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Book Review : Time Crawlers

Book Title: Time Crawlers: Stories from Parallel Universes Author : Varun Sayal ISBN : --- Publisher : --- Genre : Science Fiction  Publication : 2018 Pages : 118 Format : E-book BOOK BLURB: Alien Invasion, Dark Artificial Intelligence, Time-Travel, High-Tech Mythology, Djinn Folklore, Telekinetics, and life-consuming Cosmic Entities are some major themes in this book which has six tightly-knit, fast-paced Sci-Fi stories. 1. Nark-astra, The Hell Weapon The weapons he possesses make him the destroyer of worlds, and he burns for revenge. A high-tech take on ancient Indian mythology. 2. Death by Crowd The dark desires of the masses; darknet websites fueled by a crypto-currency. What lurks in the background – an advanced artificial intelligence? 3. Genie He rubbed a lamp alright, but what he got was the shock of his life. An entirely sci-fi take on the djinn myth. 4. Time Crawlers There are individuals who existing in multiple time periods at on

Book Review : Glitter and Gloss

Book Title: Glitter and Gloss Author : Vibha Batra ISBN :  9789385936364 Publisher : Bloomsbury Genre : Romantic Comedy Publication : 2016 Pages : 184 Format : E-book BOOK BLURB: Misha is a make up artist who, after a series of mishaps and twists and turns, falls madly in love with Akshay who reciprocates her love with ardour. The only hitch in this perfect romance is her prospective sister-in-law who thinks Misha is everything a Bahu shouldn’t be: garrulous, geeky, gawky, gainfully employed (especially the last bit). The questions is will Misha win Didi (and the Kha-Pee Panchayat) over with her Stepford Wife Act? Will she continue to be the poster child for the inherent evils of the Bahu Brigade? Or will she learn to ‘lau’ herself before the whole world and its wife can do the same? RATING: 3  ☆'s REVIEW: First of I would like to thank the author for the review copy in exchange for an honest review and would also like to extend my gratitude

Book Review : Inkredia

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : Inkredia: Luwan of Brida Author : Sarang Mahajan ISBN :  9788193365809 Publisher : Gloryburg Genre : Fantasy  Publication : 2017 Pages : 388 Format : E-book BOOK BLURB: In Fal Doram, also called as the great empire of Inkredia, a conspiracy begins to unfold. The first step is an easy one – kill a simple, villager named Luwan. When Luwan suddenly faces an enemy straight out of the folklore, he is left dumbfounded by the mystery why they are after him. As he makes a daring run to survive, journeying through the unknown world outside his village, new mysteries emerge, some closely concerning him. Riddled with questions and hunted by legendary assassins, and by the nonhumans made of the darkest element in the nature, Luwan makes a dangerous journey through the incredible empire of Inkredia. RATING: 5  ☆'s REVIEW: First of I would like to thank the publishers for the review copy in exchange for an honest review

Book Review : Some Very Dignified Disclosures

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : Some Very Dignified Disclosures Author : Anumita Sharma ISBN :  9789387849068 Publisher : Pratishthaa Films and Media   Genre : General Fiction Publication : 2018 Pages : 253 Format : Paperback BOOK BLURB: It is an ordinary summer evening in a remote village near India and Nepal border; Roli’s mother and grandmother are quarrelling beside the well of their dilapidated feudal mansion. Roli is lurking in the courtyard; no one from her joint-family pays attention, and suddenly her father appears and clasps his wife’s throat. Roli watches in horror and envisions her mother’s spirit releasing from the dead body. Her future gets haunted by the twin spectre - mother’s ghost and father’s crime. The narrative moves to a small town, in the large household of a village acquaintance, where Roli shifts for higher studies, and encounters various fascinating lodgers, including an eccentric priest, who collects sundry items on streets to co

Book Review : The Girl In The Tower

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : The Girl In The Tower Author : Katherine Arden ISBN : 9781785031069 Publisher : Del Rey (Penguin) Genre : Fantasy / Russian Fairytale Retelling Publication : 2017 Pages : 363 Format : Hardback  BOOK BLURB: The magical adventure begun in  The Bear and the Nightingale  continues as brave Vasya, now a young woman, is forced to choose between marriage or life in a convent and instead flees her home—but soon finds herself called upon to help defend the city of Moscow when it comes under siege. Orphaned and cast out as a witch by her village, Vasya’s options are few: resign herself to life in a convent, or allow her older sister to make her a match with a Moscovite prince. Both doom her to life in a tower, cut off from the vast world she longs to explore. So instead she chooses adventure, disguising herself as a boy and riding her horse into the woods. When a battle with some bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside earns her

Book Review : The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Author : Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows ISBN :  Publisher : Dial Press Genre : Historical Fiction  Publication : 2008 Pages : 277 Format : E-book BOOK BLURB: January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb…. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers t

Book Review : Remnants of Separation

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : Remnants of Separation Author : Aanchal Malhotra ISBN :  9789352770120 Publisher : Harper Collins Genre : Society / Non-fiction  Publication : 2017 Pages : 400 Format : Hardback BOOK BLURB: SEVENTY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE PARTITION, and a momentous event now recedes in memory. Generations have grown up outside the shadow of the communal killings and mass displacement that shaped the contemporary history of the subcontinent. Despite being born into a family affected by the Divide, artist and oral historian Aanchal Malhotra too had thought little about the Partition until she encountered objects that had once belonged to her ancestors in an Undivided India. A gaz, a ghara, a maang-tikka, a pocketknife, a peacock-shaped bracelet, and a set of kitchen utensils: these were what accompanied her great-grandparents as they fled their homes, and through them she learnt of their migration and life before the Divide. This led her to sea

Book Review : Homegoing

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : Homegoing Author : Yaa Gyasi ISBN :  9780241242728 Publisher : Viking Genre : Semi-Autobiography / Fiction Publication : 2017 Pages : 320 Format : Hardback BOOK BLURB: Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself. RATING: 5 ☆'s REVIEW: Sometimes you feel a draw towards a particular book without knowing anything about it or knowing why it is calling out to you - that is what homegoing was for me... I

Book Review : The Serpent's Revenge

BOOK DETAILS: Book Title : The Serpent's Revenge Author : Sudha Murthy ISBN : 9780143427858 Publisher : Penguin Genre : Mythology Publication : 2016 Pages : 200 Format : Paperback BOOK BLURB: How many names does Arjuna have? Why was Yama cursed? What lesson did a little mongoose teach Yudhisthira? The Kurukshetra war, fought between the Kauravas and the Pandavas and which forced even the gods to take sides, may be well known, but there are innumerable stories set before, after and during the war that lend the Mahabharata its many varied shades and are largely unheard of. Award-winning author Sudha Murty reintroduces the fascinating world of India s greatest epic through the extraordinary tales in this collection, each of which is sure to fill you with a sense of wonder and bewilderment. RATING: 2 ☆'s REVIEW: I have always been a fan of Sudha Murthy's works - her writing is so simple, yet it touches upon the deepest fibres of your soul..