Inane Murtaza

Title : Upon a Burning Throne - Part 1 Author : Ashok K Banker Genre : Mythological Fantasy Of the two major Indian Epics, Mahabharata has always fascinated me more. The epic consists of so many characters with different shades that one cannot rightly put them in black or white zones. The epic is so well written with characters etched deeply that one always looks for various narratives for the story and yet each narrative brings in more questions and surprises even more. So apparently, when I finally came across this retelling of Mahabharata, I had to get my hands on it and here is my take on the first book. The plot majorly revolves around Adri and Shvate who are in line to rule the vast Burnt Empire, yet on the day of their test for inheritance, they are challenged by another ruler whose daughter comes from the same bloodline and to everyone's surprise she passes the test too. When her claim to inheritance is denied by family elders Vrath and Jilana, the empire is thro...

Ahh!! The book that gave me jitters and creepers. So, this one was on my Amazon wish-list for real long time and I had finally received not one but two copies of this book as my Secret Santa gift. To be honest, I never knew there was a movie coming out based on this book but found out almost a few days later. The book talks about the sensitive issue of coming out for a closeted individual and brings out a question that we need to answer? Do Straights ever have to come out too? Blurb (From Goodreads): Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised. With some messy dynamics emerging in his once ...