BookReview - Shiva in the City of Nectar by Preetha

I personally requested author Preetha Rajah Kannan for the review copy of the "Shiva in the City of Nectar" and she fulfilled my wish. I would like to thank her for this wonderful gift. I have taken this book after 3 months of arrival and I would like to apologize author for the delay. Green color background with Shiva-Sati-Karthikeya image gives elegant look to this book.

Book Blurb

Throbbing with non-stop excitement, Shiva in the City of Nectar sweeps across Heaven, Earth and the Underworld, narrating the exploits of the mysterious and powerful blue-throated god. One after another, the tales unfold the follies of ancient devas, asuras, sages, men and mythical beasts. And through them all, Shiva blithely takes on the guise of beggar, saint, monarch, merchant, fisherman, hunter, warrior and woodcutter; walking through the three worlds to slay rampaging demons, perform his Dance of Bliss and embrace good and bad alike.

Shiva is portrayed in all his multi-faceted mystique – the tender lover who woos and weds Goddess Meenakshi; the eternal Guru who dispenses wisdom; the fierce avenger whose third eye flashes fire; the generous benefactor who showers blessings on his devotees; and, above all, the gentle prankster who embodies the essence of Vedic faith.

As blurb suggests the book is a collection of 54 short stories on Shiva. One may say that "We have heard thousands of stories of Shiva then how this book is different from other books." Well, the book is themed on stories of Shiva around City of Nector which is better known as Madurai. Initial stories start with how temple and Shivalingam came into existence. Then stories shifted to some mythological stories around Devi Meenakshi and Shundarar. Next round of stories covers avatar of Karthikeya. Remaining stories (30+) were of Pandian era kings. Each story shows devotion of various characters and miracle of Shiva towrads those characters.

The best part of the book would be

• Short & Sweet Stories
• Nice Cover Design
• Good for any age
• Can be used as bedtime stories for kids

I have next book "Son of Shiva" is series with me, and I have high expectation for  the book

Talking about ratings

1. Cover - 4.5/5
2. Title - 4/5
3. Content - 4/5
4. Characters - 4.5/5
5. Overall - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon - In English & In Tamil
Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads