The English girl by Daniel Silva

"The English girl" by Daniel Silva. This book is published by Harpercollins in 2013 and has 400 pages. This is Book 13 of Gabriel Allon series.        

Madeline works for a political party who's in power in England. She has a good career ahead and is destined to be an MP. She goes to Corsica, with her party co-workers, for a vacation and suddenly disappears. Kidnapped. The Prime Minister is target of blackmail. Gabriel Allon, the Israeli spy is pressed into action.

Who is the kidnapper? What are the demands? Does the conspiracy go deeper? What is the prophecy of lady from Corsica? Will it come true?

The story is divided into 3 sections. First is the story of kidnapping and rescue. Second is the story of a hostile operation in enemy territory and 3rd is the scandal and conclusion. Narration keeps you just about interested. It's neither great nor bad. 

Fallacies of Gabriel are evident still he is considered ultimate sleuth. He is also a good person at heart. He is liked by all and destined for a new responsibility by the end of the book. 

There is a big twist in this book. I could guess the twist, but could not guess why. This twist gives a new dimension to the world politics. 

I had read only one Gabriel Allon book earlier. This one is continuation of the series. 

Read if you have time or if you are following the series. 

 

Jaal by Sangeeta Bahadur

"Jaal" by Sangeeta Bahadur. This book is published by Pan MacMillan in 2012 and has 460 pages. This is Book 1 of Kaal trilogy

The story is set in undetermined past of a different world. There are four principle Gods and one of them, Aushij, has been put to a prolonged sleep, lost in dreams, as imposition to his misuse of power. He is rising. There is a prophecy. Kingdom of two Kings has been usurped by his courtiers.

Who is the chosen one? Are the destinies of Arihant, Tejaswi, Raudra and Aagneyi intertwined? What is the mysterious place where Ripudaman is incarcerated? Can Vagdatta take her revenge?

Hats off to the author for creating a new mythical world complete with history, philosophy, lifestyles, tribes, politics, prophecy, parallel dimension, time capsule and the eternal battle of good and bad. Her vivid imagination competes with J. K. Rowling. Sangeeta has created a home grown super hero. She has taken references from Hindu mythology and philosophy and used them to create her own universe set in an undetermined ancient time period.

Characterization is good. Arihant, Tejaswi, Raudra, Aagneyi, Vagdatta, Vakrini, Maharshi's, Daruk, Mareech etc. are adequately developed. Concepts of Samyati kul and their memory archive or the curse and it's mitigation after 6000 years, idea of a mind city etc are fantastical.

Story is mostly very interesting, though it slows down on a couple of occasions. Author has placed small surprises at strategic locations so as not to allow readers from distracting.

Some of the ideas draw parallel with known fantasies. e.g. Kayakalp reminds of river Styx from Percy Jackson. Arihant's link with Aushij had similarities with Harry Potter's link with Voldermot. Prophecy of birth of the superhero that appears in a number of fantasies.

By the end of Book 1, the stage is set for the epic battle between good and evil. What will happen along the way? Well we will have to read that in Book 2 that is already published and Book 3 that is still to be published.

A good book. Recommend reading.

Bali and the ocean of milk by Nilanjan P. Choudhury

"Bali and the ocean of milk" by Nilanjan P. Choudhury. This book is published by HarperCollins Publishers India in 2011 and has 307 pages.

This story has Asura King Bali. Kind of Devas Indrah. The holy Trinity Jai, Viru and Sambha. They collaborate to churn the ocean of milk to obtain nectar of life. But there is a traitor who not only double crosses the opposition but his own too.

How do Devas convince Asuras? What is Indrah's secret? What will come out of churning? Who will get the nectar? Who is the traitor?

If you think this is the story from mythology, you are mistaken. Author has used mythological original to concoct a new story all together.

The story in Amravati is more comedy than real story. Don't know why author decided to name the holy Trinity after characters from movie Sholey. The Devas look more like jokers. On the other hand the story at Asura end is very intense.

Author has given a few twists to the story. Some are good, some though good lack justification and appear unrealistic. Bali's transformation. His alliance. His death. All seem unreal.

Author has used fundamentalism and progressiveness in the Asura context intelligently. He has touched a number of social issues.

But it appears that author was a bit confused about the tone that he wanted to set for the book. The comedy was a spoiler. In my opinion if he had done away with the comedy and instead maintained intense tone, the book would have become much more readable.

Author also had rushed through the climax and the end. Would have liked it to be more dramatic. Book cover is not very impressive.

Read if you have time.

Vimana by Mainak Dhar

"Vimana" by Mainak Dhar. This book is published by Penguin India in 2012 and has 246 pages. It's a mythological science fiction.

Aaditya, who has lost his fighter pilot father to an accident, and lost his leg to another is not comfortable after giving up his ambition of becoming fighter pilot to study commerce. A strange indecent propels him in the world of Devas, Asuras, Daityas and of course Vimanas.

Who are Devas? Who are Asuras & Daityas? Are they real? What's so special about their Vimanas? Is apocalypse around the corner?

The story is a mythological science fiction. It has Devas, Asuras, Daityas and the legend on one hand and advanced technology, Vimanas controlled by thoughts, under water base, super weapons on the other. To add to it there is a plot of a double agent as well.

Narration is good. It keeps you interested. Although it is a science fiction it contains all the plots and counter plots. Some ideas are fantastic, some are mediocre. Climax is not so good. Fallen God Kalki is the obvious villain.

Author has made use of the conspiracy theories about extra terrestrial life, alien abduction and UFO sightings cleverly to explain and reinforce the world he has created.

A good read. Recommend reading.

The assassin by Clive Cussler

"The assassin" by Clive Cussler. This book is published by Penguin UK in 2016 and has 448 pages.

It's 1899. Rockefeller's Standard oil has used every means to choke, bankrupt and buyout independent oil producers. His strategy is not to lose the men he had ruined but instead hire them. He doesn't lose any resources. One such, Bill Matters, decides to join him and take revenge. He recruits an assassin.

Who is the assassin? How does Van Dorn detective agency and Isaac Bell come into picture? What is the objective of the assassin? Can Isaac stop the assassin?

Isaac Bell series started with banking, then moved to mining and now the series enters a very interesting industry, the oil industry, where people have made money like never before. This story is a prequel to some of the previous stories. It happens between 1899-1905, before Bell meets his eventual wife.

The story has the usual locomotives and locomobiles. Isaac Bell is investigating murders of independent producers. There is a mystery of an army deserter, another mystery of what Rockefeller wants, another one of assassin and yet another one of missing son of Bill Matters.

Two beautiful ladies, Nelly and Emma Matters, who are also daughters of Bill Matters, John D. Rockefeller - Chief of Standard Oil, The assassin, Bill Matters complete the cast along with Isaac Bell, Archy Abbott, Wish Clark and Mr. Joseph Van Dorn.

The story is good as usual. Author recreates a period hundred years ago with ease. The detailing is so thorough that you feel as if you are there and are witnessing the happenings.

In this book, however, I felt that most of what happens in Baku trip was unnecessary. It only increased the book length. Author could have done away with. So was the epilogue with a time leap of 35 years.

It was not hard to guess the identity of the assassin. I guessed it industry upon the entry of character. Then the story was a wait to determine if I guessed correctly.

A good book. If you have read the series, you will read this too.

Aabhas ha (आभास हा) by Mandar Katre (मंदार कात्रे)

"Aabhas ha (आभास हा)" a Marathi (मराठी) book by Mandar Katre (मंदार कात्रे). This book is published by esahitya pratishthan in 2013 and has 54 pages. It's a collection of short stories.

'Aabhas ha (आभास हा)' is the story of Chandu and his new wife who comes home late, every day.

'Chakwa (चकवा)' is an unsuccessful love story.

'Don (डाॅन)' is a story based on abduction of children to Middle East for the camel races.

'Story... Salilchi (स्टोरी.... सलीलची)' tells us how Salil, fed up with his father, left India for America. Did he become happy?

'Venkat (वेंकट)' tells us about the urge of a boy for education.

'Bhulbhulaiya (भूलभुलैया)' is story of employment racket in Gulf where a lot is promised and bonded labour is the reality.

'Awliya (अवलिया)' is the story of Chandu who has a lot of varied experiences and who lives on his own terms.

Two stories have betrayal by ones love. All other stories are told in flash back. Five stories are related to Middle East employment. A number of stories have references of foreign countries.

The stories are very short. In many cases they are so short that readers wonder if it was a story? I believe that author should have been more liberal with words. The seed of some stories is good and they could have become good stories but became an abbreviated version.

NRI's in Gulf will relate to the stories. Some more effort and it could have become a good book.

Give it a miss.

For complete review, please visit:
Mandar's Book reviews
http://mandarbookreviews.blogspot.com/