The Crows of Agra

"The Crows of Agra" book will teach a lesson "All that glitters is not Gold" or "Don't judge book by it's cover (other way)". Because cover page design is attractive, fancy, good graphics with catchy title but plot or story is not up to the mark.It is a historical fiction. A book written with historical character like Akbar , Birbal, Bairam Khan, Maham Anga, Raqiya Begam, Adham Khan and others.I don't understand why historical fiction is allowed to write (a book with historical character's names but fictional plot). This is my general thinking not related to any specific book.Under historical fiction books authors add drama, thrill, suspense ,story as per their imagination to make the book interesting but it will harm the history as per my understanding. People may consider events in a book as a part of history, which is ideally baseless. Instead of this kind of imaginational plots with real names , they can write the same story with some imaginary characters. But that is not the subject of discussion here.)This book is a story of political conspiracy adduce with murder mystery. With a base storyline - Bairam Khan is a care taker of Mughal Empire, till the time Akbar forced him to leave for the pilgrim. The day before he leaves,someone murdered him in his palace and it put royal family members and close ones under suspension. After investigation and questioning, Birbal solves the murder mystery with his brilliance as usual, which ends with shocking revelation.During unfolding of this mystery, to add excitement some interesting fictional events have been added, like first meeting of Akbar- Mahesh Das; How Mahesh Das has given a name of Birbal; Why honest and loyal man of Mughal Family Bairam Khan was forced for pilgrim; Role of Maham Anga and his son in plot to seize the throne; Nature , behaviour of young Akabar; love and married life of Akbar; interesting one is plot to seize the throne and how brilliantly young Akbar overturned the plot and how he dealt with conspirators etc.Story is not exciting, at some points small small events keep up the interest. At some point you will feel book is lengthy and wandering from base storyline. However you can read it at small risk. 3/5*

Uhhh, a couple of problems:1) It shouldn't take a reader 150-odd pages to be invested in characters.2) For a murder mystery, it wasn't very mysterious. The secret was pretty open from the very beginning.3) Definitely needs a better editor/proofreader. This one missed out on a lot of minor errors which distracted from the overall reading experience.4) A major plot bunny: Wasn't Ruqaiyah supposed to have seen the murderer commit the murder through the window? How could she, when the window was 'shut, but not bolted' to prevent any sound from escaping the room?5) Characters don't stick to their character. Some of the conversation feels contrived to progress the plot point, as do some character actions. The flow isn't smooth throughout the story.6) Things are explained overmuch every few paragraphs. The 'tell' isn't good.Even though the prose and story construction needs some brushing up, the author shows promise at places. Where the prose is lucid, it is really good. The women seem less like cardboard characters and more like properly fleshed out characters with their own motives. I <i>might</i> just check out his other books.

Great fiction writing by the author Sharath!! Story is nice, though lacks some action and thrill of crime and almost half the book is just plain and dreary interrogation by Birbal of the suspects. If ur an avid Akbar-Birbal story lover or crime novel reader, u won't feel the thrill and suspense that you'd generally feel in crime mysteries in this story, but if ur new in this genre, it's an entertaining read!!

I love mysteries and I love history! Merge the two, and what's not to like? :) this is fiction you can take with you-when you travel, or go on a holiday! His best yet, in feeling-author Sharath Komarraju is getting to be great and I can't wait for the next offering. This book is certainly fast paced, and a thriller. It masterfully combines a re telling of a tale between friends and myraid interrelationships, against a backdrop of mystery which pulsates with suspense. The author has smoothly handled the story line until it evolves into a net of a fine tuned tale of taut tensions which kept me hooked until the very end. I haven't read a thriller based on the Mughal era with a more authentic feel. If you're looking to grow your library, this one's a keeper!

The books surprised me in how good it is. The books starts of about a story of political intrigue during the time of Akbar, but it quickly switches track to a cozy mystery story. It's excellently written and has well-written characters. At no point, did I feel the story was a bore. Add to that, dialogue between characters is snappy and is a great way to tell a story.If you love a mystery story and love history - then don't hesitate to pick up this book.