A very compelling historical novel set in Mughal India. Quite a long book but I could hardly put it down. Cleverly written with foreshadowing to draw the reader forward. It has an epic quality. Highly emotional yet also serious and dramatic. It is also profoundly spiritual. A very rich book.

Marred by a small number of typographical and spelling errors which I find quite distracting in such an engrossing story. It contains gay sex scenes which are very explicit but do not seem out of place in such a diverse and rich book. ( )

This is perhaps the most astonishing book I have ever read. This is one of the rare gems in the vast pile of self-published eBooks on Amazon. I have to thank Amazon's recommendations engine for picking this one out for me.

A reviewer on Amazon expresses his amazement that this is by a first time author, a fact revealed in the book's introduction. I am surprised but not amazed. The book does not have that characteristic of modern fiction which is that everything non-essential is removed, the absence of which is often the hallmark of an inexperienced author.

Of course no one would ever say that the works of great authors like Victor Hugo or Herman Melville are stripped of the non-essential and in some way their superfluousness is their richness.

This book is like that. It is rich. Perhaps too rich and the author might even be accused of self-indulgence. In fact in the introduction, the author says he wrote it purely for his own enjoyment.

This is primarily a work of historical fiction (despite the weird primary classification on Amazon as "gay romance"). It is a complex and strong narrative of events in Mughal India culminating with the assassination of Abul Fazl ibn Mubarak, the vizier of the Mughal Emperor Akbar on his son Prince Salim's order in 1602 (though no dates are given in the book). It is historical fiction, but many of the events are real historical events and many of the characters were real people. I have seen documentaries and read about that period in Indian history, and I find it very hard to tell where non-fiction history ends and fiction begins in Andrew's account. The history is compelling and believable. (I know of one blunder though only because I have been in on the location of several of the book's scenes. Jhansi and Orchha are on the same side of the Betwa).

However that historical backbone is interwoven with a purely fictional story of Jalendu, most often called Jali in the book. The first half of the book follows Jali's childhood and youth, his extraordinary personality and especially his spiritual growth under the guidance of his guru, Anandaji. It is also the story of Jali coming to terms with his homosexuality. Jali joins the reserve of the kingdom's small army and undergoes training for a year, but a series of crises cause him to run away from his home and meet with the old traveling bard Gopalaji. It is with Gopalaji (who is actually a spy) that Jali's life begins to become entangled with the politics of the empire and the conflict between Abul Fazl and Salim.

In part two, Jali has decided to return home anyway but he is specifically recalled to act as the bodyguard of the young Prince Adinath who has been called to Agra. Jali and Adinath have previously met briefly. Adinath is a young man with a difficult personality, also homosexual, but who's father is attempting to arrange a marriage to a well connected princess in order to secure the kingdom.

Although apparently the complete opposite in personality, Jali and Adinath gradually fall in love with each other. But their adventures in Agra and subsequently are exciting, dangerous, heartbreaking and intensely moving. Eventually, their actions are pivotal in the historical story. The chapters near the end of the book are intense and dramatic and I could not put the book down until I had completed reading them.

There is yet however another aspect to this book. This is firstly illustrated by a very beautiful description of the young Jali's personality as he observes a tree, then in a series of discussions Jali has with his guru Anandaji, then in Gopalaji's retelling of the Hindu myth of the churning of the cosmic sea and Jali's interpretation of its meaning and then in the development of the relationship between Jali and Adinath.

It is a spiritual, philosophical, psychological thread that I found to be very profound and affected me even more deeply than the interwoven fiction. Perhaps one way of describing this is as the illustration of the classical Dionysian-Apollonian dichotomy. If so, relating it to the Hindu myth must be an act of brilliant originality. One person who commented on this book called it a debate between two ontological positions. Phenomenological ontology versus rationalism (I guess). I don't prefer those terms. However it is analysed academically, I found it very profound and touched my heart. I have no hesitation is saying that this aspect of this extremely rich book has changed my life.

The book has two quite graphic sex scenes between men. If that offends you so much that you would not read this book, that is your tragic loss. ( )