‘TRUST NO ONE’. ALEX RUTHERFORD’S YET ANOTHER SIZZLING NOVEL BEGINS WITH THIS SENTENCE. BROTHER HAS FOUGHT BROTHER AND SON HAS FOUGHT FATHER FOR THE COVETED THRONE. THE TAINTED THRONE IS THE FOURTH INSTALLMENT OF THE SERIES- EMPIRE OF THE MOGHULS.
THE PLOT OPENS WITH PRINCE SALIM WHO ASCENDS THE THRONE AFTER HIS FATHER’S DEATH AND BECOMES THE NEWLY-CROWNED FOURTH MUGHAL( ALSO ANGLICIZED AS MOGUL OR MOGHUL ) EMPEROR, JEHANGIR. PRINCE SALIM OR THE MIGHTY EMPEROR JEHANGIR RULES OVER A GIGANTIC HINDUSTAN(INDIA) OF THE 17TH CENTURY WHICH COMPRISED OF THE VAST, FECUND LANDS OF THE MODERN-DAY PAKISTAN, PARTS OF AFGHANISTAN AND BANGLADESH AND ALSO OVER A MILLION LIVES. THE STORY FOCUSES ON JEHANGIR’S REIGN, HIS COMBINATION OF BRAIN AND BRAWN AND HIS AVAILABLE WITS IN MATTERS OF JUSTICE. THE PLOT CONTINUES WELL THROUGHOUT, GIVING APPROPRIATE RUSTIC DESCRIPTIONS WHICH DEPICTS THE COMMON AS WELL AS THE MAJESTIC LIVES OF THE 17TH CENTURY BUT BECOMES MORE INTRIGUING WITH THE ENTRY OF HIS HEARTTHROB, MEHERUNNISA. MEHERUNNISA OR THE LATER NOOR JEHAN, BECOMES THE ENLIGHTER OF HIS LIFE AND WORLD(SHE WAS HENCE GIVEN THE TWO TITLES OF NOOR JEHAN AND NOOR MEHAL) AS SHE CHOOSES TO BE HIS TWENTIETH WIFE. NOOR JEHAN SEEMS TO BE A SHREWD AND CUNNING WOMAN, WHO SEEMS TO LOVE LUST AND POWER MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD.
THE NOVEL IS PACKED WITH THRILLS AND CHILLS, AS SOME BLOODY, RUTHLESS WAR OR SOME SUSPENSE UNFOLDS AT EVERY CHAPTER MAKING THE PLOT MORE MEATIER. DIFFICULT TO POINT OUT THE MAJOR DRAWBACKS EXCEPT FOR SOME VIVID AND LENGTHY DESCRIPTIONS AT PLACES, THIS NOVEL MANAGES TO RETAIN THE ROYAL AND MAJESTIC CHARM OF THE PRE-COLONIAL BYGONE MUGHALS, THE DESCENDANTS OF THE MIGHTY TAMBURLAINE AND GENJHIS KHAN OF MOMGOLIA. THE NOVEL ALSO MENTIONS OF SOME OF THE ROYAL FAMILY’S ACQUAINTANCES WHO SEEM TO HAVE BEEN FORGOTTEN BY THE PEOPLE OF TODAY. NEVERTHELESS, IN ONE WORD, THE NOVEL IS SIMPLY ‘MAGNANIMOUS’ IN EVERY SENSE.