Divakaruni is best known for The Mistress of Spices, her popular novel and the inspiration for the recent Aishwarya Rai starrer film. In this novel, the second of a fantasy trilogy, the Texas-based author does what she is best at— creating a pleasantly exotic world.

Anand is a little boy, who like Harry Potter, has a gift for magic. Book 1, The Conch Bearer, saw him leave his home in the Kolkata slums and journey with Nisha, the sweeper girl to help Master Healer Abhayadutta recover a magic conch. In this book, Anand and Nisha journey to a Himalayan valley, where they will live with other apprentices to learn, Hogwarts- like, the different magic arts.

Ayurdatta teaches them the ten kinds of roots used to make ‘Dashmul’ tea, an energy potion and Vayudatta, the master of the wind watchers, teaches them how to listen to the wind. It is in the ‘Tower of Winds’ that Anand is shocked to receive (from a black tornado) a disturbing message.

The Conch may have been returned to its rightful place but there’s trouble and the black wind whispers two words— ‘Evil Stirs’. When Anand sees a vision— of a village in Bengal from which people are disappearing, their souls having been sucked out, he knows he must help.

So Anand, Nisha and Abhyadatta  plunge into time travel rescue; to the little village in Bengal. There’s an evil magician here who’s plotting to overtake yet another world, this one the kingdom of the Nawab— and only Anand can stop him.

So it’s all very action packed, with many fairy tale-like twists and turns. Anand, Nisha and Abhyadatta are all transported to the Nawab’s world, each in a different way.

Nisha ends up forgetting who she is, becoming the Chief Minster Haider Ali’s niece. And Anand, who has made his way to this world with the magic mirror of dreaming, must disguise himself as a punkahwallah; while Abayadatta is mahout to the royal elephant, Matangi.

A pleasant page turner then; never mind if it’s a mish mash of Potter and Pullman. Divakaruni writes simply, and the story— with its poor boy heroes, its evil djinns and wise healers— moves along nicely.

The sights and smells of the worlds are evoked rather well through the hungry eyes of little boy Anand— the Silver Valley with its wonderful weather, and its ‘rich stews of lentils in jewel colours, eggplant simmered in spicy yogurt sauce… and tangy, emerald green chutney made with mint and coriander’ and from there the pageantry of the Nawab’s court with its “steaming bowl of chicken curry and a thick naan”. All of which makes it easily readable.

But don’t look for the intriguing complexities of a Tolkien or a Pullman novel(The Northern Lights trilogy) or even Jonathon Stroud (The Amulet of Samarkhand trilogy). Having said that, it still stays a good read for teenagers as well as ‘crossover’ adults. 

Mirror of Fire and Dreaming
— Brotherhood of the Conch (Book II); Divakaruni, IndiaInk, 2007, pp 226, Rs 295.