Book Review 2014 #20 : God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian

Title: God is a Gamer 

Source- Goodreads

Author: Ravi Subramanian

About the story:

Blurb- Aditya runs a gaming company that is struggling to break even. A banker slips off a high-rise building, plunging to her death. The finance minister has made some promises that he is finding hard to keep. The LTTE has unleashed terror in America that sends the FBI on a wild goose chase, bringing them to Mumbai.

Enter Varun, part-time drug dealer and fulltime genius. He turns around the gaming company before disaster strikes. Meanwhile, the investigators plunge headlong into the shady world of bitcoins and the Dark Net, websites that only exist for illegal transactions—drugs, sex and money. God Is a Gamer culminates in a stunning climax where money means nothing, assassination is taught by the ancient Greeks, and nothing is as it seems.

Review:

The plot begins with an assassination of a US Senator, Gillian Tan. Adrian Scott, FBI special agent, in charge of the investigation cannot find any leads on who would have wanted the senator dead. The fact that Gillian Tan was a close friend of the President mounts pressure on Adrian to find the killer.

In India, a multi-national bank, NYIB, finds itself a victim of a phishing scandal and Swami, the head of retail banking in the firm, fears that he may lose his job. He takes advice from his mentor and friend, Aditya Rao. Aditya is the founder of a very successful BPO and an emerging gaming company, Indiscape. Aditya has a very murky past but when his long estranged son, Varun, reunites with his dad and joins his company, he is more than happy.

Varun has grandiose plans to expand his dad’s gaming company but unfortunately these plans don’t agree with Aditya’s friend, Sandeep, who is also a co-founder of Indiscape. Meanwhile Varun falls in love with Tanya, daughter of Malvika- the scheming and manipulative CEO of NYIB.

Things go haywire when NYIB comes under news again for an ATM heist of 5 million dollars worth, where NYIB’s customer’s cards were skimmed for data and used to make fake cards for the heist. During a party hosted by Tanya for her mom’s birthday,  Malvika falls to her death from a high-rise building.

At the center of all this chaos is a secret website, Cotton Trail, selling everything shady and illegal- from drugs to pornography. The website thrives in an age of digital, virtual money called bitcoins. Billions of transactions in bitcoins are conducted under the cloak of an anonymous network called TOR or The Onion Router.

As the plot proceeds, each character is exposed to reveal a hidden ulterior motive for his/her actions and corrupt intentions.

This is my first Ravi Subramanian book and all though I had seen great reviews for his earlier books on the net, I never got around to picking his books. So it was with much excitement that I began reading ‘God is a Gamer’.

The beginning of the book was a little disorienting when lots of random characters were introduced and seemingly unrelated incidents occur in different nations. It was difficult to follow the plot with diverse sub-plots being narrated in short chapters. But as the story proceeded along it got more intriguing and the introduction of a covert online website that traded in narcotics and sex was the piece de resistance.

The story is fast paced and the numerous twists and turns keep the intrigue and fascination intact right till the last page of the book. The climax was a little overblown and there were too many co-incidences that made the ending a tad unrealistic.

A thriller of different kind that bodes well in the age of digital living. A definite must-read if you like fast-paced books and edge of the seat action.

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review 2014 #16 : Private India by Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson

Title: Private India

Author: Ashwin Sanghi and James Patterson

About the story: When Santosh Wagh isn't struggling out of a bottle of whisky he's head of Private India, the Mumbai branch of the world's finest PI agency.

In a city of over thirteen million he has his work cut out at the best of times. But now someone is killing women - seemingly unconnected women murdered in a chilling ritual, with strange objects placed carefully at their death scenes. Trying to come to terms with his painful past and his entrenched guilt, Santosh races against time to discover the true identity of the yellow-garrote killer before the body count rises and more innocent women are murdered in cold-blood.

As Santosh and his team delve deep into the investigation, an even greater danger faces Private India - a danger that could threaten the lives of thousands of innocent Mumbai citizens.

Private India along with Jack Morgan can only hope dearly that their efforts to arrest the killer and save the Maximum City, Mumbai, are successful.

Review: I have read only “The Krishna Key” by Ashwin Sanghi but I have read and re-read many of James Patterson books in the Alex Cross series. And I love his style of writing; the way he builds up the suspense and the detailing that goes into each of his characters. I was excited to get my hands over this book because I wanted to know how the amalgamation of the two sharpest minds in the crime/suspense genre would turn out. And the book does not disappoint!

As I kept turning the pages of the book through the wee hours of the night, I could see glimpses of Patterson style of narration- the short chapters, the investigator psychoanalyzing the mind of the killer, the dragon-slayer (I always pictured Alex Cross as the dragon-slayer but I guess Santhosh Wagh is the new Indian equivalent) trying to find a balance between his personal life and his hectic career that is almost an obsession.

And of course there is the archetypal Ashwin Sanghi mythological twist to the story as well, that makes the book more intriguing.

What works for the book is the fast-paced and action packed plot that makes you want to turn the pages of the book quickly so as to reach the end and find out the identity of the killer. I also liked how the authors made the needle of suspicion swing in the way of different characters making the guessing game even more gripping.

What I did not like though is that there are too many elements in the sub-plot which sometimes feels quite odd as it keeps cropping up at irregular intervals. The Indian Mujahedeen and the mafia-don angle did seem a little far-fetched.

The book does a good job of seamlessly incorporating Mumbai’s throbbing hubs as part of the plot. Private India is definitely going to rock the bestseller’s list for some time in Indian markets. And it’s absolutely worth reading.

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review 2014 #10 : Sita's Curse : The Language of Desire by Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

Source- Goodreads.com

Title: Sita's Curse : The Language of Desire

Author:  Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

About the story: Somewhere, behind closed doors, in her solitary world; somewhere, under the sheets with an indifferent lover; somewhere, is a woman who will not be denied. Trapped for fifteen years in the stranglehold of a dead marriage and soulless household domesticity, the beautiful, full-bodied and passionate Meera Patel depends on her memories and her flights of fancy to soothe the aches that wrack her body; to quieten an unquenchable need.

Until one cataclysmic day in Mumbai, when she finally breaks free... Bold, brazen and defiant, Sitas Curse looks at the hypocrisy of Indian society and tells the compelling story of a middle-class Indian housewife’s urgent need for love, respect, acceptance and sexual fulfillment.

Sita’s Curse is the story of a sensual Indian woman, Meera Patel, stuck in a loveless marriage daring to find pleasure outside the confines of her bedroom. Meera, who often plays the role of Sita in Ramayana, performed in her village, believes that Ramayana wouldn’t be relevant if Sita had not been kidnapped and Sita was just paying the price for a desire that was not even hers. What if the man who destroyed her was the one who desired her the most?

My Review: Sita’s Curse is being mooted as the first among its kind, to brazenly speak about a topic that is usually discussed in hushed tones behind closed doors of houses- sex, a woman’s unfulfilled desires in a marriage, adultery and incest.

And for that alone the author deserves to be acknowledged and appreciated. But if you ask me how much I, as a reader, enjoyed reading this book, then I would, unfortunately, have to say that I was a tad disappointed. When reading this book I had this edgy feeling that Meera was portrayed as more of a sensual woman with this unquenchable desire and most of her relationships with the men in her life were clouded by her passion.

The only chapters I enjoyed reading were when Meera tries to adjust to her new life in Mumbai and her husband’s family. After few years, Meera connects with the real life in Mumbai when she starts going out with her friends from her English course but then a tragedy strikes and changes her life in a way that she never thought possible.

The inability of Meera’s husband to sexually satisfy her and the constant humiliation by her husband and her co-sister, wilts her each day, dying a slow death of suffocation and stifling.

The sex in the book is not exactly titillating but what drew me is the mindset of the good-old, subservient, middle-class wife, who craves the power to control, to triumph over her husband and yet at the same time to serve and be acquiescent.  

Verdict: Worth a read for brazenly bringing out the taboo topic of sex and adultery in the open. Negatives- Too much of sex that does nothing much to forward the plot and tends to get dreary at times (Never imagined that I would say that, but there I said it, ok? J )

Rating: 3.5/5

 This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Book Review 2014 #9 : Rise of the Sun Prince by Shubha Vilas

Goodreads.com

Title: Ramayana - The Game of Life : Rise of the Sun Prince

Author: Shubha Vilas

Excerpt from the book: Epics like the Ramayana have been recounted infinite times. Is there a need for another chronicle in the presence of so many? How is this one different? And is it relevant to our ever changing modern lives?

Yes, there is a need, yes this is different and yes, it is relevant. This new series of books, each following one khand of the Ramayana, decodes the eternal wisdom of that poetic scripture through gripping narrative and thought-provoking instruction. In the time-honored custom of spreading wisdom through tales, every fascinating story in the epic is retold here and every character unfolded to captivate your heart and open your mind to life's deepest questions.

The narrative closely follows Valmiki's Ramayana, gently weaving in folk tales as well as the beautiful analogies of the Kamba Ramayana. The first of this six-volume series, Rise of the Sun Prince, takes you through the divine story of Lord Rama from His birth up to His marriage. Through these pages are revealed the tales of Dasaratha's leadership, Vishwamitra's quest for power and the intriguing story of a little-known stone maiden. Ramayana: The Game of Life has all of this and much more - food for contemporary thought drawn from an enduring masterpiece

My Review:  It is with much skepticism that I picked up this book for reading because I’m not really a fan of mythological or philosophical books and of course most of us would have read or seen the story of Ramayana as kids. So what new could the book tell that we already did not know?

But I was wrong! Right from the first page where the author chronicles how the great sage Valmiki was inspired to retell the life story of Lord Rama, till the last page which ends with confluence of two great kingdoms of Ayodhya and Mithila, when Lord Rama marries Janaka’s beautiful daughter, Sita, this book grabs the reader’s interest and manages to entertain and enthrall.

The footnote in every chapter, which expresses how the inherent wisdom from this beautiful tale can be imbibed in the present modern life, is wisely articulated. The narration is detailed, especially the chapters where Vishwamitra takes Lord Rama and Lakshmana under his wings to train them in different skills. Although the mention of the scheming Ravana and his life is confined in this book series, it was enough to perk up my interest and make me wish that I had the next book series in my hand.

I also appreciated the fact that the author has given enough importance to all the characters and given abundant information on the history and background of every character that appear even briefly in the life of Lord Rama.

When a book is part of a series, the success of each series can be measured on the how the reader responds to one simple question “Would you read the next book in the series?” and for Shubha Vilas’s rendition of Ramayana, I would answer in a very emphatic and enthusiastic “Yes”.

Verdict: A simple but fascinating rendition of the epic mythological saga. A crisp and yet detailed account of the life of Lord Rama from his birth till his marriage.

Rating: 4/5

 This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Book Review: Never Mind Yaar by K. Mathur

Title: Never Mind Yaar

Image source: Goodreads

 Author: K. Mathur

 

About the story:  Three girls, Binaifer Desai, Louella D’Costa and Shalini Dayal forge a bond of friendship when they enter the gates of Gyan Shakti college to obtain a degree. Although the three come from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds their friendship only matures with each day during their academic years.

 

Binny is a happy-go-lucky Parsi girl who loves her community, and she believes her clan is as extinct as the species of DoDo.  Lou is a Christian and often plays the role of cupid in her friend’s life. And Shalini, the beautiful, rich girl, hailing from an affluent family in Jaipur, is a Hindu. Shalni is desperate to ward off her grandmother, Mem’s, attempts to find her a groom.  In order to buy herself some time before she gets married off, she joins the degree course, but what she had not accounted for, was falling in love with Bhagu.

 

Shalini is inexplicably attracted to the intense and yet, the very friendly and approachable boy in her class, Bhagu. Shalini, knowing very well that her Mem would never approve of a common boy like Bhagu, tries her best to ignore the attraction that flares every now and then between the two.

 

When her two best friends realize what’s happening right under their nose, they plot together and scheme to get the two love birds together.

 

Will Shalini and Bhagu finally end up together? Will their love survive the brutal stance of the authoritarian grandmother? You’ll have to read the book to find out J

 

Review:  This is the second consecutive book that I have read centered around Mumbai.  While the previous book, Back Seat, delved deep into the psyche of the city and tried to peel off the layers to reveal the dark underbelly, Never Mind Yaar, barely scratches the surface by trying to dissect and analyze the topic of secularism in Mumbai.

 

The city plays home to people of diverse culture, religion and languages. But off late, the very virtue of tolerance, that made Mumbai a potpourri of cultures, has rapidly vanished. Riots and revolts caused by a few fanatic people have tried giving a bad name to this beautiful city.

 

Apart from centering on Mumbai, the plot also revolves around the friendship of the three girls, a fledgling romance, typical life in an Indian joint family and the cheerful life of youngsters in college.

 

The characters are very well depicted and the story line is thankfully focused on the main protagonists without digressing too much.  There are also small snippets of information about the different cultures, about Mumbai and regional folktale that makes the book more interesting.

 

But what pleased me is that the author didn’t extensively use vernacular words as books based on a particular city often tend to contain. The ending of the book, though slightly implausible, does bring a smile to the reader’s lips. And a book that ends in an ‘all’s well’ feeling definitely earns some brownie points, don’t you think?

 

Verdict:  A light, breezy read that manages to strike a chord with its readers through its warm and vibrant characters and an interesting plot.

Rating: 3.5/5

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Book Review-Love is Vodka, A Shot Ain’t Enough by Amit Shankar

Title: Love is Vodka, A Shot Ain’t Enough

Author: Amit Shankar

About the story: When 19 year old Moon finds herself in an upscale abortion clinic wanting to know if she is pregnant, she realizes that she has messed up her life. In pursuit of true love and in an attempt to comprehend and decipher the four letter word- LOVE, she has led her life in chaos and confusion.

Being a love child, Moon craves for her father’s affection, who despite staying miles away from her, guides her in her decisions and understands her in a way that her mother, who lives with her in the same house, never does. She is constantly at loggerheads with her mother, the famous and influential Payal Malik, who is also the star anchor of the news channel, IDTV.

Things turns nasty when Moon falls for her mother’s boyfriend, the suave and powerful, Ashwin Sinha, who she affectionately calls as Devil or Mr.D. When Moon’s mother learns the truth about D and Moon's relationship, she slaps her and Moon shifts bag and baggage to D’s house. But in her quest for true love, Moon leaves behind a string of broken hearts, including her first love Ash’s heart who doesn’t take the rejection kindly.

Finally after many disappointing love failures, Moon decides to take a break from love and learns to befriend the woman in her and stop gauging her worth based on the number of likes or friend request on her FB profile. She realizes that true love means loving the person within, knowing what the individual in you likes or dislikes, hearing what the voice in your heart is telling you.

Under the tutelage of Gautham, an IIMA graduate who sacrifices a successful corporate life after he found his true calling in fighting against corruption, Moon decides to join the battle against corruption. Does Moon find a meaning to her life? Does she finally figure out what true love is all about? You need to read the book to untangle the complicated web of love.

My Review:  The 200 pages book tries to crack a mystery that people from eons are still trying to figure out. Love.  After reading the “Author Speak” section in the book, I realized that the views of the main protagonist, Moon, in many ways reflect the beliefs of the author on the subject of love and fidelity.

As Moon falters and falls only to pick herself up yet again in her pursuit of that fickle thing called love, you get a glimpse of the quirky theories on love formed in an adolescent’s mind. Love is not about possession, it’s not about stalking the person you love because of your insecurities. When you love someone truly, you would want to be with him/her, because your heart feels so, not because of diktats set down by an archaic society.

It’s these things that makes the book a fresh, rejuvenating read and sets it apart. The language, flow of words are excellent and barring a few editing slips, the writing is flawless.

A couple of negative points in the book, I didn’t like the sudden and slightly implausible twist in the ending where the female protagonist acquires a sudden interest in political agitation against corruption. Somehow this plot angle didn’t seem to fit in the general tone of novel.  Also the end seemed to be kind of abrupt and incomplete.

Overall a pleasant and refreshing read

Verdict: A breezy, light read with some refreshing thoughts and ideologies about love and commitment.

Rating: 3/5 

This review is a part of the biggest http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program

for http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!