Key characters: Shiva, Sati, Ganesh, Kali, Bhagirath and Brahaspati.

Important places: Meluha, Branga, Dandak Forest and Panchavati.

The second book begins with grief and a thirst for revenge. After the death of his friend Brahaspati, Shiva pursues the mysterious Naga warrior, believing the Nagas to be responsible for the evil threatening his world.

The most emotional revelations concern Sati’s family. Ganesh, the Naga warrior with elephant-like features, is revealed to be her son, whom she had believed lost. Kali, the formidable Naga queen, is her twin sister, separated from her because of prejudice surrounding their physical differences.
Suddenly, the so-called monsters have faces, histories and wounds of their own.
Shiva must confront a painful possibility: what if the evil he is hunting cannot be understood simply by looking at appearances?
My takeaway: We often inherit prejudices without questioning them. Like Shiva, we may need to travel beyond our familiar world to discover that the people we fear are not necessarily the people we should fight.