I had the chance to read “Yavana Rani” again. I am sure I must have read this book atleast four times starting from my X standard vacation. But every time I read, I find it as an interesting novel, a great story based on a real war and enjoy it immensely. Infact, I would go as far to say that this was Sandilyan's masterpiece.
Yavana Rani is about how Karikala Chozhan fought and won the battle of Venni (the place where the battle was fought) crushing both Pandya & Chera kings (the two big Kings who ruled South India during that time) to regain his rightful throne. But the story revolves around a fictional character of Illanchezhiyan, leader of a small army and how he helps the King in this great war.
It is published in two parts and is nearly 1280 pages long but to author credit it has to be said that he writes it in a very interesting way that we crave for more. Ofcourse, sometimes The author gets into lengthy descriptions and narrations about nature and physical features of women, especially when we eagerly look forward with bated breath to see how events unfold. Also, in certain cases, he ends a chapter with a very important knot but the knot is revealed only after a couple of chapters testing our patience.