Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress review

Ash Mistry and the Savage Fortress
Sarwat Chadda
March 1st 2012
HarperCollins Children's Books

Ash Mistry hates India. Which is a problem since his uncle has brought him and his annoying younger sister Lucky there to take up a dream job with the mysterious Lord Savage. But Ash immediately suspects something is very wrong with the eccentric millionaire. 

Soon, Ash finds himself in a desperate battle to stop Savage's masterplan - the opening of the Iron Gates that have kept Ravana, the demon king, at bay for four millennia...

Breathtaking action adventure for 8 to 12-year-olds. Ash Mistry, reluctant hero, faces ancient demons...and comes into an astonishing, magical inheritance.

Varanasi: holy city of the Ganges.
In this land of ancient temples, incense and snake charmers...
Where the monsters and heroes of the past come to life...
One slightly geeky boy from our time...

IS GOING TO KICK THE DEMON HORDES BACK TO HELL.

Ash Mistry is, indeed, a book that kicks butt. In fact, I'm starting to worry myself a little that I keep on enjoying these books for 11 year old boys. I think I secretly am one. But not literally, obviously. Anyway, I really need to stop going into books like these thinking they won't be my thing, because most of the time they are. But I think most books are my thing really. Okay, I'll stop rambling now.


I'll be honest with you, I wasn't really expecting this book to be as serious as it was. Like, it still had funny bits, but it wasn't a really light-hearted book, and I liked that about it because it had a nice balance between the light and dark. And some parts of it I really just wasn't expecting to come from this sort of book at all. Though it did all add up a lot to Ash becoming the person he was at the end of the book, I felt like some of it didn't have the  impact that it should have. But it all worked out it the end! Kind of... ;)


I thought that Ash was a really great character, and there was a great amount of character development. It was really good to see him go from being a scrawny gamer pre-teen to a hero, and I liked how him being able to save the world came at a price. Also, yay for good sibling relationships! I really liked how even though he found his little sister annoying, he'd do anything to save her if she was in trouble, and that saving her was a big part of his motivation for saving the world. That was pretty adorable.


One of the best parts about the book, for me, was all of the mythology. I loved learning about all of the Indian culture and each time I picked it up I felt immersed in it all. Or maybe that was just because I rarely ever read books not set in America/England and therefore get over excited when a book is set somewhere else. But I did like that it was very much based on Indian culture (though it could've all been made up for all I know about Indian culture. Which is about zero.) and that all the demons and bad guys and good guys were from Indian mythology. I also thought the whole reincarnation thing was cool, and I really liked the few flashback scenes we got of one of Ash's past lives.


Ash Mistry is an awesome read about a 13 year old boy who does literally kick the demon hordes of India back to Hell, and it's totally worth you picking up for a read.