Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Review: Aqson Level I

Aqson Level I Aqson Level I by Sreejib
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Truth is, THIS IS THE BEST FANTASY BOOK I HAVE ENCOUNTERED THIS YEAR.


Fantasy at its pinnacle!
I want to recommend this book to everyone!

There were so many "I-didn't-see-that-coming" moments!!

Being a true fan of Greek Mythology, I salute the author's imagination for putting it up with India's current politics scenarios and making an engaging, delightful and thrilling ride!

Concept is incredibly unique and refreshing, something you will not see occasionally.

India's Prime Minister's seat is in bait for Team Lucifer and Team God that they have to gain in 30 years.

Now, how a game can be played for that long? My questions were the same and it was answered with full satisfaction.
Not at one point in the book did I feel anything out of place. Each and every character befriends you. You see their journey, their insecurities, feel their power and why they need to win and only win!

I appreciated everything about how some students from nowhere, made their name in Indian Student Politics.

The part when Yuvrani visits the mind of her fellow mates!
Well, that was something I bet you would not have read such a thing before.

The language is sharp, inspiring and to the point. The moment you read the first few paragraphs, the book starts captivating you, leaving you no option but to complete it, right then, right there.

Soon you face the dilemma of whose side to choose?

Should it be Yuvrani, who has already won your heart and mind since the beginning of the book, being smart and aware of her powers, quality and that she can move mountains or will it be Toya, who is timid, talented yet refuses to accept her identity or not both of them?

Do you really have a choice of not taking sides?
What are you to do then?

The ending leaves you with many questions unanswered, with an eagerness of waiting for its second part to publish, that shows the level of thought put up in writing this heartwarming book.

This is a book that India needed!

The best thing you'll like about Aqson Level I is the title of the chapters! (Read the book, Come back to this line and tell me you didn't smile!)
I'm in loss of adjectives to describe the awesomeness of Aqson Level I.

When Toya decides to write someday about his friends, about how things turned up for her, it got me emotional.

Kudos to the writer for such an amazing book!

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Monday, October 10, 2016

Review: Ben Jackson

Ben Jackson Ben Jackson by Amanda Linehan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amanda, oh Amanda.

You delivered a sucker-punch!


And in 31 crisp pages.



Let's begin with the cover .



With the blooshot stains sprawled over the wall, this has to catch your attention no matter how many books of the mystery genre you have stacked in your library.

Plot :

Imagine waking up on a Saturday, thinking it was a Friday. Only that it wasn't. jim Conors somehow manages to loose up an entire day of his life and he has count how it happened.

You can steal someone's day?!

Character Potrayal :

To add more to that he is portrayed as a fidgety and meek balding man. His manners when he comes up face to face is outstandingly carved out by the author.
He has to undergo the arduous task of expressing his sorrow to the grieving family of his business associate.
Yes, that guy had an accident.

And it happened on the Friday that never was Jim's.

The man behind it all, our antagonist has a mystery buried deep in his past. He is not what he shows the world he is. His is a character, I would pay to watch, if enacted in a movie.

The guy who was murdered (and not died of accident) wasn't either what the world knew him to be.

PHEW!

I had it enough; talking in insinuations and managing not to give out the story to you.



Amanda gave me a tough time as a book reviewer. My unassailable streak of not giving in the suspense was under threat.



Verdict A mystery so intriguing and well woven that I have no qualms before pasting 4 brilliant stars on this book.


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Sunday, October 9, 2016

Review: The Yard

The Yard The Yard by Aliyyah Eniath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A jewel to the Literary World!

Book of The Month | October of 2016

Sit back. Relax. Take The Yard in your hands. For some time in your life, Aliyyah will bring uncontrollable tears and bewilder you with her writing.

Some novels have the tendency that they play Quidditch with your emotions, giving unsettling, disturbing feelings to your soul and heart, then giggle back at you because

They. Have. Played. Well!

Aliyyah Eniath does the very same!

A novel that mends your heart, just to break it again and see you bleed ruthlessly.

Set in Trinidad, recounts a heart breaking tale of Behrooz, Sara, Maya and her family. The intricate complexity of human nature and behavior is knitted to perfection.



During the whole episode of Maya, Sara and Behrooz, I felt perturbation and agitation contemplating 'what heart shattering thing it will throw at me now!'

The flaw in the characters, their mannerism, perspective, thought process, redemption, regrets, unrestrained fears, rampant melancholy and evocative memories - all of that galvanized me.


He sat, smiling from ear to ear, on the sand, with a sand dollar in his hands. The image was captured on their first visit to Mayaro beach when he was two years old. His happiness seemed to jump out of the picture and infect anyone who looked at it.

The gravity of these lines brought overwhelming grief to the soul of the reader in me.

Aliyyah's steel hard determination and hard work of 5 years is visible, audible and heart-penetrative in this expressive and powerful piece of work.



In mere 272 pages, she made my eyes moisturized.
My tears struggled to come out or go in and dry just there, they didn't know what to do!

The Yard broke my heart many times and each time, it did so, so beautifully.
And I smiled at every shattering sound. Only because it was heard within me and nowhere else.

An aesthetic cover fits the story, making you halt and admire its unsung glory for a while.

Coming to the end,



Verdict : Book of the month indeed...! 5 glorious stars to Alliyah.


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Review: The Yard

The Yard The Yard by Aliyyah Eniath
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A jewel to the Literary World!

Book of The Month | October of 2016

Sit back. Relax. Take The Yard in your hands. For some time in your life, Aliyyah will bring uncontrollable tears and bewilder you with her writing.

Some novels have the tendency that they play Quidditch with your emotions, giving unsettling, disturbing feelings to your soul and heart, then giggle back at you because

They. Have. Played. Well!

Aliyyah Eniath does the very same!

A novel that mends your heart, just to break it again and see you bleed ruthlessly.

Set in Trinidad, recounts a heart breaking tale of Behrooz, Sara, Maya and her family. The intricate complexity of human nature and behavior is knitted to perfection.



During the whole episode of Maya, Sara and Behrooz, I felt perturbation and agitation contemplating 'what heart shattering thing it will throw at me now!'

The flaw in the characters, their mannerism, perspective, thought process, redemption, regrets, unrestrained fears, rampant melancholy and evocative memories - all of that galvanized me.


He sat, smiling from ear to ear, on the sand, with a sand dollar in his hands. The image was captured on their first visit to Mayaro beach when he was two years old. His happiness seemed to jump out of the picture and infect anyone who looked at it.

The gravity of these lines brought overwhelming grief to the soul of the reader in me.

Aliyyah's steel hard determination and hard work of 5 years is visible, audible and heart-penetrative in this expressive and powerful piece of work.



In mere 272 pages, she made my eyes moisturized.
My tears struggled to come out or go in and dry just there, they didn't know what to do!

The Yard broke my heart many times and each time, it did so, so beautifully.
And I smiled at every shattering sound. Only because it was heard within me and nowhere else.

An aesthetic cover fits the story, making you halt and admire its unsung glory for a while.

Coming to the end,



Verdict : Book of the month indeed...! 5 glorious stars to Alliyah.


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Review: She: Ekla Cholo Re

She: Ekla Cholo Re She: Ekla Cholo Re by Santosh Avvannavar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Received this book by the author for an honest review. And so it is. Honest.

A short and good one.

HITS. ITS. MARK.

She is a story of one's identity in the society. What is a society after all?
A collection of people with varied ideologies living in harmony.


Only that it is far from true for humans. We have over processed our thoughts and drawn conclusions that the makers of laws would never have imagined.

Love and compassion is the basis of every flourishing community. We accept all and embrace all.
Or we used to.

There are more lines that divide us rather than uniting. On caste, creed, gender, race, ideologies, football clubs, types of colors we have on our walls and what not!

She: Ekla Cholo Re is one such story of a transgender who struggles to get a foothold in the frameworks of the social customs. She shares a ride with a stranger and pours her pain out to him - and to us, readers. That ostracization is the correct word for the glimpses people give her. Her pain and suffering that even her parents failed to comprehend. Loved ones' separation. Rukhsat!

She is a strong lady that self motivates herself from the ashes with the help of a guiding light of an author. His books make her come out and face the dawn. And the shame that was never hers to bear.


Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe
Ekla Cholo Re

If no one follows you,
oh my dear soul,
Walk alone.

Walk alone on the path,
That you think is correct.

Because it very well is.


The denouement is something that made me smile ear-to-ear.

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Friday, October 7, 2016

Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But some books just swallow you up, heart and soul.

Very truly so.

Penning a review for this book is hard, so is the book itself. Complex and intricately sewn together.
No, I am not revealing the plot to you, dear wife. All I am saying is that this is a different work altogether. And a very, very fine one indeed.

The story weaves childhood memories and nightmares, beliefs and myths into one fragment after another, until the fabric is tight enough to hold the weight of interdependence. A child who knows a lot. Someone who knows that he knows things that his parents don't know he knows.

The fears are as vivid as it can be our owns. Mr. Gaiman captures the feeble nature of childhood perfectly in this work.

He confessed that he actually meant it to be a short story that got out of control.
Interestingly so, the author attributes the motivation for writing this masterpiece to deal with a 4 month separation from his wife.

The result was a thoroughly engaging and majestically laced novel. An ocean of feelings.

Told you, this is the hardest book to be reviewed I have read this year.
So, I will let that be the end.

A perfect glittering 5 stars!

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Review: The Third Wheel

The Third Wheel The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

AND I'm done!

This one, the seventh in the last 20 days says some things.

First : Jeff Kinney is a total ROCKSTAR . He has mastered the art of writing great episodes one after the other.

Second : I am a lifetime fan. No proofs needed.

Third : There's always something or the other thing trolling Greg. I can assure you that no square inch of the book turned out as boring. None.

Fourth : The third wheel or the stepney, your life never fails to get hold of the funny bone. May true love bless you in the future editions. *Amen*

Uncle Gary is the star! A total kickass character.

The chicken pox fear stifling Mr. Greg Heffley was represented like a pro. The end is hilariously fine tuned.

So fine tuned that you're just counting days for the next novel to hit the stores. Guess this is what will happen to me when my GR counter hits the 10th book of this series.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid, You Beauty !!

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Books!

Archit's best books

Riding
Harables: Short Stories 1
Keeping The Promises
The Trip
She: Ekla Cholo Re
Aqson Level I
The Dying Dance
The Arrival
No Safe Zone
The Yorkshire Biryani
How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You
Scarlet Nights
The BNO
Yama's Lieutenant
Monkeys, Motorcycles, and Misadventures
Coinman: An Untold Conspiracy
Mr Bean In Town
Ines' Words
Diary of a Minecraft Alex #2
Diary of a Minecraft Alex #1


Archit Ojha's favorite books »