Amina Thajudeen Book Review, Thriller

Divyastra by Nimish Tanna

 

43531831.jpgBook title: Divyastra

Author: Nimish Tanna

Publisher: Become Shakespeare

Blurb: Thousands of years ago, Indian Yogis possessed the knowledge to obtain the weapons of the gods. However, this knowledge could only be transferred from a Guru to his disciple by word of mouth. In today’s world, one mystic, who calls himself Guruji, still possesses this knowledge and is using it to empower an innocent person’s life. Only, this empowerment could be a deception and the innocent person is a thirteen year old boy with a stutter…

In this intertwining tale, an ambitious yet unsuccessful Shankar, in search of his identity, is manipulated to embark on a never-told-before fantasy tale; only to rediscover the father he never knew and unmask the mystical Guruji.

Amidst this confounding concoction of ancient myths, deluding personas and dispersed emotions, will Shankar ever be able to separate fact from fiction and find his true identity?

My review

5 star read

The combination and the story is unique and I’m experiencing this blend for the first time. The tale is based on the mythical period in the beginning. The story talks about the 10-11 different weapons or divyastras used in Hindu mythology. But when the story moves forward, the mythological genre slowly turns into sci-fi. The author has included the sci-fi touch very brilliantly in this tale. Because he justifies the characters of rishis who are not simply mythological but they actually experimented scientifically everything before believed. The story is a combination of emotions and knowledge. But the ending is a cliff-hanger. The author left some things unanswered. Maybe it will be good in that way.

The characters are developed in a manner to drive the story. I really liked Dr. Vyas character in the tale. His ways of explaining things with valid scientific points but infused with mythological references are a very interesting feature to note.

The best thing about this book is, it has an amazing plot but it is written in a simple way without any harder plot twists.  The blending of mythology was very good in the narration because in the halfway its signs totally vanish.  This is a perfect entertainment read because the touch of humor is unlikely in sci-fi or mythological genre books, but the author has incorporated it in the story excellently. The cover is catchy and unique. It is enough to generate curiosity about the story with a single look.

 

 

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

Captain Elephant: The Mystery of the Bomb by Aseem Mahajan

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Book title: Captain Elephant: The Mystery of the Bomb
Author: Aseem Mahajan
Publisher: Petals

Blurb

Mayas Tondlulu is born with a medical condition due to which his parents are extra careful with him. Mayas is precious and they did everything possible to make sure that his health would not suffer because of their carelessness. After living an overly protected life Mayas discovers that he has a special ability and his alter ego “Captain Elephant” is born, but he soon invites trouble for himself and is wanted by the police of Pinzoora city at the tender age of 10! At the same time the dreaded terrorist Popananda escapes from prison and threatens Pinzoora with a nuclear bomb. He warns people against leaving the town. The only clue he gives is a riddle that haunts everyone. Panic grips Pinzoora. Masks fall and hidden skeletons come out. During this adversity when everyone fails, it is upto Captain Elephant to face the ruthless Popananda and unravel the murky mystery that will change the history of mankind and Pinzoora forever. What is the meaning of the riddle? What is the dark mystery looming over Pinzoora?

My Review

The story revolves around the protagonist, Mayas, who was born in the small Indian island Pinzoora, with a physical disorder. Mayas were born with his heart placed at his rear. The story covers the incidents that Mayas has been facing in a certain time. Due to this special condition, Mayas has been restricted by his parents from his childhood. They are always determined to protect him from his condition. But all these restrictions are often mocked by his classmates from time to time. They are also quite jealous of his certain privileges. This makes Mayas to became independent in his life and to live his life according to his terms.

Suddenly he finds out that, his disorder is not a curse like he thinks in most of his life but a boon. Next thing, we saw is how a superhero is born and became useful to the entire city. Mayas, the Captain elephant with supernatural powers, proves his power when there’s a massive terrorist attack in his city Pinzoora.

I believe every children’s book ever written is also for all adults. Because there is always a child within our mind. I often pick up children’s book as a change of genre. In fact I’m quite fond of them. This book also never disappoints me. Because it is all that I expected from the cover, title, and blurb.

The plot is really unique, and the author made a really commendable approach in creating this. Because creating a superhero from nowhere needed a great extent of creativity. Also creating an absolute fiction background demands much more skill than writing in other genres.

The first part of the story revolves around describing the medical condition of Mayas and the difficulties he faces in school and everywhere. After the superhero is born, the story picks up pace and energy and describe the terrorist attack by the dreaded terrorist named Popananda, and how Captain Elephant has saved the city from the bomb attack.

There were a limited number of characters and the author builds every character beautifully. The narration is really good. The author also gives a touch of humor from time to time. This also makes the narration really interesting.

The climax was a little disappointed in nature because it was abrupt and lacks explanation at some points.

Altogether, this is a good superhero novel which is built excellently.

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.