This is his best work according to me. This book takes place in the great Karikala Chozan's period. Ilanchezhiyan, a Choza chief commander is the hero of this novel.
The main characters in this book are Ilanchezhiyan (hero), Hippalaas (Greek soldier under Ilanchezhiyan), Brahmananda (a monk who helps the hero), Yavana Rani, Poovazhagi (Ilanchezhiyan's lover), Karikala Chozan.
Sandilayan doesn't take much time to get into the story. The story starts right from the first page, where Ilanchezian finds Yavana Rani at the seashore of Poompuhar, which was Choza's fort once. His life changes completely from that point. Tiberius, a Yavana leader, who plans to bring Poompuhar in his control and rule under this Yavana Rani is the main antagonist. He is as good as Ilanchezhiyan. Ilanchezhiyan escapes from Greek soldiers by taking the Yavani Rani as his hostage, imagine that scene from Gillli :). And, he runs and runs and runs, the story too moves as fast as it could.
This story travels to Arabia. Ilanchezian was poisoned and sent in a ship, we get to know about a king of that land and Ilanchezian is caught there with all other thieves. He manages to escape with the help of that king's adopted child. He comes back to Tamilnadu with that girl. Ilanchezian rescues Karikalan, Sandilyan also explains why he is called 'Kari'Kalan, must be fictional. Then, he plans for a big war against the Karikala Chozan enemies. He helps Karikala Chozan to get his throne. After that, he returns to Poompuhar to destroy Tiberius after almost some years.
This book is a must read for all those love historical fiction. This will be as good as Ponniyin Selvan, but shorter than it. It has many twist and turns and it never let the pace down at any point. You will get completely involved in the story and love Yavana Rani and Ilanchezhiyan.