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175 reviews by:
byronic_reader
I got the book as a part of the review program in Outset.
This book is one of the best historical fictions I have ever read. This is a classic cat and mouse chase with a lot of palace intricacies and a spotlight to Gupta dynasty.
First of all hats off to the author for writing this book based on very less research material. Needless to say, the book is well researched and compiled. It amazes me to read the culture of ancient people and their lifestyle is woven with true facts.
The second reason why I recommend this book is, it is written with one of the unique backstories which give us insight to a different time period. The writing is flawless and the characters are well developed and relatable.
Another thing I liked about the book is its writing style and the plot. The author used the right words at the right time. As this book is a murder mystery, the suspense is alive till the end of the book. The author made the reader to bite nails in anticipation. I was guessing and second-guessing the characters linked with the murder.
Coming to the negatives, I didn't like the name of the book. I actually didn't think it went appropriate with the story but that is purely my point of view. Also, I felt at some places there were too many descriptions for my taste. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the book.
Overall, its a treat to read and I highly recommend this book for all the historical fiction and murder mystery lovers.
My Rating: 4.7/5
This book is one of the best historical fictions I have ever read. This is a classic cat and mouse chase with a lot of palace intricacies and a spotlight to Gupta dynasty.
First of all hats off to the author for writing this book based on very less research material. Needless to say, the book is well researched and compiled. It amazes me to read the culture of ancient people and their lifestyle is woven with true facts.
The second reason why I recommend this book is, it is written with one of the unique backstories which give us insight to a different time period. The writing is flawless and the characters are well developed and relatable.
Another thing I liked about the book is its writing style and the plot. The author used the right words at the right time. As this book is a murder mystery, the suspense is alive till the end of the book. The author made the reader to bite nails in anticipation. I was guessing and second-guessing the characters linked with the murder.
Coming to the negatives, I didn't like the name of the book. I actually didn't think it went appropriate with the story but that is purely my point of view. Also, I felt at some places there were too many descriptions for my taste. Apart from that, I really enjoyed the book.
Overall, its a treat to read and I highly recommend this book for all the historical fiction and murder mystery lovers.
My Rating: 4.7/5
Ashok and the nine unknown by Anshul Dupare
I liked the premise of the book. It starts from the aftermath of the Kalinga war. The book talks in detail about the destruction caused by the war and how people's lives are affected by it. The story is well versed and well researched. All the characters are well developed and a mixture of various mythology adds spice to the book.
I would recommend this one for all the historical fiction lovers.
My rating-4.5/5
I liked the premise of the book. It starts from the aftermath of the Kalinga war. The book talks in detail about the destruction caused by the war and how people's lives are affected by it. The story is well versed and well researched. All the characters are well developed and a mixture of various mythology adds spice to the book.
I would recommend this one for all the historical fiction lovers.
My rating-4.5/5
Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult
I always love the way Picoult crafts a story. She brings out the emotions and feelings of a woman perfectly. This book portrays motherhood.
Paige and Nicholas are two different individuals who fall in love. Their past constantly plays a role in their life and the struggles of it were beautifully portrayed.
When she gets pregnant, her past comes haunting her. She struggles with the memory of the unborn and aborted baby. She struggles with the memory of her mother who fled the house when she was barely 5.
When the baby borns, the constantly demanding baby and uncooperative husband drains her. There was a lot of inner conflicts and she battles it with grace.
This is a story of a normal woman who fights with baby blues. Though the story is a bit old-fashioned, the writing brings out the message. I recommend this book for every single woman.
My Review: 4/5
I always love the way Picoult crafts a story. She brings out the emotions and feelings of a woman perfectly. This book portrays motherhood.
Paige and Nicholas are two different individuals who fall in love. Their past constantly plays a role in their life and the struggles of it were beautifully portrayed.
When she gets pregnant, her past comes haunting her. She struggles with the memory of the unborn and aborted baby. She struggles with the memory of her mother who fled the house when she was barely 5.
When the baby borns, the constantly demanding baby and uncooperative husband drains her. There was a lot of inner conflicts and she battles it with grace.
This is a story of a normal woman who fights with baby blues. Though the story is a bit old-fashioned, the writing brings out the message. I recommend this book for every single woman.
My Review: 4/5
Sometimes, you pick up a book, bury your nose and you will lose yourself inside it. The Night Circus is one such book. This book is a fine piece of writing interlaced with magic. I got this book after reading it’s blurb.
After reading the blurb, I had different expectations and assumptions about this book. And when I started reading this one, I was lost in its intricacies. The magic in this book is not majestic like in epic fantasy books. The magic in this book is elegant and it’s like a fresh breath of air.
This book revolves around two characters who are competing against each other. But if you expect this competition like the dual in Harry Potter, then you are in for a surprise. The competition is supposed to happen at the circus and no one knows the rules or the winning criteria of it. The beauty of this book is its writing style.
The author rocked the book with many POVs. She has woven a love story with conflicting people. Also, the book is not in a linear timeline which can be a bit confusing. Apart from that, this is one sparkling prose with an unexpected ending.
Would I recommend this book?
Definitely to all fantasy lovers.
My Rating:
Character development-4.5/5
Plot development-5/5
Quality of writing-5/5
Pace of the story-3.5/5
Thought Provoking-4/5
Overall-4.4/5
After reading the blurb, I had different expectations and assumptions about this book. And when I started reading this one, I was lost in its intricacies. The magic in this book is not majestic like in epic fantasy books. The magic in this book is elegant and it’s like a fresh breath of air.
This book revolves around two characters who are competing against each other. But if you expect this competition like the dual in Harry Potter, then you are in for a surprise. The competition is supposed to happen at the circus and no one knows the rules or the winning criteria of it. The beauty of this book is its writing style.
The author rocked the book with many POVs. She has woven a love story with conflicting people. Also, the book is not in a linear timeline which can be a bit confusing. Apart from that, this is one sparkling prose with an unexpected ending.
Would I recommend this book?
Definitely to all fantasy lovers.
My Rating:
Character development-4.5/5
Plot development-5/5
Quality of writing-5/5
Pace of the story-3.5/5
Thought Provoking-4/5
Overall-4.4/5
E-ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is my first experience in reading a Turkish literature translation. And I should say that I had a good experience in reading this book.
The narrator of this book was a girl who thought that she could live in a tree. The narrator introduces herself as ‘The Girl in the Tree’ to the readers as she doesn’t want to use her name.
This girl believes that the world is made up of stories and we all are other people’s stories. She narrates her life through the stories of other people in her life. First few chapters of the book were confusing. But the story picks up its pace after a few chapters.
As I am not a native Turkish speaker, I hope that the translation did its justice to the original book. The book is full of dynamic women who face life in their own style. The women of this book are enigmatic and inspiring.
The writing style was immaculate which is an added bonus. Also, I like the way the story progresses and ends.
I do have a few things bothering about this book.
Why does a girl have to live in a tree? Is there no other way to escape from reality?
What did she learn from the stories of other women in her life?
The character development is absent or I couldn’t sense it.
The girl in the tree is distracted, confused, ingrate and repeating the things again and again and again. After a point of time, I can’t cope with her.
The beginning of the book is vague and confusing.
Apart from these, this book is a pretty good read which has a lot of women and talks about the importance of mental health. At last, I fell in love with this book which is unexpected. I love this book because it is challenging to read. I learned many new words. I also got an insight into Turkish culture ( a little though).
My Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for a hardcore literature fan or to the people who like to read challenging books.
My Rating:
Character development-3/5
Plot development-3/5
Quality of writing-5/5
Pace of the story-3.5/5
Thought Provoking-4/5
Overall-3.5/5
This book is my first experience in reading a Turkish literature translation. And I should say that I had a good experience in reading this book.
The narrator of this book was a girl who thought that she could live in a tree. The narrator introduces herself as ‘The Girl in the Tree’ to the readers as she doesn’t want to use her name.
This girl believes that the world is made up of stories and we all are other people’s stories. She narrates her life through the stories of other people in her life. First few chapters of the book were confusing. But the story picks up its pace after a few chapters.
As I am not a native Turkish speaker, I hope that the translation did its justice to the original book. The book is full of dynamic women who face life in their own style. The women of this book are enigmatic and inspiring.
The writing style was immaculate which is an added bonus. Also, I like the way the story progresses and ends.
I do have a few things bothering about this book.
Why does a girl have to live in a tree? Is there no other way to escape from reality?
What did she learn from the stories of other women in her life?
The character development is absent or I couldn’t sense it.
The girl in the tree is distracted, confused, ingrate and repeating the things again and again and again. After a point of time, I can’t cope with her.
The beginning of the book is vague and confusing.
Apart from these, this book is a pretty good read which has a lot of women and talks about the importance of mental health. At last, I fell in love with this book which is unexpected. I love this book because it is challenging to read. I learned many new words. I also got an insight into Turkish culture ( a little though).
My Recommendation:
I would recommend this book for a hardcore literature fan or to the people who like to read challenging books.
My Rating:
Character development-3/5
Plot development-3/5
Quality of writing-5/5
Pace of the story-3.5/5
Thought Provoking-4/5
Overall-3.5/5
***Received ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
I started reading this book with high expectations as its one of my few WW II based books. But the expectations dropped right in the first chapter. The first chapter itself is confusing and changes POV multiple times.
After reading 35% of this book in kindle, I still can't follow what's happening in the story. Maybe it's just me. So, right now I am DNFing this book. I don't know whether ill pick it up again or not. I will update the review once I finish this book.
Rating: 2.5/5
I would like to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with this book for review.
I started reading this book with high expectations as its one of my few WW II based books. But the expectations dropped right in the first chapter. The first chapter itself is confusing and changes POV multiple times.
After reading 35% of this book in kindle, I still can't follow what's happening in the story. Maybe it's just me. So, right now I am DNFing this book. I don't know whether ill pick it up again or not. I will update the review once I finish this book.
Rating: 2.5/5
I would like to thank NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with this book for review.
Have you ever read a book which is full of thoughts you get in the middle of the night? This book is one of that.
In this book, we read about the journey of Ib as he searches for satisfaction in a city that is empty. It is filled with monotonous thoughts of Ib.
I liked the sophisticated writing style of the author. The language is rich enough to classify it under literary fiction but not hard enough.
Though I liked the writing style, I'm not fond of the characters of this book. The characters are shallow and they're not impactful(IMO). For example, we follow Ib on his journey and we don't even know what he learned at the end of it. There is absolutely no character growth at all. What did he learn throughout this journey?
I felt that the ending of this book is abrupt and incomplete. But for a debut book, the author gave us an impressive piece of literature.
I recommend this book to all the literary fiction fans.
My Rating-3.5/5
In this book, we read about the journey of Ib as he searches for satisfaction in a city that is empty. It is filled with monotonous thoughts of Ib.
I liked the sophisticated writing style of the author. The language is rich enough to classify it under literary fiction but not hard enough.
Though I liked the writing style, I'm not fond of the characters of this book. The characters are shallow and they're not impactful(IMO). For example, we follow Ib on his journey and we don't even know what he learned at the end of it. There is absolutely no character growth at all. What did he learn throughout this journey?
I felt that the ending of this book is abrupt and incomplete. But for a debut book, the author gave us an impressive piece of literature.
I recommend this book to all the literary fiction fans.
My Rating-3.5/5
Milk teeth is actually a book about two childhood friends (Ira and Kartik) and the events that take place in their lives.
The setting of the story is Bombay and it beautifully portrays how Bombay changes to Mumbai. The story is a chain of interlocking events of past and present. It makes you nostalgic even if you're not from Bombay. The book is divided into 3 parts and in the first part Ira comes off as a strong and outspoken character. But in the second part, she is confused and blinded with lust. Ira spends her whole childhood to feel validated by Kartik and when that blossoms to love Kartik can't accept it. She also has an on-off relationship with Kaiz and lust takes over her whenever she thinks about him. Even with all these flaws, I liked Ira and her honesty. And coming to Kartik, I should say I didn't like him that much. His struggles in exploring his sexuality and his double-faced life, not so impressive. Dude hides a secret and gets engaged to Ira but at the last moment when he knows that he's not gonna win he does the same old predictable thing, he's been doing all his life. Quit from that particular thing. This book subtly portrays all the ironies and hypocrisies we face in our daily life. In the middle, the pace of the story dropped but after a few bad pages the pace picks up again. For a debut book, the author has done an impressive job. I recommend this book for those who need an easy-breezy read.
My Rating-3.5/5
The setting of the story is Bombay and it beautifully portrays how Bombay changes to Mumbai. The story is a chain of interlocking events of past and present. It makes you nostalgic even if you're not from Bombay. The book is divided into 3 parts and in the first part Ira comes off as a strong and outspoken character. But in the second part, she is confused and blinded with lust. Ira spends her whole childhood to feel validated by Kartik and when that blossoms to love Kartik can't accept it. She also has an on-off relationship with Kaiz and lust takes over her whenever she thinks about him. Even with all these flaws, I liked Ira and her honesty. And coming to Kartik, I should say I didn't like him that much. His struggles in exploring his sexuality and his double-faced life, not so impressive. Dude hides a secret and gets engaged to Ira but at the last moment when he knows that he's not gonna win he does the same old predictable thing, he's been doing all his life. Quit from that particular thing. This book subtly portrays all the ironies and hypocrisies we face in our daily life. In the middle, the pace of the story dropped but after a few bad pages the pace picks up again. For a debut book, the author has done an impressive job. I recommend this book for those who need an easy-breezy read.
My Rating-3.5/5
I picked up this book for #jcbliterature readathon. Though there were a few uncomfortable places at the beginning of the book, I liked it for its raw emotions.
It gave an insight into the life of Adivasi people and how they are exploited in the name of politics. The three sections of the book portray the different mood set by the author.
The writing was fluid enough to portray everything from broken relationships, borderline abuse to difficulty in expressing our feelings to our parents.
The emotions are relatable and raw.
The only thing I didn't like about this book is that it is not that thought-provoking. Though the writing, characters and plot are perfect, I felt that the message of the book could have been more thought-provoking. I recommend this book for those who like to read about people and emotions.
My Rating-3.5/5
It gave an insight into the life of Adivasi people and how they are exploited in the name of politics. The three sections of the book portray the different mood set by the author.
The writing was fluid enough to portray everything from broken relationships, borderline abuse to difficulty in expressing our feelings to our parents.
The emotions are relatable and raw.
The only thing I didn't like about this book is that it is not that thought-provoking. Though the writing, characters and plot are perfect, I felt that the message of the book could have been more thought-provoking. I recommend this book for those who like to read about people and emotions.
My Rating-3.5/5
Okay! So I requested this book after reading it's blurb. I was expecting it to be a humorous and easy read. And this book haven't disappointed me at all. Not only it's humorous, but also fast paced and interesting. All the characters are developed well and I loved the dry humour of this book. To be honest, I have never read such a hilarious book. It captivated my attention right from the first page and it haven't wavered at all. And I loved reading about Ginger Jones. This is a five star read for me.