Gods of war by Ashok K. Banker

"Gods of war" by Ashok K. Banker. This book is published by Penguin in 2009 and has 282 pages. This is a  Sci-fi.

Aliens have attacked earth and taken over all living things. Five people from five parallel worlds survive. Santosh, a young boy from Mumbai chawl; Ruth, a lesbian welder from America; Salim, a middle aged Briton of Pakistani origin and Yoki-Akeshi, twins & creators of Manga comics in Japan. Responsibility to save the world now lies on them.

Will they meet? Can they fight the alien thing? Will they get help or guidance? Is world in danger? Can the world be saved? Why these five survive whereas all others are 'taken'?

The take over by aliens is interesting. Concept of meeting God is a novelty. Fight between science and religion for the control of heaven is also curious.

Narration and story is slow. There are long stretches when nothing happens. The description of the out of world things does not entice the readers. Although there are other beings who do not belong to earth or world or time or dimension, the explanations and references given by the 'guide' are only for earthlings. What happens to others is not known. Until you reach half way, readers don't understand who the threat is from or what the threat is. The climax is actually an anti climax. You feel like you have wasted a lot of time reading the book.

Author has used the concept of relativity in the book. Explaining theory of relativity in a novel is never easy but author has done a good job. Ashok has also tried to explain inexplicable, things that human mind can not comprehend, parallel worlds, eleven dimensions etc in this book.

Generally speaking, I am not a fan of sci-fi. I purchased this book because I liked previous books written by Ashok Banker. However after reading the book, I was disappointed, very disappointed. I completed the book only because I do not like to leave books unfinished.

The font used for this book is very small. Made reading difficult. With normal font it would have been 350 pages.

Avoid.

The Calcutta chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

"The Calcutta chromosome" by Amitav Ghosh. This edition of the book is published by Harper Perennial in 2001 and has 320 pages.

The book starts in some undetermined time in the future. Antar's computer stumbles across a half burned identity card. It belongs to Murugan, an employee who disappeared in 1990s in Calcutta. Murugan was self proclaimed expert on Ronald Ross, who discovered how malaria is transferred from mosquito to humans, in India, during British Raj.

Murugan has a conspiracy theory that a secret group in India nudged Ross in a particular direction very intelligently. This group was headed by two people, Mangala and Laakhan. Wagner-Jauregg had showed that artificially induced malaria often cured, or already mitigated, syphilitic paresis. Mangala used this property of malaria for something else. Something much more advanced for any scientist of the time or much more advanced for any scientist, even today. She exploited it for cross over of personality traits from malaria donor to recipient. The personality trait will be in an item that is different, non standard & unique; dubbed as Calcutta chromosome. This chromosome is not symmetrically paired and not transmitted from generation to generation because it only exists in brain. This process can allow person to change bodies and gain virtual immortality.

Is Murugan right or is he hallucinating? Is he a meticulous person with monumental self belief or is he a crack pot? Does Calcutta chromosome exist? What does Antar do? Are Mangala and Laakhan real or are they figment of Murugan's imagination?

The story takes place in USA and India. It's a science fiction set in history and in future, however most of the story happens in 1990s.

Murugan is the central character. He is a typical genius who is not recognized by his contemporaries because he is ahead of his time. Urmila, Sonali, Romen all play their part in helping or guiding Murugan towards the discovery.

Author has been able to create the mystique atmosphere. The book is very interesting in the beginning but the same level of interest is not maintained till the end. The end, which should take the story to crescendo, seems abrupt. I thought that author could have made the last section of the book more interesting. Sometimes author has chosen to keep things complicated rather than simplifying them for the readers.

You have to read the book carefully and with attention so as not to miss important tid-bit. At the end it remains unclear why Antar, who is nearing retirement, is chosen as torch bearer rather than another young man.

An OK book. Read if you have time.

Deep Storm by Lincoln Child

"Deep Storm" by  Lincoln Child. This book is published by Random House USA in 2008 and has 419 pages. It's a science fiction.

Dr Peter Crane is engaged on a short, special and secret assignment by US government. He is taken to an oil platform called Storm King, in Atlantic. He finds out that the platform is not managed by oil company but by US Navy (Headed by Admiral Spartan) and scientists (Headed by Dr. Asher). After signing secrecy agreements, he is taken to a facility located below the platform embedded in the ocean bed. The facility is called Deep Storm and is 12 storey deep. He is given an indication that they have found Atlantis. Deep storm is drilling into Earth's crust to reach Mohorovicic discontinuity and retrieve something that is transmitting signals. While drilling they encounter small discs that float in air, at the center of the room they are in, and emit light. They are called centinels.

Inhabitants of Deep Storm are facing medical problems ranging from vomiting to lack of concentration to insomnia to psychological issues. Dr. Crane is tasked to find out the root cause. His experience as diagnostician of mysterious deceases under stressful circumstances is considered his unique qualification. There is an attempted sabotage that would destroy Deep Storm under ocean water pressure.

Dr. Asher is close to decoding the message transmitted by centinels. He succeeds but his chamber catches fire and he dies, his laptop burned.

Is this a sabotage too? What is the message? Can Dr Crane find it? Does he get help? Will this drilling help humanity? What is the buried secret?

The book fantasizes about other world civilizations that are far more advanced than humans. Lincoln Child has lured the readers into the realm of sci-fi easily. Unless you know, you do not recognize the story as sci-fi in the beginning. It may also be because the writing style at the start of the book is Clive Cusslerish.

With the way this story was poised at half way mark, there were numerous possibilities to take the story to a different level of imagination, but the author appears to have taken less imaginative route. Thus the climax does not live upto the heightened expectations of readers. The book falters towards the end. It is a Sci-fi and happens under water, so there is a lot of medical and technical jargon. Authors research in that matter is evident.

An OK book. You can give it a miss.