Project X521: and the ancient saviours | A SciFi Thriller By Sahil Sharma | Book Review

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To fulfil our undying thirst of reading quality books, we keep looking for interesting books across genre. it doesn’t make a difference that whether the book is in English, Hindi, or Gujarati. Whether it is a paperback or EBook, Whether the author is a seasoned one or just a debutante. Whether it is an Indian book or it belongs to the International arena. If we got good vibes about it, we try finding a good deal and upon reading, if we found it worthy, we share our thoughts with you, about the same.

In the same regards today we are going to talk about a thriller that falls in Sci-Fi rooted in the ancient Indian (that is Bharatiya) literature, setup in the modern times.

The book is Project X521: and the ancient saviours. Written by Sahil Sharma it is the first installment of Project X521 Trilogy.

Book Cover:

We firmly believe in the saying that “A book should not be judged by its cover”. At the same time we also acknowledge the influence of a cover page on remarkable number of book purchase and/or decisons. That’s why always talk a little about the cover page when talking about a book. So, let us take a look at the cover page of this book as well.

As you can see, the designer has done a remarkably good job here.

The colors are chosen quite thoughtfully. The way the fictional savior is illustrated, is amazing. It is the right combination of ancient and modern character. Not only in terms of appearance, getup and persona but also in terms of weapons. In the backdrop we see the pages from ancient Indian scripture and and symbol of DNA as well.

To be honest, I was attracted towards the book from its cover.

Storyline:

Let us take a bird’s eye view of the book plot.

While we are talking about the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence, is it possible to cross breed various creatures in the labs and develop some new genes or mutants of existing genes? And, eventually implant them in humans and extra-power them with robotics to give immense strength? And, control them from a central hub? Based on their own experiences can they decide their future course of action, then?

Well, the researchers are not planning to use these works for the greater good of humanity. They want to develop lethal soldiers or better to call them mercenaries.

They would change the game of war(!) then?

And, if the enemy is working on this possibility relentlessly, should we start working on their counterparts? Or at least protectors?

Well, some researchers and patriots from India (that is Bharat) started working on that.

Of course, it is a very top secret mission.

It is given that the enemy countries will use their influence to sabotage the plan, but, the traitors within will surely leak the details and for personal favors may help anti-social elements and enemy countries.

Eventually, like many other government plans, this research work also exposed and came to the radar of those who shouldn’t have known about it.

So, the government had to instruct the team to stop working on it. And, the enemy county(ies) promised to stop from its(their) side.

After a few years, the authorities come to know about something very strange, important, lethal and no-more-ignorable stuff!
What was that? Will it lead to national crisis? Will the national security of India be at stack? Is there an answer to this potential threat (if any)?

Well, you need to read this book to get your answers. During your reading journey you meet with Akash Saxena, Ravikant Shukla, Mahesh Tiwari, Shashank, Thakur Lachman Singh, Dr Rabta Mehdi, Colonel Ibrahim Malik, Nirbhay Tyagi from Dagger4, SFO Y.S. Mathur, General Mustafa Beigh, Radhika, Major Imtiyaz Khan, Tvasta, Dr. Krishnan Ayer, WAR Secretary Ashwin Sharma, Joint Secretary Arjun Tyagi (Director of the Bureau of Intelligence), Vikram, Abdullah, Radhika, and others.

Views and Reviews:

The author came up with an interesting idea of developing lethal creatures and developing technologies and elements to turn the soldiers into superhumans who can counter them (if they can)!

The author took inspiration from the ancient Indian (that is Bharatiya) literature to develop various stuff and mixed it with the modern scientific discoveries also. This way the book is rooted in Indian mythology (as it is known popularly) but a true Sci-Fi.

There are several things the author got right. He is so confident that he has already planned a trilogy for this tale! Actually, other installments also started releasing. So, he must have thought the entire story earlier and releasing it in parts. Of course, it is a wise decision.

The only thing I wish is the author could have written better and little more thoughtful sentences, the book could have been even better. Of course, it is interesting fast read, but, when you read, you will have that feeling that the things could have written better.

The way the author has developed various characters and started weaving threads will be liked by readers by an large.

We try to avoid spoilers as far as possible, and that is why we skip talking about many aspects of the book intentionally. We will be quoting some segments from the book to give you a proper idea about the type and quality of writing you will find in it. It will include some spoilers, so please read with your consent.

There are many terms we hear on national TV and often may not know its full form. The author provides details about such widely used abbreviations. The author also creates some fictional institutions for this story and their names are interesting too. And, yes, some institution names are a little twisted from their actual source of inspiration. Quoting some such abbreviations.

• WAR (Wing for Analysis and Research)
• IMIT Imagery Intelligence
• IIS (Inter Intelligence Services) of Pakistan
• BI (Bureau of Intelligence), India’s counterintelligence agency
• DI (Defence Intelligence)
• Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Indian Army

Some of the chapters have interesting titles, eg: Gates of Hell, Time is of the Essence,… Such names will surely ignite curiosity in the reader.

The author informs us about the creation of a dangerous beast and then introduces us to the Project X521, in simple words.

Year- 2011 Month- February Day- 12 Location- Islamabad, Pakistan
…
On the 11th of December 2003, the lab was set up, and the initiative was christened Project X521.

He explains the beast as:

The resulting creature was somewhat human, with a serpent tongue and venom resembling Oxyuranus microlepidotus (Inland Taipan) and Bitis arietans in parts (puff adder). In a single bite, it could release 2000 mg of venom. This venom was remarkable in that it was both neurotoxic and hemotoxic.

It seemed as if the creature derived pleasure from the act of killing, reserving its venom as a weapon of last resort.

The book elaborates the stuff qutie nicely and the scientific stuff is also linked to many stuff found in ancient Indian literature (whom westerners refers to as – mythology). For example:

To my astonishment, I found that the concept of DNA was already present in ancient literature, particularly in the Rig Veda, where it is referred to as ‘Tvasta.’

The knowledge and skills we acquire are inherited by our descendants in our lineage. Although this information is stored within us, it remains largely inaccessible until it is tapped into.

And, the rationales also take jibes to this (so called) “backward” thinking.

‘So now, pseudo- science will save this nation?’ The Professor responded with conviction, ‘This is no Pseudo Science; this is pure evidence- supported science, which many of us who have unintentionally become slaves of the western mindset fail to accept.’

Some of the interesting conversation delving deep into ancient Indian scriptures include the following:

‘A Mahamaharathi is capable of battling 24 Atimaharathis simultaneously. An Atimaharathi can fight with 12 Maharathis at the same time. A Maharathi can take on 12 Rathis, and a Rathi is a warrior capable of fighting 5000 warriors at once.’

The Professor explained, ‘Adi Parashakti is a primordial cosmic energy, from whom Matter, Space, and Time were born. In terms of modern cosmology, you can think of Adi Parashakti as the Singularity from which the entire universe originated.’

‘According to the ancient Hindu Sankhya School of philosophy, the cosmos is believed to possess a holonomic nature. This concept suggests that the structure of the cosmos is self- similar and replicates itself at progressively smaller scales.

Here, author doesn’t try to link them to anything in the modern world. But, simply use them as the source of inspiration for the project, the team is working on.

The author also refers to terms like “ardh-devas”, which some readers might find interesting.

It is not all about ancient stuff only. The author brings in some philosophical lines that are timeless. For example:

A person who believes he can master something stronger and smarter than him is a fool; it is only a matter of time before they realize they don’t need a master

The writing has the authenticity when it comes to conversations involving special forces. For example, members of a team are plainly introduced as:

Chandra Rai from Dagger1, Anuj Dhimal from Dagger1, Angad Dhillon from Dagger2, Hriday Singh from Dagger3, …

Informative yet short, right?

Combat scenes are explored with the same authenticity. For example:

Using his hand to cover the guard’s mouth, he skilfully slit open the guard’s throat, ensuring his silence forever.

And, the harsh reality about the covert operations is “they officially never happened”. So, the tem has to work stealthily and they are almost on their own, if exposed. And, no matter how much you try to hide some stuff, some inquitive fellow may conclude what could have happened. The author mentioned such scenarios in the book. For example:

Although they won’t publicly admit it, , they do know you guys were behind this.’

Such book becomes dull reading if they don’t have humor. And, the only type of humor you can add here, that don’t look out of context, is “dark humor”. The book has its share of such lines. For example”

His playful response eased the tension in the air, and everyone chuckled, appreciating the light- hearted moment amidst the gravity of the mission.

The book has strong characters regardless of their gender, social, economical, political or organizational status. It can be an additional positive point of the book.

With better proof reading and re-forming some conversations and re-arranging some phrases and replacing them with more tight lines, will surely make the book a masterpiece.

Summary:

It is nicely written modern thriller which has some elements rooted in ancient Indian (that is Bharatiya) literature. The book lives up to the expectations for most of the readers. It has a scope of improvement for sure. A Sci-Fi, that you may want to read.

ThinkerViews Rating:

Around 7 stars out of 10.

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