Book Review: Tantra by Adi

This is the first time I was reading a book on vampires. Till now, the only information I had on vampires was courtesy The Twilight Series of movies.

The book’s blurb reads as follows: “Anu is a leather wearing, no-nonsense professional guardian with a reputation for killing the most dangerous vampires in New York City. But when her enemies murder the one person she truly cared about, all she wants is vengeance. The only clue points to New Delhi, so Anu puts in for a job transfer. In India, she finds more than she expected. For one thing, her fellow operatives have made a truce with the vampires. For another, it’s way too hot to wear leather. At first, it seems Anu’s biggest challenge will be evading the nice boys her aunt wants her to marry. But when children start disappearing, she discovers forces older and darker than anything she’s faced before. All of Delhi is in danger, especially the sexy stranger who sets Anu’s pulse racing. To prepare for the coming battle, Anu must overcome her personal demons and put aside years of training. This time, her most powerful weapon will come from her mind, not her weapons belt.”

The author is a science graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has been deeply impressed by the vast religious history of India.

For me, the book was a slightly heavy read essentially because it talks a lot about energies – of the sattvic and trantic types. But once you are able to get past it, it is then that the book becomes interesting. It takes you through a roller-coaster journey of how Anu moves from New York to New Delhi in search of revenge; how she encounters several people on her journey – some of them friends, some of them vampires; how a seemingly unrelated incident becomes the focus point of a much larger force at play.

The underlying theme of the book is quite powerful. Everything that we need to deal with all the incidents in our life is within us. Sure, we may need a mentor or a guide who can take us along that path, but we need to walk that path ourselves. And once we channel our mind into something productive, it can work wonders. We only need to believe and have a purpose larger than life.

The other fascinating aspect of the book is the immense research that has gone into it. The whole discussion of the astras and mantras makes for some really deep reading.

The book has some wonderful sentences such as: “God is the embodiment of that vastness, the source and the end of everything. There is no good. There is no evil. It is all an illusion manifest.” “Low expectations are the easy route. I have learned to ask less of the world than it wants to give me.” “There is no greater sin than to shirk what is your duty. Sometimes your duty takes you places that you do not want to go.”

It is an out-of-the-ordinary novel – you will either finish it in one sitting or not be able to go past its few pages. But stick on and you are sure to be rewarded. I am going with 3.5/5 for this book.

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