PLOT: 4/5 CHARACTER: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 The prologue to The Dravidian opens with a scene from the Ramayana when Hanuman is worried about saving Laxman’s life and goes to Upa Vaidya in Lanka. He gives Hanuman a tonic that helps save Laxman’s life. Indebted to Hanuman for his prompt […]
The Sacred Sword | Hindol Sengupta | Book Review
PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 3.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 A little babbling History is one of my favourite subjects and consequently, I love reading historical thrillers when it comes to fiction books. My craving for historical fiction books is such that I gobble one or two such books every month. “The Sacred […]
Last Train to Istanbul | Ayse Kulin | Book Review
PLOT: 4/5 CHARACTERS: 4.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5 A few musings I love reading in the night time. There is something extraordinary in the kind of solace I find in this peaceful combination – the darkness of midnight, my Kindle Paperwhite, the subtle snoring of my daughter, the mild noise emanating […]
A Time to Burnish | Radhika Nathan | Book Review
PLOT: 4/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 CLIMAX: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 Historical thrillers have a peculiar charm to them. Not only do they give you a historical perspective and information about the past, but there is also a certain thrill in the anticipation that something built or written hundreds of years ago can still […]
Songs of Stone | Sujata S. Sabnis | Book Review
PLOT: 4.5/5 CHARACTERS: 5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4.5/5 CLIMAX: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5 Close your eyes and think about these two words – monument and eternal love. If you are somebody from India (though I believe it will be true for most people around the world too), I am sure that the first thing which comes […]
China Dolls | Lisa See | Book Review
PLOT: 4.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 4/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5 Lisa See is an American writer and novelist who has to her credit a number of bestsellers including Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, Dragon Bones, Dreams of Joy and “China Dolls”. I came across this book while […]
Simian Vol #1 | Vikram Balagopal | Book Review
STORY: 4/5 THEME: 4.5/5 ILLUSTRATIONS: 4.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5 Comic-Con India was inaugurated in India in the year 2011 and has since gained wide acceptance and popularity countrywide. It was in the year 2014 that the book “Simian” won the award for the best graphic novel published in that year. Of an intriguing name and […]
Queen of Ice | Devika Rangachari | Book Review
PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 Queen of Ice by Devika Rangachari is a book based on the real story of a 10th century Kashmiri Queen. She finds mention in the famous “Rajatarangini” written by Kalhana. “Didda” as she was known to one and all was born into the […]
The Lincoln Myth | Steve Berry | Book Review
PLOT: 4/5 CHARACTERS: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3.5/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4/5 Historical fiction is a lot of fun to read, especially when it is from authors who do their research and try to keep the historical facts as straight as they can. When they do play hard and fast with facts, it would be […]
Past Encounters | Davina Blake | Book Review
PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 4/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 I haven’t read many books on the holocaust, so every now and then when I come across one, I get really excited to read it. Even though I haven’t lived the history myself, I somehow feel nostalgic reading it, that somehow my reading […]
Far Beyond the Dead End | Saikat Baksi | Book Review
PLOT: 3.5/5 CHARACTERS: 3/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 3/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5 As Indians, we are all proud of the fact that our motherland has been the home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations; the Indus Valley civilization. The fact that what had made the whole civilization vanish from the Earth without a trace […]
The Emperor’s Riddles | Satyarth Nayak | Book Review
PLOT: 3/5 CHARACTERS: 2.5/5 WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5 CLIMAX: 4/5 ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3/5 The contribution of ancient Indians to the development of various sciences is substantial. Aryabhatta invented zero and gave us the modern number system. Over 2600 years ago, Sushruta conducted surgeries like cataract, fractures, and brain surgeries. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by earth […]