Shiva 3000: A Novel [Hardcover]

Jan Lars Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 1999

Jan Lars Jensen weaves a magical, mythical narrative with a modern sensibility, present-future technology, and a dark humor strongly reminiscent of Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Time Bandits. Two quarreling friends travel across India together, following their very different destinies. Along the way, young Rakesh and the Royal Engineer, Vasant, encounter the giant god of wood, Jagannath, who carves a swath of destruction; the Pragmatic Monks, who live in a carved-out mountain and perform miracles of meditation; demon cranes, who reduce life to counting; battles where the weapons are spices; and numerous other wonders. This cinematic Sinbad dreamscape, filled with animate machines, airships of silk, and legends brought to life, evokes an ancient time but also points a finger at our modern age. Jensen's prose fascinates, amuses, and haunts as he presents vivid scenes of India and in the process examines Hinduism, Buddhism, intolerance, and the awful power of faith.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In an alternative world where gods are as self-evident as thunderstorms and as destructive as tornadoes, a Baboon Warrior surfaces to save India from marauding behemoths; yet a driven Hindu named Rakesh mysteriously wants him dead. In Shiva 3000, Jan Lars Jensen has cooked up an exotic curry of wonders drawing on Hindu mythology and Buddhist meditative practices. From the sensual antics of Kama Sutrans to Zen-like archery, we sail along in an adventure that is a cross between the Ramayana and Jurassic Park. Belief in gods is beyond doubt, and yet something in the pantheon is amiss. The giant Jagannath turns out to be constructed from planks and pulleys, and a splinter group of Buddhists secretly dissects human bodies in their mountain fortress. Jensen keeps us guessing how it all ties together until the ending reveals Shiva 3000 as an allegory of our own times that is as devastating as it is absorbing. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly

Projecting exotic, multifaceted India into the far future, Jensen whirls readers off on a colorfully surreal series of peculiar adventures. Young Rakesh, a jilted bridegroom, and his new acquaintance, disgraced Royal Engineer Vasant Alamvala, seek vengeance. Rakesh intends to slay the legendary Baboon Warrior who stole his arranged-marriage bride, and Varent means to obliterate his palace rival Prince Hapi, a devotee of intricate Kama Sutran amatory entanglements, in order to regain his position at court. The two join forces when Brahmins summon the monstrous Jagganath, the earthquake god made visible, to crush the city of Sholapur. After discovering that the Jagganath is a dung-fueled wooden construct, Rakesh and Varent crawl inside it, learn to operate it and smash their way through India, meeting strangers and swapping yarns until each realizes an enlightened goal quite different from his original obsession. By treating India's ancient pantheonAKali the Destroyer, Shiva, Vishnu, Hanuman the money godAas beings created by the human need to worship, Jensen explores some faces of religious intolerance. He also uses India's broad spectrum of religious observance, from the self-denial of ascetics to the intricately implemented sexuality of the Kama Sutrans, to suggest the infinite possibilities of human faith. Individual passages of this ambitious tapestry of spicy sensory overload are briefly fascinating, such as those concerning the erotic temple sculptures at Khajuraho, but as a whole, the book leaves only a nebulous impression of the futility of human life. (July)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (July 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151004544
• ISBN-13: 978-0151004546
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,757,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A special trip, January 31, 2002

By 

"frequentguest" (Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shiva 3000: A Novel (Hardcover)

In this entertaining mix of action, exotica, and psychedelia, readers are plunged into a whirlwind Indian fantasy, a far east that has been enhanced and degraded by technology, so much that the characters believe themselves in the presence of gods. These gods tower over the landscape as huge animate beings, a patchwork of what has gone into their own creation, and (we learn) believing themselves divine. The story concerns a young man who believes he has been appointed the task of killing a popular folk hero of the land. As he travels the transformed subcontinent, he encounters an engineer with a strange gift for seeing the essence of machinery, and who has a past ensnared with those who rule the land. Together, they meet a group of Buddhist monks who have their own interest in the workings of the world and the gods overseeing it. Strangely, nobody seems to know of the world beyond the subcontinent, which leads me to wonder what has gone on to bring this strange time into being. The marvels are continuous - calculating cranes, cities built on mandala-patterns, a serpentine underbelly of the world - and Jensen's style is golden. The novel gets off to a somewhat slow start, but once the plot is rolling, it's hard for a reader to pull out. Fans of better genre material, such as the works of Neil Stephenson and Jeff Noon, will appreciate the writing and characterization. Also highly recommended for fans of Japanese filmmaker Hiyako Miyazaki, who created wonder of a similar caliber in "Princess Mononoke."

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, thoughtful, but cries for a sequel, August 28, 1999

By 

Glenn Fleishman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shiva 3000: A Novel (Hardcover)

Shiva 3000 is a story about an indefinitely far future in which the subcontinental Indian gods have been made real, but apparently through technology long forgotten. The appearance of a Baboon Warrior, the hero of India, shakes up the status quo and causes a young man who desires his downfall to release himself from his own dharma to question the role of the gods made flesh and discover alternate modes of thinking and behavior. Unfortunately, the book ends at a point which makes it too ripe for a sequel. More volumes are obviously to come, but they will be welcome. The book is most reminiscent of Celestial Matters (ISBN 0312863489).

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, August 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shiva 3000: A Novel (Hardcover)

I found this book to be a great read. It is a very imaginative use of Hindu mythology. Although, at first it might seem sacrilegious to bend Hindu mythology in so many ways, I do believe the author had a good understanding of the nature and character of the millions of participants in the Hindu pantheon and cosmos. The plot and its many facets lead to many interesting political and religious interpretations of modern Indian society should one be inclined to seek out such commentary. Unfortunately, unless one is exceedingly well versed in Indian culture and Hindu mythology, I do not believe that they will fully enjoy or appreciate this wonderful and fanciful novel.