Rating: 
Summary: 5 stars for the book, bricks and stones for the publisher
Review: It's well known by now that Warner Books, the US publisher of Ramayana, tried to pressure the author of this brilliant series to cut out all the Indian words in the second book, Siege of Mithia, which had been published to great acclaim and sales the rest of the world over. When the author, credit to his integrity, refused outright, they cancelled the series. If the word on the newsgroups I have read is true then the main cause was the extreme racial bias and American prejudice on the part of the editor and the publisher, especially because they felt uncomfortable publishing a work that glorifies a foreign (Indian) culture and is based on a story of a character who is regarded as no less than a Jesus Christ figure to Hindus worldwide. It seems they even wanted the author to change the titles of the books and remove all the Indian flavour so they could market it as a commercial western fantasy a la Tolkien, Jordan, etc. Please understand, American friends, everything American is not automatically the best in the world. You claim you're a democracy. But which democracy invades foreign lands and destroys their countries? And why is it that nobody talks about christian terrorism--they were the ones who started modern terrorism in Ireland, weren't they? Not to mention the genocides committed by christian peoples in Nazi Germany against the Jews, in Africa by the white slavers against African aborigines, in America itself against the Native Africans, in Australia, etc, etc, the list goes on. Yet you will only hear about "foreigners" and "Islamic terrorism". The cancellation of this truly great series in America is proof of the fanaticism that has taken over the US of A.
Read this series by all means, but please, please, DON'T BUY IT HERE FROM AMAZON.COM. Go to Amazon.co.uk and buy the UK editions where they are publishing the full series to great success. It's a great epic effort on the part of a hitherto unknown author and kudos to him for standing up to those racist American bigots.
[...]
Rating:
Summary: Cool magic trick, Mr. Banker, reinventing the Ramayan!
Review: Let's be clear. This is not a great novel. But it is a great pulp novel. Especially if the Ramayan is new to you, this selection off the sword and sorcery shelf will live up to the hype of "freshly imagined", because it is just that: an update of an old tale for the 21st century. One that has not been over exploited. For the English language fantasy genre, its action is reminiscent of E.R. Eddison's tales of heroes and lovers with sharp pointy black beards. (Liars: it is nothing like Tolkien's sexless Saxon toffee.) Instead, its style and empirical reality are more like David Drake's: plain slang, with TV fast-cut scenes and Dungeons-and-Dragons magical sensibility. In fact, it has almost the same formula ratio of parts exciting, annoying and pedantic as David Drake's fantasy trilogy, Lord of the Isles, which borrowed from Assyria, Virgil's Georgics, and D&D! For Prince of Ayodhya, it is the heroes' sentimental morals, fight choreography, and occasional love of singing, plus the weird demonic gore, that put an original tang in this yarn. Maybe that's why Banker's other book is _Bollywood_.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: My first introduction to Mr. Ashok Banker was through a witty column he used to write for India Today in the early nineties - a long time back. After that I was not lucky enough to see his name in print till I chanced upon an "expose" in the Week recently. (Web link - http://www.the-week.com/23jul20/life2.htm) This piqued me to say the least what with the interview peppered with comments from Mr. Banker - "As I read and reread the Ramayana, I saw the greater story that lay beneath childish abridged versions and stiff-mouthed academic analyses." "I was unable to consume alcohol, not even a glass of beer. I also wear white when writing or revising, and I visit a Hanuman mandir faithfully." (All this from a person who wrote an online novel that started with the words - "Rashmi Brar wouldn't take off her bra.") There is no dearth of re-tellings of the Ramayana. There are several adaptations in English, the best being the one by C. Rajagopalachari. (Web link - http://www.hindubooks.org/books_by_rajaji/ramayana/index.htm) Each author has his variations from the original (there is a superb essay by A. K. Ramanujan on this topic), with the Dravidas of South India going so far as to claim that Sita was the daughter of Ravana! But I expected a magical re-telling of the story "in the tradition of Tolkien" as promised. And I immediately bought the first instalment from a bookstore. I was a little bit apprehensive about the publisher though - Orbit, the publisher in the UK, is known for science-fiction novels. But what lay in store was a travesty of the great lyrical poem that is the Ramayana. The book was just too descriptive and contrived to sound inspired. Sentences like - "coarse white dhoti girding his loins, wooden toe-grip slippers on his feet, matted unkempt hair swirling around his craggy face, the long straggly white beard, the red-beaded rudraksh maala around his neck" - just strangle you like a python. Stories like a "false Vishwamitra" are irritating deviations from the original. There is also inconsistency in use of Sanskrit words - sometimes "penance", sometimes "tapasya". In some passages Hindi words are used - to what purpose I can't fathom. The list is almost as long as the book itself. But what's going for the book is the reader's patience to unravel the story from the puzzling writing. The Ramayana is a simple story and can be simply told. Yet its beauty is in the poetical telling of the story. Probably I expected something akin to Fitzgerald's translation of the Odyssey... The fault might not be entirely due to the writer as the "fun" part of the Ramayana (battles etc.) come towards the end. Mr. Banker might have had a spiritual elevation in writing the book - I certainly did not experience any reading it. It rather seems like one more exercise at re-packaging Indian literature in edible form for the West. But it falls short of even that. Aah! The irony of it all - "But what about the dangers of substandard work being hyped out of proportion, simply to cash in on the "India wave"? From recent signs, this has already begun to happen." - Mr. Ashok Banker, "Cooking the Books", The Week (surprised?), January 25, 1998. (Web link - http://www.the-week.com/98jan25/biz1.htm) Adios,
Prabhu. PS - I just read Mr. Banker's reactions to Kumar's review - can he please stop filling half the page with single-liners about his book? And also respond to the issues raised by Kumar rather than trying to dismiss them? The Ramayana is not a topic for a Pocket Essential. Also, in case I committed some kind of copyright violation by extracting a fragment sentence from the book, please inform me - I shall remove the same. A little cutie which Mr. Banker himself might not have noticed when adding the "K" as a middle initial - Joseph K was a banker in Kafka's "The Trial"!
Rating:
Summary: A triumph in cultural storytelling
Review: Prince of Ayodhya is a wonderful story based on the Indian classic poem the Ramayana. It's a re-telling of the tale made flesh by Ashok Bankers' lush imagination. Those that have studied the Ramayana will enjoy their favorite characters as they come to life and take on dimensions that the poem could never touch. However, no particular knowledge of Indian history and culture is needed to enjoy this book. Mr. Banker has written this story to be enjoyed with little or no background knowledge of its' history. The Prince of Ayodhya is fantasy and high adventure set in a world that most westerners have never experienced. If you love fantasy, adventure and historical fiction, you'll love this book. A new and original voice has stepped into the world of fantasy and adventure! Bravo Mr. Banker, I can hardly wait for the next installment!
Rating:
Summary: A timeless story translated for today
Review: rince of Ayodhya is the first volume of an ambitious new fantasy series by Ashok K. Banker, an Indian journalist and writer who aims at no less than a retelling of the great Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana.
Rama, son of the powerful Arya ruler Dasaratha, is afflicted by horrific visions in which he sees his father's capital city of Ayodhya assaulted by an army of inhuman races; his dream is both a threat and a prophecy. In the meantime, unknown to Rama, Dasaratha is dying and must soon choose an heir, while Manthara, a servant of Dasaratha's second queen, Kaikeyi, secretly serves Ayodhya's enemies and plots to gain power for her mistress. Dasaratha's kingdom, so long at peace, is now threatened by the Asura races that serve Ravana, the Dark Lord of Lanka. Even as Dasaratha is reconciled with his long-neglected wife, Kausalya, and plans to name Rama as his successor, rakashas and other nonhuman enemies of the Arya are infiltrating his city and planning its destruction; among the rakashas is Supanakha, a cousin of the Dark Lord who has become obsessed with Rama after he inadvertently saves her life. Only the ancient and legendary seer-mage Vishwamitra may be able to save the Arya civilization, but to do so he must take young Rama away from his city and on a long and perilous quest, leaving Ayodhya in the hands of a weakened king whose enemies are steadily growing stronger. A timeless story translated for today
In his retelling of the Ramayana, Ashok K. Banker is following in a long tradition, since this story has been retold in a multitude of versions for over 2,000 years throughout the Indian subcontinent, in other Asian countries, and in Western translations and reinterpretations; it is one of the most popular narratives in the world. The basic story is an archetypal winner, with its tale of a handsome and virtuous prince, deprived of his kingdom, struggling to overcome adversity and powerful enemies. Here, this classic tale is embedded in a wealth of authentic and exotic detail. Banker has inserted his own original touches; familiar elements of fantasy-powerful wizards, an evil stepmother, shapechangers, demons and spells-are all present, but with hints that what is being shown might also be the clash of two highly advanced ancient civilizations, in keeping with Arthur C. Clarke's dictum that any sufficiently advanced technology will seem like magic. That Banker uses the titles of well-known science fiction works in his section titles only adds to this impression. Banker sounds a few discordant notes. To hear Rama and others use such colloquial expressions as "okay" when they're speaking informally can be jarring, and there are occasional lines of dialogue in which a speaker mentions things his listener would presumably already know. Sometimes the author overloads passages with more detail than is necessary while telling the reader more than he actually shows; the elaborate parade of Dasaratha and his court during the Holi procession, as seen by two young temple prostitutes, is one example of such a scene. Some readers may be put off by the wealth of unfamiliar words and phrases derived from Sanskrit and other Indian languages, but they shouldn't be; Banker provides a useful glossary, and most of the expressions he uses can be grasped, or at least guessed at, in context. Where Prince of Ayodhya succeeds is in its drama and its air of authenticity, the sign of a writer who has inhabited his fictional world as much as he has imagined it. The cast of characters is large but never confusing; Banker knows how to control the many threads in his complex story and artfully increases the suspense by knowing exactly when to cut away from a particular scene before returning to it in a later chapter. He also has a gift for highly charged dramatic confrontations and for depicting characters who are considerably more complex than those in generic fantasies; the patient and devoted Queen Kausalya, the conflicted demon Supanakha, Rama's devoted brother Lakshman, and the aging warrior Bejoo are only a few of those who are brought to life in the pages of this novel. Readers who are familiar with the Ramayana in one of its many previous incarnations will be entertained by the new twists and turns Banker brings to the story, while those coming to this classic story for the first time should find an excellent gateway to the further exploration of a rich and fascinating culture. By offering his Ramayana to a new generation of readers who are more accustomed to Western fantasy epics and video games, and making this great tale accessible to such readers, Banker has performed a great service.
Rating:
Summary: Ravaging of a beautiful epic
Review: The Prince of Ayodhya is not a true representation of the original Hindu epic - The Ramayana. Nor is it a beautiful fantasy epic along the lines of Lord of the Rings. Instead, the book is simply a hotch-potch of imaginary subplots and real characters. The imagination of the author seems to know no bounds as he actually tries to pass off 20th century Hindi as ancient Sanskrit and portray the King of Lanka as a Demon-God!!! Had he spent as much time researching the original epic as he had spent in describing the sex life of Dasharatha, the book might have even been readable. Ultimately, this book has been a major letdown. Even from a pure literary viewpoint, when compared to the works of authors such as Tolkien, David Eddings, Raymond Feist and Robert Newcomb, Prince of Ayodhya comes off second-rate.
Rating:
Summary: Response to the Author's comments on my review
Review: This is a response to the Author's comment on my above review. As can be seen clearly, the author has not attacked the content of my review, but the fact that the book remains in my wishist. The explanation is simple - I purchased an Indian edition a few weeks back from one of the leading Indian bookstores. Since I bought this book after reading the editorial review of the US edition, I thought it fitting to present my viewpoint of it after having read the book. Nowhere has Amazon enforced a rule that the book must be purchased from Amazon itself before it can be reviewed (as is the case when one uses the "What's your Advice?" feature). And I'm confident that Amazon would like all readers to post their true opinions on the site instead of becoming psuedo-salesmen for the authors. My contention can be summarized as follows: This book is not a true representation of Ramayana, the sacred Hindu epic. It is a fictional work based on the characters of the original epic and this should be made clear to the readers. Calling it "Book 1 of the Ramayana" would mislead readers worldwide into thinking that this is the true interpretation of the original epic. For example, Ravana trying to assasinate Rama, portraying Mantara as serving a Dark Lord, or Kaikeyi calling Kausalya "a harlot and devdasi" is simply a vile distortion of the facts. It is one thing to interpret and retell an epic (such as Krishnavatar by K.M.Munshi or Ramayana by Rajagopalachari). It is altogether another issue to ravage a sacred text and distort it beyond recognition.
Rating:
Summary: Author's Response to Malicious Review
Review: This is my response to the reader "Kumar"'s repeated malicious comments on my book. He complains that I do not address his comments specificially, so I will do just that: He says the work is not a true representation of Ramayana, the sacred Hindu epic. First of all, the Ramayana belongs to all Indians, not just Hindus. It is a seminal work of literature and morality, not a religious treatise (like the Bhagwad Gita which is indeed a religious treatise seminal to the Hindu religion). Essentially, the Ramayana is a heroic tale that demonstrates certain moral and ethical values that are the basis of Indian 'sanskriti' (value system). What are this reader's qualification for making such an arbitrary judgement. He notes in his review that he is a fan of Eddings and other Western authors. He does not mention a single Indian author that he likes, a surprising fact when millions of readers worldwide admire so many talented Indian authors. That itself shows his anti-Indian bias and narrow viewpoint. He says it is a "fictional" work. Clearly, he didn't look closely at the book before he read it--if he read it at all, as he claims he did, a claim I still challenge. The book is clearly labelled as "Fiction" not "Nonfiction", and yes, it is most certainly a fictional retelling of the Ramayana. But it is based not only on any one version but on all the various authoritative versions written over the millennia--Valmiki, Kamban, Tulsidas, Ganguly...By attacking this retelling, this reviewer attacks all these great writers whose work I studied and to whom I pay homage in my retelling. Finally, showing his utter lack of knowledge of the actual Ramayana, the reviewer attacks a few minor details in a 389-page work, not realizing that each of these episodes are in fact based on hard research and exhaustive study. By attacking and maligning my book, he attacks all my great literary predecessors, as well as the Ramayana itself. This appears to be a malicious and ill-thought-out attempt to "put down" a book that is garnering great acclaim from readers and reviewers alike across the world--and reveals the reviewer's pathetically limited knowledge of the original epic, as well as his own great culture and mythology. Toss out those Eddings and Brooks, sir, and go back to the seminal works of your great nation. I submit proudly that my Ramayana is the culmination of great respect and wide knowledge, coupled with all the literary talent and technique I command, to recreate a great Sanskrit work for the first time in modern English idiom. I have told it as honestly and sincerely as I know how to, and tens of thousands of readers across the world and in India, have responded with overwhelming delight. This is because the Ramayana is a mirror of your soul: If you seek malice within its pages, that is what you will find. But if you seek heroism, wonder, adventure, truth and beauty, among many other wondrous qualities, you will find all this and more. In this case, the mote is clearly in the reviewer's eye, not in the book. You don't have to take my word for it, read the many reviews of the book--I provide a shortlist below for your reference. But finally, it is the book itself that speaks proudly for itself. Read it and discover the truth for yourself--but only if you dare to bare your soul and see what truly lies within. Ashok K. Banker Princely praise for Ashok K. Banker's
PRINCE OF AYODHYA: BOOK ONE OF THE RAMAYANA
"Magnificent...tremendous...a milestone" India Today
"Vivid, unforgettable images" The Telegraph
"How well Banker tells his tale!" Indian Express
"Banker has beaten the rest" The Statesman
"A ripping good yarn" Publisher's Weekly
"Jeweled prose, lush descriptions" Library Journal
"A marvellous landscape of princes, demons, mages, and lovers" Kate Elliott
"Entertaining and illuminating" SciFi.com
"A thundering good story" Dave Duncan
"A refreshing change from generic fantasyland" Starburst
"Wow!" The Alien Online
"As welcome as a lush oasis in a desert" Sword's Edge
"Extravagantly, grippingly, wholly appealing" BSFA Journal
"An intelligent revival, rarely seen in fantasy literature" Dreamwatch
"Stunning, impressive, entertaining Indian myth" Enigma
"Huge in concept" John Jarrold, SFX
"Highly recommended" SfBookcase.com
"Wonderful, almost Matrix-like, highly entertaining" SFCrowsnest "Fast-paced and impressive" Kitabkhana
"Enthralling" Harriet Klausner, Book Magazine's No.1 reviewer
"Highly recommended" Paul Goat Allen, B&N.com
"As globally relevant as Gilgamesh, Cuchullain and Beowulf" Historical Novels Review
"Excellent" Bookloons.com
"Feel the arrows zing past" Curledup.com
"What a debut" Polaris
"A magnificently rendered labour of love" Outlook
"Banker's creation will become a classic" January Magazine
Barnes&Noble.com's main SFF selection for August 2003
Locus Notable Book for September 2003
Crossword Bestseller September 2003
*****
Readers are raving over Ashok K. Banker's
PRINCE OF AYODHYA: BOOK ONE OF THE RAMAYANA
"More promising than Rowling's Harry Potter series" H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Mysore, India
"I tore through your book...the night before my chemistry exam" Romit Bhattacharya, Irvington, NY, USA
"For fans of epic myths, a must read, wonderfully complex" A reader from Slough, Berkshire, UK
"I couldnt stop reading it and would recommend it to anyone" Aarti from Cardiff, Wales, UK
"I loved this book. I can't wait for the next part." Ruth Griffiths from Carlisle, Cumbria, UK
"I thanked Mr. Banker silently for introducing me to something new, something that excited and amazed me." Fraser Ronald, USA
"I read entranced through the night. I await Banker's sequels and I thank him for giving the Ramayana back to me." Renuka Narayanan,India
"I found the exchanges between the characters just as riveting as the battle scenes." Renee, Ontario, Canada
"A great and simple adaptation. It's a very well written story." Donald S. Buckland, New York.
"I loved this book! It was hard to put down. I highly recommend Prince of Ayodhya." Kristin from Minnesota
"Bravo Mr. Banker, I can hardly wait for the next installment" Scott Masterton, Blaine, Minnesota
"This is storytelling at its best, you have truly done something remarkable." Gautam Chikermane, New Delhi
Rating:
Summary: Bit descriptive but a very nicely done book
Review: This is the first book I have read that takes Indian history, myth and culture to a global audience. It is exciting to read, very beautifully descriptive--at times, almost too descriptive, but in a good way, if you can know what I mean. I could only wish there were more books like this, so I could show them to my American friends (I live in Chicago, passed out from UofIl) and show them what our great heritage is like. I remember my father bringing my brother and me Amar Chitrak Katha comix when I was about 7 or 8 and how we read them like we had discovered gold. There are so many great Indian heroes that are crying out to be written about and so many fantastic tales we have that the West doesn't have an inkling of. I don't know if Mr Banker has any plans to write about historic events and characters like the British Raj in India, the Moghuls, the great Gupta civilization, Ashoka and Vikramaditya, Shivaji and Prithiviraj Chauhan, Rani of Janhsi, etc...but I hope that he, or other writers like him, have the courage and motivation to pick up their pens and write sotries like Prince of Ayodhya, that bring alive those lost ages and great legends and we can all lift up our heads proudly and point to these books and say, here, this is india.
Rating:
Summary: enthralling epic fantasy
Review: Thousands of years before India became a nation, the Ayran nations fought a war against the Asuras, the evil minions of the Dark Lord Ravana who reigns in the nether world of Narak. The humans were victorious and drove the forces of darkness back to their own world and for over two decades the Ayran nations knew peace. The Maharajah Dasaratha of Ayodhya, the capital city of Kosala, names his eldest son Prince Rama as his heir. The millennia old seer-mage Brahamirish Vishuamitra warns the people of Ayodhya that Lord Ravana intends to invade the human world and destroy everyone in it. As a first step in stopping him he requests Prince Rama accompanies him to the Southlands, a dark and evil place that must be destroyed. The prince, imbued with Brahamirishi powers is given the task to destroy the evil demoness who holds dominion over that piece of land. Back at the capital, the Dark Lord's influence reaches into the highest levels of the royal family and will not be easy to root out. This story is based on the ancient Indian tale, "The Ramayana" and is set in what is now India but several millenniums before the birth of Christ. Prince of Ayodhya is an enthralling epic fantasy that is filled with heroic men and women fighting the forces of darkness because it is the right thing to do. The protagonist, a sixteen-year-old prince, is transformed into a powerful sorcerer and a great warrior who is pure of heart and full of virtue. It will be interesting to see how he matures in the next two books of this trilogy. Harriet Klausner
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