Rafflesia: The Banished Princess | Gautam | Book Review

Rafflesia: The Banished PrincessPLOT: 3/5
CHARACTERS: 3.5/5
WRITING STYLE: 4/5
CLIMAX: 2.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5

When I sat down to read “Rafflesia: The Banished Princess”, I expected the story of a young man interspersed with a lot of fantasy fiction elements.

But what this book offered was something entirely different.

Though the book is a decent read, I found the cover and the blurb a little deceiving as it paints a very different picture of the book at the outset.

I will not delve deeper into what is it that the book exactly offers (for the sake of refraining from spoilers) but it is safe to say that the blurb and the cover do not reflect what lays inside the book.

“Rafflesia: The Banished Princess” tell us the story of Appu (Apurva Sharma) and his life.

Appu, as a child, received two books as gifts, which had a profound influence on him. Rafflesia was one of the books and Appu cherished it as a prized possession.

Appu is a simple man who grew up amidst much poverty and humility and that shaped him a lot as an adult.

He is a socially awkward guy who doesn’t converse much with people and lives in his own world.

He also seeks solace in the company of his closed ones – his mother Trina, his dad Aabir, his beloved Thamma, childhood friend Rahul and in the delightful world of his favourite fantasy character Rafflesia.

Moving onto the review, this book will stay with you for a long time.

The book is like an intense and perpetual drama that unfolds rather slowly for an average reader.

The lack of pace in the way the story moves is more than compensated by Gautam’s exceptional writing skills. It is really surprising to know that the book is his debut venture.

The author writes in a way which belies his writing experience and that is indeed a commendable thing.

The plot is non-existent though and the story slugs in a rather random manner.

The book is more like a collection of events from Appu’s life than an actual story. This is a sad thing because Gautam’s writing has much more potential than that.

I would have loved it if more effort had been put into planning the plot in a better way.

The characters surprised me too but in a good way.

The protagonist Appu does not comes across as a strong character. He is the exact opposite of what usually all main characters (in most books) are like – shy, timid, reserved, insecure, socially awkward and forgettable.

And yet it is his character which stays with the reader for a long time. I liked the way in which Gautam has taken an ordinary man and woven the story around him.

This increases the scope of fiction writing in a much broader way. Making a central character out of an ordinary individual and doing so in such a beautiful way is what made this book a special read to me.

The writing style as already stated is an exceptional one and I am sure given more time and experience, Gautam’s writing will flourish and bloom. I am already a fan.

The only thing which could have worked in my favour in this regard was the pace of the story. After the initial hundred pages, the story seemed dragged and too slow for my taste.

The climax too was a bit disappointing for me. It left a lot to the reader’s imagination.

After investing so many hours reading someone’s story it is only fair that you get to see the end but the end in this case never came.

The climax was an open book, subject to interpretation and imagination and that did not work for me.

Right until the end of the book, I had this lingering feeling that something might be coming but that did not happen either.

Nothing profound happened or was revealed and that is what put me off as a reader.

Overall, “Rafflesia: The Banished Princess” is a decent one time read.

There is a lot of beauty in the author’s writing and that alone gives me enough reason to recommend this book to my readers.

This book will especially appeal to people who like slow, passionate, intense and maybe melancholy reads.

To people who think this book has anything to do with fantasy, I must warn you right away that it is not the case.

I end this review by rating “Rafflesia: The Banished Princess” 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Buy your copy at the link below.

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