Week 7 Reading Diary: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu

I will be reading The Five Tall Sons of Pandu, by Richard Wilson. This post will cover Part A. Link.

• This version of the Mahabharata seems to be a grander in scale, more like an epic tale than the public domain edition. I think this could be because of the fact that one author wrote the entire story. 
• The fighting between Karna and Arjuna feels tenser to me than the previous version. 

Arjuna, courtesy of Wikipedia

• The plan of denying Karna the hand of Draupadi based on his birth and then giving it to Arjuna disguised as a hermit seems poorly thought out. 
• Draupadi becoming the wife of Yudhishthira is an interesting change, but I think it will still breed the same amount of animosity between the brothers. 
• Beheading King Shishupala at the ceremony seemed rash. Killing another King when he was not attacking you seems to be a bad way to start a new kingdom. 
• I think the changes so far make the story better. They are more realistic, and and tension to the story. 
• The section where Duryodhana comes to mock the princes but ultimately needs their help was satisfying to read.
• I'm always glad to see Hanuman mentioned again in a story. The conclusion to part A feels like a cliffhanger, I want to see if anything is different about the battle in this version.