Inane Murtaza

Title : The Doll Factory Author : Elizabeth Macneal Genre : Thriller I have been pretty erratic about my book reviewing for past one month due to excess travelling that I have been making the entire month, though I did make sure my book reading abilities do not take a toll and one of the books that did make it in the list was 'The Doll Factory' by Elizabeth Macneal. What attracted me to this book was the era the book was based on. Last year I had come across another book from the same era 'The Silent Companions' and that book haunted me for quite a while. So, I finally picked up this one and this is my take on it. My Take on the Novel The book pretty much revolves around three major characters. Iris, a small time worker at a Doll Factory who is an apprentice along with her sister, Rose. She gets noticed by an upcoming painter Louis Frost who wants her to model for his latest painting. Their lives are connected to Silas who is known to make stu...

Title : City of Girls Author : Elizabeth Gilbert Genre : Romance Okay, being honest here, but I guess I'm one of those readers who had DNFed Eat, Pray, Love by the same author that became a huge sensation. The reason being that I felt it kept dragging endlessly across the three cities she visited. Keeping all my notions aside, what attracted me to this book was the interesting premise that the author has come up with. Setting the book in 1940s of New York, the book deals with a theatre troupe who have finally hit a blockbuster around the time of World War. The book is basically a letter written by our protagonist Vivian Morris to Angela describing her relationship with Angela's father. The story follows how a 19 year old Vivian who had to move to New York to her aunt Peg gets accustomed to the city and her theatre group. As the story progresses, we see Vivian dealing with a lot of interesting personalities as the theatre troupe is preparing for their biggest pla...

Astra - The Quest for Starsong by Aditya Mukherjee, Arnav Mukherjee The world should burn . . . burn like a star! Blurb (From Amazon): The balance of the world is askew. The winds speak of a terror from the south. Ravana, the Lord of Lanka, is on the march. Seers whisper that he has awakened Starsong, a mythical astra of the gods. And that he thirsts for this weapon that will make him invincible. But there is one thing that he hasn't considered. Up high in the glistening tower of the city of Ulka is a boy, held captive. Today is the day Varkan, the young prince of Ashmaka, will taste freedom. Today is the day he will lay claim to his destiny as the wielder of Starsong. And along the way, perhaps he will change the destiny of the world itself. My Take on the Book: Off late we have seen a lot of books based on the Hindu Mythology and each one is unique in its own way. Though the base of each story is always the same, what makes a book apart is the narrative that takes its c...

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...

Title : The Gifted The Talented and Me Author : William Sutcliffe Genre : YA A year or two back if I was asked my opinion on a Young Adult book, I wouldn't have had much to say since I had hardly read much of them. Now, I have read quite enough novels on YA to differentiate between a promising one and a book that will again take up the same old plot, try a bit of tinkering and serving it back. Honestly, quite a lot of YA fantasies have been treading this path and so I was pretty much surprised when I picked up this one which tries to explore the Young Adults in today's times.  Sam apparently had a pretty normal life with his days spent as a famous vlogger and chatting with friends but his life apparently turns outside down when his parents suddenly get rich and shift to North London. He is enrolled into North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented which is apparently a school where your talents on Drama and Art are explored more rather than sports. The plot explo...

Title : Beast Author : Krishna Udayasankar Genre : Fantasy I'm generally quite reluctant to pick up Indian authors since in recent times I have had experiences that were from bad to disastrous. Hence, when I finally decided to pick up this book, I kept my expectations at an pretty average but I did expect a good storyline as she has written a few books earlier which had pretty rave reviews. Read ahead to find out whether the book did meet my expectations or not. The plot revolves primarily around Enforcer Prithvi who has been assigned to find out about the gruesome murders that had taken place in the suburbs of Mumbai. ACP Aditi Kashyap, the investigating officer had been hearing weird theories about the murders which she ain't ready to believe but as the plot moves on, the circumstances does allow her a hint of doubt on the legend of Saimhas or as we call it Werelions. With deep buried secrets that would be unveiled, we are put on a roller coaster ride of twists that prom...

Title : The Near Witch Author : V E Schwab Genre : Middle Grade Fantasy Being quite an active Bookstagrammer, V E Schwab was one of those authors that one can hardly missed. Her books were well received and I was shocked to see that she has been around for quite some time and has written a lot of books. Finally, I picked up her debut novel when the books came out pretty cheap and this is my take on it. The plot revolves around the town of Near where we see Lexi living along with her younger sister Wren and her mother. She despises her uncle Otto who tends to control every action of hers. Her father also known as the Protector of Near had died in mysterious circumstances. One day Lexi sees a stranger arrive in town and this follows up with the disappearances of kids around the town? Who is the stranger? Will Lexi be able to find the kids? What are the various mysteries revolving around the town brings up the rest of the story. The best thing about reading a debut author is as...