Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

 Dying of the Light  By George R. R. Martin  Published Year: 1977 Page Count: 300 pages  Medium Used : Kindle Scribe Genre : High Fantasy, Space Opera, Romance, Betrayal, 2025-read.  Rating :5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 This book is so so good. I have become a fan of Martin's writing with the Game of Thrones series and wanted to check out some of his previous works. This was written and published in 1977, way before he became famous. The number of ratings on goodreads (which i use as a benchmark to note a book's success/popularity) showed that it is not that well known/read. Alas,but this one is a true gem!! Character development is superb. The prose is gorgeous. There is love, betrayal, sorcery, dirges that drive their listeners mad, suicidal and wickedness, brutality in right dosage to keep me immersed, glued throughout. There are scenes where I could feel my breath's sharp intake and my heart skip a few beats. At the end, my feeling is that some of the characters got what ...

 Every Heart a Doorway  (Wayward Children #1) By Seanan McGuire  Locus, Nebula, Hugo award winner. Published Year : 2016 Page Count: 170 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Fantasy, Mythical Beings, Magic, Sorcery, Multiverse, Murder Mystery, Crime, Thriller,  2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 😇😇😇😇🥰 This is my first book by the author. I am completely taken in by her imagination. Some of the scenes are filled with gore, some are so novel and full of humor that I was laughing out loud throughout.  So brilliant. The prose is amazing and by the time I neared the end, I was wondering if I might not underline every sentence in the book. The writing is not complex and narration has a visceral quality. Totally immersive and gripping! I went into the book blind .. with no idea about the story or the genre .. and it paid off. I am amazed at the talent of the author who could spin such a splendid tale in so short number of pages. Amazing, amazing, amazin...

 The Alienist  By Caleb Carr Published Year: 1994 Page Count: 614 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Historical Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Psychological, Psychiatrists, Suspense, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 I had to recheck that this is not a narration of real life events but, indeed, is a work of fiction several times. The inclusion of real life people/characters like Theodore Roosevelt and J.P.Morgan didn't help my case.  Brilliant! Fascinating!! Kept me on the edge till the very end. Even when I know its time for curtains to be pulled up, I was craving for more. A new perspective of looking at the mind and psyche of a serial killer. We read a lot about serial killers and how they carry on their terror reign until they are caught or killed but we don't stop a second to reflect on why they have become so and what actually triggers them about their victims. Even in this book, I didn't understand why the man is gravitated to immigrant children...

 The Mammoth book of Time Travel  By Mike Ashley  Published Year: 2013 Page count : 544 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Time Travel, Multiverse, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 🙃🙃🙃🙃🙃 Just sensational! Thought provoking. Mind bending. I am a huge fan of Science Fiction..especially the stories involving time travel and multiverse. This book contains 25 sensational stories that involve some version of time travel and occasional parallel worlds themes. Loved it very much. The organization of the stories is also such that as I progressed with the book,the stories got more nuanced and intricate. I read some of them with great love and interest. How the authors handled the paradoxes that arise with multiple versions of same person as a result of time travel was of major interest to me. Do check this out! 

 The Doors of Eden  By Adrian Tchaikovsky  Published Year: 2020 Page Count: 607 pages Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : LGBTQ, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Multiverse, Thriller, Science and Tech, Multiple Earths, Evolution Stories, 2025-read.  Rating :5/5 What an amazing ride! What a brilliant read! What a spectacular author!! Mind Blowing imagination. Such a prolific writer.. for me, he is alike to Stephen King of Science Fiction. I have admired the vision and the world creation of Adrian Tchaikovsky since I first read The Children of Time and he hasn't disappointed,ever since, even once. With this book too, Adrian did what he does and knows to do best! He spun a revolutionary tale of multiple worlds and evolutionary stories of different entities on them. These worlds have been existing for billions of years and some organisms on them have perished, some have found cures for cancer, some have very advanced technology to ours, some are not so advanced as us etc....

 The Wedding People  By Alison Espach  Published Year: 2024 Page Count : 384 pages Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Weddings, Life Lessons, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5  I could see the ending but not predict the events leading to it. I want to say this book is very predictable but that won't be entirely right. More than their impulsive actions, the lead characters leave it to the events or the stars to bring them together. I liked this very much and it made them seem so matured and controlled. At one point, I felt a mild panic that it is all slipping out of hand but then the universe does what it should. At the outset this reads like watching an Indian Bollywood movie. Yes it is a much tested and worked recipe. But that is not entirely right as well. The main characters are more nuanced than simple film actors. I loved reading this. This has so much depth than usual romance books. There is no smut what so ever and that is a bi...