which is in the trend, but the narrating style which the author have chosen goes with the story. An unusual story like this always comes with an unusual narrating style which complements each other. The continuous turn of events of Thomas’s life and the adventure the readers experience through the eyes of Thomas is what will keep the readers hooked till the end.

The characterization is good. All characters are described in a well maintained way. But I felt there were quite a few characters introduced by the author which can confuse the readers a bit. Apart from these minor flaws I find the book error free. In the review of the first book I had mentioned that there were a bit editing errors, it is good to see that the author has worked on it and made it flawless.

This is one wonderful book with a different approach to the audience. I would recommend this book to all those who are looking for a rich narrating style and meaningful story line. After reading the second part I am eagerly waiting for the third installment to come.


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