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Hiranyakashipu and his nemesis, Narasimha, an Avatar of Vishnu, are the central characters of eight short stories that are included in this book. For a mythological children’s book to begin as ‘Our story begins in the middle of the action’ is unusual.

What is evident is that the author must have conducted immense research on numerous sources to write these stories. It must have been a Herculean task to sift through details to arrive at the final product, to make it understood by young readers, without compromising on the story line. Such effort needs to be applauded.

The book does not give any guidelines for the ideal age of readers but it would be safe to say it is appropriate for ages 8 . Of course, a younger audience can enjoy the stories being read by an elder sibling or caring adult. Publishers of such international repute such as Hachette would be expected to share biographies of their illustrators and authors as a standard practice, but neither was found on the jacket or inside, which is a pity.