Author: Indu Sundaresan
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Publish Date: October 8, 2013
Source: I received a copy from the publisher; however, this did not affect my review.
Why You're Reading This Book:
- You're a historical fiction fan.
- You love armchair traveling.
From Goodreads.com: "As empires rose and fell and mighty kings jostled for power, its glittering radiance never dimmed. It is the “Mountain of Light”—the Kohinoor diamond—and its facets reflect a sweeping story of love, adventure, conquest and betrayal. Its origins are the stuff of myth, but for centuries this spectacular gem changes hands from one ruler to another in India, Persia, and Afghanistan. In 1850, the ancient stone is sent halfway around the world where it will play a pivotal role in the intertwined destinies of a boy-king of India and a young queen of England—a queen who claims the Mountain of Light and India itself for her own burgeoning empire, the most brilliant jewels in her imperial crown.
The Mountain of Light is a magnificent story of loss and recovery, sweeping change and enduring truth, wrapped around the glowing heart of one of the world’s most famous diamonds."
My Two Cents:
"The Mountain of Light" is the story of the Kohnihoor diamond, which was once considered the largest diamond in the world. The book follows the diamond's movement from India to England and shows how it affects the lives of those that come into contact with it. This is a fascinating historical fiction about a famous stone and has some really fantastic settings that will appeal to my fellow armchair travelers!
The settings were the best part of the book for me. I absolutely love armchair traveling so I was very excited for this book because of that. I've been loving historical fiction set in Asia for awhile now so I was happy to get back to it. Sundaresan really did a good job with bringing the setting to life for me.
Because this is really a historical fiction centering on an item and following that item for almost 300 years, I was a little bit out at sea with this book. I usually prefer my novels character driven. The diamond is really the constant throughout this book, which I'm not sure I liked. It was interesting learning about the different rulers and people that came into contact with the diamond but I found myself wanting to know more about them than the diamond. Nonetheless, the "mountain of light" has had a fascinating history and I did enjoy learning a little bit more about it.
I read this myself last week and enjoyed it. Have you read this author's other books. It may give you a more closer touch with the characters of the Moghul dynasty.
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