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A Shadow in Eternity
The protagonist, Maya Subramaniam, aged 12, is an extraordinary child chosen to be a member of the Eternal world—not many persons know about the existence of this world—to be the defender of time. Noah Jarryd, her neighbour in Reality, is none other than her watcher from the Eternity, keeping a constant eye on her since her birth. Every night, she embarks on her clandestine journey to the Eternal World, a place somewhat like that of Middle Ages, but well equipped with modern gadgets, where Time passes differently and aging slows down due to the different effects of gravity and time. Under the watchful eyes of Noah, Maya trains in reading minds, creating illusions, fighting tactics, healing and foretelling. Gradually, she learns that a huge hourglass symbolises Time and as a defender of time, she is to guard the Sands of Time from running out. Whatever happens in the eternal world is reflected in reality in some way or the other and vice-versa. This affects the Sands of Time. If the times change too fast in reality, the faster the sands of time run and if the sands run out it would wipe out the mankind and result in changing of Age i.e. hasten the advent of the ice-age. Every thing is fine until Maya and her friend Lev, stumble upon an ancient conspiracy—the Ai’diyar Prophecy, a secret predicting the end of the two worlds. According to the prophecy the Warriors of Shadow, the Sayadins would try destroying the Sands of Time and a hidden key of chaos gives untold power to the shadows. Maya’s endeavour to hinder the key from falling in the hands of shadows unravels strange mystery about Maya herself and the perils she’ll face later. Her accidental entry into the secret place where the Sayadins hold a meeting, fatal assault on Lev, sudden disappearance of Yazid and his watcher Kilyana, set the action rolling. Noah, Maya, Lev, Chiyo, Lev’s watcher gird up their loins to fight the sayadins. The end is action packed following fierce encounters that reveal that Lev is a person with an ability to thwart the evil designs of the Shadows. In the end, Maya is able to break the illusion and enter the cave that treasures the key. Defeating Kilyana and Yazid, the Shadows, she gets the key, a dagger—the key of chaos. The reader is startled by the sudden twist in the story. That the key had not harmed Maya grips her by awe. The grim reality dawns on her that she is a shadow. The novel ends with Noah’s pragmatic advice to her to wield the power positively, to save the two worlds, fighting the prophecy. The reference to 9/11 and tsunami gives the novel a realistic touch. The book carries three pages of Dhar’s thrilling sequel to the present work, The Key Of Chaos containing Maya and Noah’s adventures. The narrative offers new insights exploring the psycho-dynamics of human nature. Dhar writes backed with a moral point of view interpreting both action and failure in terms of good and evil. Her psychological strength, intellectual depth, complexity, stylistic originality, humanist approach makes the book a must read.
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