After reading all the four books of the Hero of Olympus series and around 10 month  wait for the Blood of Olympus to release, I was wondering to read any book series similar to Heros of Olympus. While reading an interview of Rick Riordan, he suggested the Ash Mistry series which is similar to Percy Jackson series. Now this is it, a bibliophile got some food for reading. The first book in the Ash Mistry series is The Savage Fortress written by Sarwat Chadda.

The Savage Fortress is similar to Blood Of Olympus on one aspect. In Blood Of Olympus monsters and demons are trying to wake up Gaea while in The Savage Fortress, Rakshashas or demons are all set to wake up  king of asuras, Ravana. While Hero of Olympus and Percy Jackson series is based on Greek  Mythology, The Savage Fortress is a fantasy based on Indian Mythology.

So The Savage Fortress is about Ash Mistry, Indian Percy Jackson. Ash with his sister Lucky is visiting his Uncle Vik and Aunt Anita in India. But soon his visit becomes a nightmare. A mysterious aristocrat Alexnader Savage offers a job of deciphering some ancient scrolls to his Uncle. But soon Ash finds out that devious intention of Lord Savage to wake up Ravana and gain eternal youthfulness to rule over the world.

Apart from the main story of Ash Mistry saving the world, the author has also woven another interesting story of Ram’s killing of Ravana. Ram was gifted two astras which he could use to kill monstrous king of demon, Ravana. One was the God Vishnu astras and other was Goddess Kali astras. The latter asks for bigger sacrifice so Ram chooses the former to kill Ravana.

It is the unused Goddess Kali astra which, accidentally, Ash finds is the key to Ravana’s revival or his total annihilation without any hope of recovery. The Kali astra add such an interesting consequences in the story and makes it a solid plot which is convincing in every manner.

If we talk about the hero of the story Ash Mistry then he was a reluctant and most of the time wants to run away from all the problems. But it was the desperation to save his sister Lucky and the world from total decimation makes Ash Mistry a reluctant hero. But it was necessary to depict Ash as a coward and unwilling, as it was the only way to show the power of Goddess Kali’s astra and the author has done an excellent job in that.

The Savage Fortress has everything which we expect in fantasy novels. The book is full of thrill, adventure and every now and then you will find a rush of adrenaline due to the brilliant description of fights between Ash and Rakshasas. The cover of the book is itself so terribly fearful.

Verdict: I find the book a bit dark as there is a lot of killing and bloodshed. It is the writers way to create a sense of emergency in the story as the existence of the whole world is at stake. But still it is a fantastic book to read. Go for it. It is one of the good books similar to Percy Jackson series which you and I were searching for.

Other Books in Ash Mistry Chronicles