Last of the Wanderers

Review by Harshwardhan Deshpande on my Novel, "Last of the wanderers"

"This is a fictional novel based on real events that happened around first century AD. These are interesting times in central Asia and event happening during this period had major influence on how Indian civilization morphed into what we have today. Greek kingdom in Bactria is on the decline and Buddhism in India is about reach its zenith. This is also the time when a large number of nomadic tribes such as Yuezhi in central asia are about to give up their nomadic lifestyle and settle down to form villages and eventually kingdoms.

On the whole I found the novel thoroughly captivating. This is not a historical novel so author has taken creative permission to move around a few historical references to provide a fascinating insight into how and why the urbanization of central Asia might have started.

Western readers might find that reading this novel as a different experience. This is due to the fact that the author is from India and his writing comes with an Indian flavor. This is not something new, even someone like Salman Rushdie has unmistakable style that only be called Indian English. There are also a few gaps in the narrative which can be attributed to the faulty editing but fortunately they do not stand in the way to enjoy the book.

My major gripe with this novel is that this is the subject of an epic and not a short book. As far as I know no epic has been written based upon the happenings in this part of the world during this period of turmoil. I hope that in the future the author will come up with an epic novel based on the same story."

-Harshwardhan Deshpande