Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Indian Mythology, Science Fiction, Thriller

The Last Avatar (Age of Kalki #1) by Vishwas Mudagal

51V2Vd2Sc8L._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: HarperCollins India
  • Language: English
  • Buy here: Amazon

Blurb

In the not-so-distant future, India has fallen, and the world is on the brink of an apocalyptic war. An attack by the terrorist group Invisible Hand has brutally eliminated the Indian Prime Minister and the union cabinet. As a national emergency is declared, chaos, destruction and terror reign supreme. From the ashes of this falling world, rises an unconventional hero – a vigilante known only as Kalki. Backed by a secret society called The Rudras, Kalki, along with Nushen, the Chinese superhuman spy, must do the impossible to save his country, and the world. But who is Kalki? A flesh and blood crusader with a mysterious past? Or the Messiah the world has been waiting for? The future of human survival depends on a single man. Will he become the living God prophesied as the last avatar of Lord Vishnu, or will he fade away as an outlaw?

My take

Kalki is a topic which is overused over time by many prominent writers in India. Still, it is a good subject to let your imagination build on. Mainly because of the mythological and modern background of the character. That’s why this topic never goes off the style.

First things first. Iwas really intrigued by the cover of the book at first sight. The depiction of Kalki with the touch of Lord Hanuman wielding a mysterious but seemingly powerful weapon. The curiosity built by the cover alone deserves an honorable mention.

Coming to the story, this one has everything for every kind of readers. I was absolutely fascinated by the plot and sub-plots in the story. The subplots are the main highlight. Because the author has woven many stories in a single string and connected them well to build an absolutely massive plot. This plot holds together every character in the story. This is also a well-built foundation for his upcoming books in this series.

The world is on the edge of an apocalyptic war. An attack by the terrorist group Invisible Hand in the Indian parliament has eliminated the Prime Minister, Union ministry and cabinet. The national emergency is declared and the subsequent chaos paved the way for destruction and terror. From this total terror, an unconventional hero has risen who is know as The Kalki. The protagonist Kalki, who has a double life as Neel who leads the Astra Group which manufactures most modern technological types of equipment. He is backed by a secret society known as Rudras.

What is the intention of this terrorist group led by Master Zar and what is his hidden motive to attack Indian parliament in one go? Who is Kalki and what is his intention behind saving the world? Who is the secret society known as Rudras and are they have some hidden agenda?

There are many more questions are arising from each page of the story. Every page creates suspense. There are too many different characters and the imaginary world which the author bought to the reader is absolutely magical. This suspense along with twists and addressing the geopolitical situation of India and China, the author never leaves any stones unturned.

The protagonist has no flaws. He has superhuman strength and abilities makes him the reincarnation of God. But I felt the character of the villain is slightly underdeveloped. The strength of the villain has a huge part in making a hero.

Altogether, it is a very good story and worth your time. Every mythological-historical fiction reader ought to try this book.

Rating:4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Indian Mythology

Ashok and the Nine Unknown by Anshul Dupare

42929949._SY475_.jpg

Title – Ashok and the Nine unknown
Author – Anshul Dupare
Publisher – Rupa publishing
Genre – history/fiction
Pages – 224
Format – paperback

Ashok and the Nine unknown written by Anshul Dupare is a novel coming under the historical fiction genre. The beauty of historical fiction is they never lost the charm. Writing a story on the backdrop of a historical event defines the quality of a writer. Here the mystery of nine unknown is crafted on the life and rule of Ashoka.

The title and cover are beautifully designed to create mystery at the very first moment you hear about. I was curious to find out what really is the nine unknown. That drives me to read the story in a single stretch. The book is designed to be compact and that is another quality I liked most about this book.

Ashok, the King of Kings became devastated due to the aftermath of the Kalinga war. The death and destruction of war change him. He wants to rebuild everything and he decides to venture on a new path. The king then assembled nine prodigies from different fields to prevent him from wrongdoings and help him to restore peace and humanity in the country. This is the background and the challenges build on it in the rest of the story.

The language varies from simple to complex throughout the story. The author built the protagonist, Ashok very strong in the story. The character development was good throughout the plot. From beginning to end, this is a well-narrated story. The author keeps alive the mystery through the plot and subplots. That makes this book more enjoyable. Altogether, it is a good historical fiction which any reader can enjoy without any complications.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Thriller

Yes, I Met Maruti by Daxesh Trivedi

51C4S33VKAL.jpg

Book Title: Yes, I Met Maruti

Author: Daxesh Trivedi

Publisher: Blue Rose Publishers

Language: English

Blurb: Its a story of Jay Jani from Vadodara, who firmly believes in the power of imagination. During his graduation at the ms University of Vadodara, he falls in love with beautiful Preeti Chauhan. Things become interesting & surprising when Maruti, the God arrived in his dream, Jay asked Maruti that he wants to become a very famous & successful person, Maruti said yes but I will take something in return from you & Maruti disappeared. Jay started his MBA study in Rajkot, where he met gorgeous Deepika. Suddenly zoom tv announced a storytelling competition, where the winner will get an opportunity to work as an assistant director with the living legend Shyam Benegal sir. Jay participates in it. To find what actually happened with Jay Jani, read the entire book.

My Review

“Yes, I Met Maruti” is a story written inside a story. The first thing I noticed is the unique name of the book. Second is the cover and blurb. These things are perfectly designed to create curiosity about the story. The blurb itself makes every reader to immediately starts reading to find out what happened for Jay at the end.

As a reader, I always interested to find out new styles used in the storytelling. In this sense, the narration used in this story is quite good and innovated.
The story is essentially based on a wish most of us have, to meet God once and demand something important in our life. This may be the shortcut to happiness. But nothing comes easy and everything has its own prize. What will be that prize? This paves source for wildest imagination and became the backbone of the whole story.

I found this story as quite unique and I’m giving 4 stars for that “power of imagination” alone. Though the book contains numerous typographical mistakes, it narrates a good story amidst them. This clearly shows the potential of the author.

Overall this is a good read with a strong message at the end.

Rating: 4/5

Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Fiction, Indian Authors, Indian Mythology, Science Fiction

The Code Of Manavas: Beyond The Realm by Arpit Bakshi

512dOyPtlmL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_.jpgBlurb

“The earth and the human race as we knew it have ceased to exist.
Bhoomidium, discovered by Krishna, healed the unstable core of Bhoomi during the last apocalypse. It has transformed Man to Manavas and Kali-Yug into Swarnim-Yug.
The year is 2050.2.0000001 and the Manavas are divided into two states, Madhavpur and Ayudhpur.
Krishna sees another apocalypse around the corner and he has a way out – an alternate universe, which can be reached by travelling through Omechta realm.
Can he save his race this time?”

My review

The Code of Manavas: Beyond The Realm is the first book of the Maha Vishnu trilogy written by Arpit Bakshi. The plot of this book is crafted in the combination of two unlikely genres, Indian Mythology, and Science fiction. Often the stories written on these genres are perfect entertainers because it is very difficult to build a story compared to other genres. The difficulty is because it demands much more research and knowledge along with creativity. Also without good storytelling skills, the plot may slip away or become weak. This story is the best example of the fusion of these genres. The author has done a commendable job to create a story with a strong backbone.

I loved the plot very much purely because of its uniqueness. How often you can see the mythological characters blended in the science world?

The creativity of the author has to be mentioned. For the first 40 pages, the author took his time to explain the new world, he crafted. Then only the true struggle was started. This is very much an unlikely skill because often the story becomes weak because it will lack the details of the background at the beginning. This is carefully avoided by explaining the new world at first. Through this, the author can take the reader their present to the future which he created rather smoothly.

The cover is excellently designed giving the glimpse of the story. The characters are uniquely named after many prominent mythological characters such as Krishna, Raghav, Gopal, Meera, Mohan, Vasu, Shyam etc. This is a very unique thought that I found interesting. From the title, it is evident that this is a Maha Vishnu trilogy, so the author named the characters according to that.

Being the first book of a trilogy, this book has an important role. It has to set a stage for crafting the remaining two stories. The Code of Manavas leaves the reader in a cliffhanger giving a perfect opportunity to the remaining two books.

I like the science fiction genre because they always offer something new to learn along with a beautiful story. This story also never disappointed me on this.

Overall, this is a nice read and takes away the reader from our present to the future for some time.

Rating: 4.5/5

I received a copy of this book through the BOOK GENIE REVIEW PROGRAM.