Christopher C. Doyle

The Secret of the Druids

Srinivasan Tatachari

Disclaimer: I received a pre-release copy of this book as a winner from the Quest Club - this may have biased my views a bit :)

This is the second book that I am reading of Christopher (not counting the novella - "the secret revealed" that I read online on the Quest Club website!). To summarize my thoughts on completion of the book: Hats off to Christopher for an intricate weaving of fact and fiction to provide a captivating adventure. 

I had started the Book 1 (prequel to ‘secret of druids’) without any idea of it being part of a series and hence I was eagerly awaiting the continuation of a story that had more to be told. Also Christopher kept the excitement alive through the free online pieces bridging in the gap between these two books of the quest series. I thought that was a novel (!) idea! I had no clue that the next adventure would link up the druids and the mahabharata - but with the master weaving of fact and fiction one comes to wonder what’s true and what’s not! :) I always have loved mysteries and this book creates a mystery and then fits in pieces in a very convincing manner. The detailing does make you feel as if a part of the adventure. I can only imagine the depths of the research that has gone behind this book. From what I gleaned Christopher also travelled to the locations to get a feel of the place, which reflects in the experience while reading the book. The notes at the end of the book help in understanding some of the thinking process that was applied in building a logical plot from facts and fiction! 

The book has the same fast pace like its predecessor and keeps you going on and wondering what is next to come. I loved the way the author covers ground subtly for those who have not read the earlier book and the novella, giving just enough for understanding the current plot but generating enough excitement for possibly going back and reading those books! Nice touch there! The main characters continue to be built up very well - their personalities coming out nicely - Vijay, Alice and others of the task force. The grieving Vijay and Shukla and their mental processes fit in nicely. The author does the same with the characters of the Order, the spinelessness of Dee in brutally slicing innocent people’s throats is a fine expression of the personality. 

Though it would be a necessary part of proving the complex thinking behind the master plot, I couldn’t keep track of the multitude of characters in the ancient parts of the plot - it did dampen my experience a bit and I had to breeze through without keeping those characters in mind too much. But then in the modern parts of the plot some of those character references made me scratch my head a bit. Probably a glossary at the end of the book just for plot characters might be a good idea. The switching between ancient plot and modern plot is good, but too much of it seems to harm more. I also wondered about the large number of chapters in the book with the chapters being just a couple of pages in quite a few instances, and not necessarily ending in a very intense point in the plot - is this a new trend of editing, I wonder. Not all the locations used in the plot are shown in the graph of England, especially the sub-plot (which I thought was not really needed) of McGregor - West Lothian. The situation where the Order catches up with Vijay when he is in the Mine Howe and is then barricaded inside is somehow reminiscent of the Book 1 climax as well where Vijay had found the Amrutha. 

Overall I would still rate it as one of the best adventure books I have read. Will recommend it highly to those keen on mythical adventures!

The Secret of the Druids

Reviews