Customer Reviews

Shadow Princess: A Novel

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3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Readers will find this a stylish novel, giving a fascinating description of how the Taj Mahal was built. Ms. Sundaresan cleverly fills her paragraphs with many vivid descriptions so that when you turn a page you will have experienced sights, smells, tastes, colors, sizzling heat and cooling breezes as she takes you back in time. You are there. You see firsthand the bazaars, the cloistered zenana, the opulence of the palace the lifestyle and indulgence of the emperors. Her writing style is like a beautiful art piece. She "paints" with bold, confident strokes, pulling you in, so that you get the feeling that if you turn around you will be face to face with the characters, close enough to touch them.

The story begins with the untimely death of Empress Arjumand leaving behind her young children and inconsolable husband, Emperor Shah Jahan. They had shared a deep bond of passionate love and after her death he was never the same. The death of the empress left a great deal of responsibility on her oldest daughter, Jahanara who was only nineteen. Princess Jahanara's character and the stresses of her life are well-developed and beautifully intertwined in the story. In fact, this is not revealed until after the first fifty pages or so, giving the reader plenty of time to get to know all the characters and their individual personalities. Ms. Sundaresan's writing is downright elegant; she has taken the time to carefully develop every single character and bring them to life - from the mighty emperors, the young princes and princesses right down to the humble servants who run to obey their every command. Each character in the book is impeccably and cleverly fleshed out so that you are given a look into their minds and hearts to discover who they really are.

Even though the story took place hundreds of years ago, Sundaresan brings it to life and you will find yourself on a breathless journey to see how the story ends. You will "see" for yourself how the glorious Luminous Tomb was built. Lined with gold, silver, and rare jewels, twenty thousand men labored for twenty-two years to build the marble mausoleum, to fulfill Shah Jahan's obsession, to demonstrate his perfect love for Arjumand.

Am I recommending this book? Absolutely and wholeheartedly. Please get yourself a copy and then get another to give to a friend. Don't rush through it. Take your time. Take a day off. Then sit back and savor the story, the romance, the treacherous conspiring and scheming of the royal siblings in their struggle for power, but most of all Ms. Sundaresan's powerful writing.

The death of Mumtaz Muhal, Emperor Shah Jahan's Exalted One of the Palace, after the birth of her fourteenth child is the foundation for Sundaresan's beautifully crafted and detailed novel of the Mughal Empire in 1631. With attention to historical detail and compassion for those caught in the great drama of the succession, the author captures the emotional tenor of the aftermath of the death of the empress and the political machinations of the four sons who are heirs to the throne. The man who will eventually erect the Taj Mahal to honor his dead wife, ruthless though he may have been in gaining his throne, is devastated by the enormity of his loss. Suddenly plans to marry his favorite daughter, Jahanara to Mizra Najabat Khan are put on indefinite hold, although the younger sister, Roshanana, covets this particular man for herself.

It is Jahanara who is the star of this piece, a young woman denied the man she loves to serve her father in his time of need. His need will absorb her future; Jahan pays a heavy price for accepting that burden, one she embraces with conviction. At odds with her older and more powerful sister, Roshanara slips easily into her role as Jahan's adversary, secretly aligning herself with a younger brother, Aurangzeb in lieu of the emperor's obvious choice for succession, Dara. While Dara takes his position and his place in his father's affections for granted, Aurangzeb nurtures his own ambitions, active where Dara is lazy and spoiled. Meanwhile, the emperor ignores affairs of state in his obsession with building a monument to his beloved wife.

As she did in The Twentieth Wife, Sundaresan imbues her characters with emotional depth, creating in Jahanara a protagonist of exceptional strength and loyalty, a woman forced to make painful decisions, to choose duty to her father over personal fulfillment, marriage and children. The demands on this woman are extraordinary, called to refute ugly rumors begun in spite by her sister, carving a few stolen moments of happiness into a life rigidly defined by obligation. The political realities of the evolution of the Mughal Empire are significant and thoughtfully explored, the author keeping her finger on the pulse of the kingdom and the yearning in Jahanara's heart, a melding of historical fact and the difficult emotional terrain of a woman trapped forever behind the walls of convention. Intricate and exquisite as the trappings of royalty, the world of the zenana is exposed, its luxury and demands, Jahanara bridging the past and an uncertain future. Luan Gaines/2010.

For lovers of historical fiction, nothing is better than a book that has you immersed in the storyline and engages all of your five senses, so that when you look up from reading it takes you a couple of seconds to re-orient to your current surroundings. Shadow Princess by Indu Sundaresan was just that book for me. When Shadow Princess opens we are transported to 17th century India as the Mumtaz Muhal, the much beloved wife of the Emperor, is about to give birth to her 14th child. Also, in the room with her are her two teen-aged daughters, Jahanara(17) and Roshanara (14). As the birth process continues, it appears Mumtaz Muhal may not survive, and she reaches out for Jahanara, neglecting Roshanara, who also rushes to her mother's side. But, despite the best of care available, Mumtaz Muhal dies, leaving behind four sons, two older daughters, a newborn girl child, and an inconsolable husband. But when the Emperor is finally convinced to resume his morning appearances before the royalty, it obvious that he is in a very fragile state; for a show of unity, Jahanara thrusts her four brothers out into the balcony to stand by their father. At this moment, all four brothers, despite their young age, feel the surge of power of being Emperor and this becomes each of their goals. Roshanara, once again feeling left out, and in her bitterness wonders how to control her destiny in this male-dominated world.

While this is the third book in the Sundaresan's trilogy on the Mughal Empire, it is not necessary to read the prior books to enjoy this storyline. Sundaresan's passion and research for this period of Indian history comes through in her exquisite writing and the decoding of the culture. This a tale of the lush life of the royalty and those favored by them. Even for the reader who knows the outcome of the power struggle, Sunderesan weaves an interesting path of getting to this point, focusing the story on Jahanara and Roshanara and the roles of women in shaping Indian history. What most of us know of this era is the building of the Taj Mahal as a tribute of a man's love for wife, Sundaresan took a chance and made the Taj Mahal a character in the book and it is only fitting as the influence of women have often been overlooked in the telling of this period; however, this oversight is corrected by this trilogy.

I recommend this book to not only readers of historical fiction, but also to readers who enjoy reading about sibling rivalry, unrequited love, uncontrolled ambition and adventure.

This book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

Reviewed by Beverly

APOOO BookClub

Other reviewers have reviewed this book in vivid detail, therefore, I will spare you the reiteration. Simply put, this book was simply not for me. The pace of the book was so slow, I actually dreaded trying to finish it, but felt compelled. Constant flashbacks to tie in history was very complex and distracting to the story. Scenery descriptions reminded me of travel guides, which could be good and bad.

There is a clear attempt by Sundaresan to convey the splendor of the Indian Muslim court as many authors have done with the English Courts. In that regard, the book does a rather well job. It is especially interesting to compare and contrast novels along those lines.

If you do purchase this book, it is pobably best read at the beach in a leisurely pace.

I have tried, over and over and over again, to get through this book. I just can't and I won't try anymore. There are far better books to read than to waste time on one that's not worth the expense it takes to get through it. Technically, the writing is good, but everything is just so boring and lifeless; I don't care about anyone or anything. Maybe if it didn't often read like a history lesson and had some movement, I would have liked this book better. Good historical fiction incorporates the history seamlessly into the narrative. This book didn't and the history actually came in chunks that disrupted the story. This is an author I'll be sure to steer clear of from now on.

This was an excellent book for me on several levels. First, there is a love story which lasts a lifetime even though the principals can't marry. Her father, who is Emperor, has ordained that she not ever marry as she is his most favored daughter and is taking the place of her deceased mother who was the Emperor's Shadow Counselor as his advisor. This is the Emperor who built the Taj Mahal for his wife who had died in childbirth, and he never remarried. Remarried is a misleading word here as these men had harems, but he never again created the kind of relationship he had with his wife with any other woman. The Princess' lover is an Amir which seems to mean he was a highly placed noble and soldier. These two people somehow manage to remain a couple through all the machinations of their homeland.

As for the homeland, the reader will see many names with which we, here in the United States, have become familiar. Among them are Quandahar, Lahore, Kashmir and more. They are of the Mughal people and the history which is in this book is very enlightening. I, for instance, didn't know that the Mughal people are Persians who left Persia after a massive revolution made them unwelcome in their homeland. As with the Persians, they are Muslims. There is a map in the front of the book and a glossary in the back. I found that the glossary was not really needed, but the map is very interesting because it shows that this people ruled over most of the subcontinent of India. What we now call India was known as the Deccant and was a very small portion of that country which was mostly, Hindu. The timing on this book is the early to mid 17th Century. The Raj is not yet in place but the men of the British and Dutch East India Companies have visited. Sir Thomas Roe is mentioned as a not very well regarding visitor.

I am not that familiar with the history which took place after this time except that the Hindu population seems to have grown in power so that by 1945 and Independence from British rule, the Muslims, who had been such great conquerors were given a very small portion of the subcontinent in what we know as Pakistan. This book is not all love and romance, the innerworkings of succession to the throne among the Emperor's children make Richard III and Henry Tudor look like pikers. The wars and confusion which these battles bring may have been what made it so easy for the British to take power from the Mughals and give it over to the Hindus.

I loved this book and have already requested the author's other books from the library. By the way, she tells of an incident which may make the land in Afghanistan very valuable in telling of the loss of half of the Treasury from Lahore which was lost down a snow filled mountain crevice during a retreat and has never been recovered. The level of riches and power which these people held will amaze you. This is a fun read, both entertaining and educating.

I was very excited when this book was published. I devoured the author's previous books - The Twentieth Wife & Feast of Roses - both of which I've read multiple times and are among my favorite novels. Perhaps it's my fondness for the first two books in this series that ultimately led to disappointment - my expectations were simply too high. While this is a good book, the character's didn't jump off the page and there was so much going on that it was difficult to become attached to any one person. When I was reading The Twentieth Wife I was rooting for Mehrunissa. She was the sort of character you couldn't help but love and you really wanted her to end up with the emperor in the end. Shadow Princess begins with her death after she has lived a full life as the emperor's favorite wife. He is absolutely heartbroken and pretty much withdraws into himself while his children and other people at court plot to achieve their own ends. Maybe that's really where my difficulty with this book lies - I wanted more of Mehrunissa and Shah Jahan, but the whole point of this book was that their time was coming to an end. In fact, the emperor built the Taj Mahal as a monument to his beloved wife.

Too much of a good thing perhaps but the amount of description and background story really made this book a chore to try and get into which at the end I just could not do it.

There was little character development too many point of view and lots and lots of description which did not do what it intended to do which is put me into the scene of the story.

There was a lot of promise for this book and if the author could have organized the story better it would have made for a lovely read.

Shadow Princess / 978-1-4165-4879-9

My first introduction to the story of the intriguing and mysterious princess Jahanara, was with the engaging and interesting "Jahanara: Princess of Princesses", a fictional Royal Diary installation for young children. I was, in light of this introduction, greatly looking forward to reading "Shadow Princess", but rarely have I seen a novel more in need of an editor's firm hand!

With a meandering and confused narrative, "Shadow Princess" flits rapidly from an omniscient narrator to diving into a character's intimate point of view to leaping forward into another character's point of view, all within the space of a few sentences - indeed, sometimes the point-of-view leaps occur in the *same* sentence. The novels jumps backwards and forwards through time, and the author seems to strongly distrust the reader's ability to pick up cultural and historical details the usual way, i.e. through the narrative - instead, she grinds the story to a halt every couple of pages to skip off to a history lesson. And, if that weren't bad enough, the history lessons are often repeated a few pages later! The whole overall tone is disjointed, confusing, and poorly constructed - which is a shame, because there's a good story underneath that a better editor could have brought out.

Just for example, in the first 50 pages of "Shadow Princess", the narrative goes thus: point of view of Mumtaz Mahal, point of view of Jahanara, point of view of Shah Jahan, switch to narrative omniscience, back to Jahanara, then to Aurangzeb, off to Shah Jahan's first wife, across the country to Jai Singh (so that the author can tell us, flat-out, what's going to happen in 30 pages - if that doesn't dull the suspense, I don't know what will), back into omniscient narrative, then to Commander in Chief Mahabat Khan, back to Aurangzeb again, then to Jahanara, forward in time one day with Nadira, then back fifty four years (and one day) to Ghias Beg for a quick history lesson on Mehrunnisa, then forward again (to the day before Nadira's point of view earlier) to Shah Jahan, then forward a day for Shah Jahan to reflect on the history of Mehrunnisa (again!!), then forward in time to Dara, who is just now catching up in time with Nadira.

For those keeping count at home, that's 17 point of view changes in 50 pages, for an average of one switch every three pages. And that's being liberal on my part - I've left out all the times that the narrative zooms into one of the younger children or one of the palace servants for a sentence or two. Nearly all of the point of view changes are superfluous and unnecessary - given that we're only with Jai Singh for a couple of pages, and given that his part of the narrative could easily unfold as the tomb land is purchased and built, we don't really *need* to grind the narrative to a halt to go check on him every couple of chapters. The constant flash-backs, flash-forwards, and flash-sideways are cumbersome and difficult to track - the scene with Nadira jumping forward in time flat out is not necessary and could have been handled when Dara got the summons, but instead the author jumps into "tomorrow" with Nadira, before then jumping back to "yesterday" to tie up some loose ends with the Shah, before continuing on to "tomorrow" again - the whole thing is convoluted and confusing.

I really did not think it would be possible to turn me off of a novel of Jahanara, but I simply could not wait to put "Shadow Princess" down. The writing is heavy and verbose and put me in mind of an obsessive compulsive who would rather sacrifice flow and rhythm rather than sacrifice one sentence of historical research that was no doubt accumulated for this lengthy novel. And despite the near constant telling of what everyone in the novel is thinking and feeling, I felt the characters to be poorly characterized, two-dimensional, and largely shallow and without depth - probably because the characterization is spread too thin and among too many characters.

NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.

~ Ana Mardoll

This beautifully written and emotionally engaging historical fiction transports the reader to the court of the Mughal Empire in 17th century India. The vivid descriptions, the emotional depth of the characters, and the interwoven story lines, make the building of the Taj Mahal an emotionally charged reality for the reader. The historical structural foundation of Shadow Princess does follow The Twentieth Wife and The Feast of Roses, but it is not necessary to have read the privious books to enjoy Shadow Princess, as each book stands on its own merit. As in the previous novels, Sundaresan weaves storylines of intrigue, unfulfilled love, unbridled ambition, and the whole gamut of the human condition amidst the fabulous wealth and power of the mughal court. Wonderfully engaging, it is a pleasure to read, and very much highly recommended.