The World’s Oldest, Most Powerful Secret Society is a thriller fantasy fiction written by author Anand Arungundram Mohan. The novel has a very distinct style that attracts the readers, mostly contemporary ones. It originates from an imagination that Anand has tried to conjure for his series of novels, The Journey Series. Focusing on The World’s Oldest, Most Powerful Secret Society, the novel is about a bunch of kids, 9 of them to be precise, who are growing up. One of them dies and the rest of them mourn the loss. Leela, however, proposes the idea of finding a certain Book of Power that has the methods (secrets, spells and other tools) to bring the dead back. The questions of interest are – will the kids get their friend Gopal back? Will the dead be alive? What is the Book of Power? What about the secret society? 

Anand Arungundram Mohan’s writing is a little perplexing in terms of storytelling. He has a great imagination that begins with the Kalinga battlefield where Ashoka is about to enter his renunciation after seeing blood and devastation brought by war. However, when the actual story begins with the present storyline at the centre, Anand couldn’t always hold his pieces together. Still, with whatever he musters, the novel centralises upon major characters among the 9 children. Before anyone further reads this review, the needs to know that Ashoka set-up a team of 9 highly qualified, intelligent and intellectual persons to form a secret society which has a duty of collecting the best possible knowledge from around the world and research on the topics like anti-gravity technology, finding and communicating with alien species in the universe, flying vehicles, devastating weapons etc. 

These 9 children are born the same day in Hyderabad, India. They grow up together and are in their early teens. Everything goes fine unless Gopal dies during a cricket match and the Nifty Nine of these children is left with 8 friends only. Leela faints by the series of events and in the hospital where she is being treated, she encounters an old man who reveals the secret of a certain Book of Power… from there, the novel turns to a rapid speed mode and these kids, after initial conundrum, make quite a scene with whatever they learn from this book. Yes, they acquire the book and how they manage to do it is for the readers to find out and amuse themselves. The bigger question that the author answers in an intriguing way is whether the kids find their dead friend and bring him back to life or not. 

I am impressed with the imaginative and creative prowess of the novelist. Without a doubt, he has been able to create a story that does not only fascinate the readers but also keeps them engaged for a while. However, the lack of a narrative that could feel the void between the depth and width of the theme and readers’ expectations from the storytelling is certainly something that takes away a little piece from the novel The World’s Oldest, Most Powerful Secret Society. Should it be a big deal for the readers? Yes, if you are a serious reader of contemporary English literature by Indian authors and look for the details. However, if you are just a reader who enjoys the book and its story rather than getting into the technical details, you will enjoy the book without being too bothered… 

The readers who want to read the book can get a copy from Amazon India by clicking the link below: 

Buy the book from Amazon India – click here 

review by a contributor to Egoistic Readers Book Reviews Blog