Nagasravika's Book Reviews Blog

 Exit Party  By Emily St John Mandel  Published Year: 2026  Page Count: 320 pages Medium Used: Mobile Phone, Moon Reader  Genre: Science Fiction, Multiverse, Multiple Worlds, Suspense, Detectives, 2026-read. Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Beautiful narration. Beautiful writing. What a book!! Sensational. It is a complex subject,  describing and habituating two completely opposite parallel worlds but the author has made it so simple and delivered a fulfilling, compelling read! There are a bunch of characters who are present on the both sides of the spectrum but no where do we get confused as to who is doing what, who is experiencing what!  Through an errant physics teleportation experiment, two women get transported from side B to side A. A man from side A is also switched to side B. Because they cannot replicate the experiment, these people are stuck in their alternate universes and have to make do however they can till something happens and they are...

 The Ministry of Time  By Kaliane Bradley  Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 288 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Time Travel, Science Fiction, Debut Novel, 2026-read. Rating : 3/5 😎 😎 😎  Winner of Sci-fi Goodreads Award 2024 .  This is the kind of book you either totally love and vouch for or toss it aside and carry on with next read. I somehow made it till the end because its my motto to not DNf a book unless its so damningly frustrating and hopelessly boring. This is a convoluted story that made me scratch my head quite a bit and then ponder, ponder until I settled on an acceptable narrative. I don't mean to imply that there are more than one possible interpretations but there might be for all I know. The author has mashed together elements of time travel, spy thriller, romance and suspense to churn out this meal that, to to be honest, is not entirely sumptuous. I will explain a bit of the plot and give out my poi...

 Oracle  (Robert Grim #2) By Thomas Olde Heuvelt  Published Year: 2021 Page Count: 460 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Supernatural, Gods and Sacrifices, Fantasy, Young Adult, 2026-read. Rating : 3.85/5 I very near DnFed this book while reading the last 30 percent. I wish the author has written it a bit differently than the mundane fight between good and evil, played out through a clueless kid and an evil bureaucrat. And once we know what's gonna pan out, he makes it even more boring by dragging it. I wanted to bang my head to the floor to make the pace go fast so I  can wrap the book or get to some better stuff which might be interesting in the later chapters. This book has a great start and good going till the revelation of the mystery behind the events. Then its all predictable.  A small kid becomes the Oracle for an old, crippled, cursed and long forgotten God who is trying to fight another evil God who w...

 One True Loves  By Taylor Jenkins Reid  Published Year: 2016 Page Count; 327 pages  Medium Used: Paperback Genre: Drama, Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Young Adult, Suspense, Coming of Age, 2026-read. Rating : 4.85/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  A woman torn between two true loves. She has to choose whom to spend the rest of her life with. One of the guys was her former husband, her sincere and best friend for over ten years and whom everyone thought perished in a helicopter crash. The other is someone who had crush on her before she met her husband and with whom she rekindles an affair after all this time. I wonder what would have happened and whom she would have chosen and appeased if they both wanted her equally. But as it happens, they are both kind and smart enough to let go when it mattered and hand the choice to her alone. I loved that the most about this book. It is not everyday that a woman gets two incredibly amazing guys, both rooting and wanting her. Her husband, J...

 The Devil Knows Her Name  By C. N. Vair  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 384 pages  Medium Used: OnePlus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre : Horror, Devil, Thriller, Murder Mystery, Gothic, Magic, Young Adult, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Wow. What an amazing read. The factor that stands out in favor of this book is how damn good the prose is. It baited me and had me clinging to the hook till the end. The eerie atmosphere is present all through, giving chills down the spine. Very original, freakishly scary. This comprises of all the usual and unique scaring elements like making deals with the devil, eternal youth, mind control magic, binding the devil and his power among other things. There is desperation and violence resulting from that. This is the first person narrative of a woman Tess and she tells her story of how far she went and how many sacrifices she made to save and secure the most important thing to her! A woman - a witch - actually,...

 The Time Traders  (Time Traders/Ross Murdoch #1) By Andre Norton  Published Year: 1958 Page Count: 220 pages  Medium Used : Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Fantasy, Time Travel, Aliens, First Contact, Science fiction, Adventure, Classics, 2026-read.  Rating : 4.5/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  This is my introduction to the author and she simply blew my mind. To club together elements of time travel, scientific war between USA and the soviets(called Reds here) and aliens with unknown, mysterious intentions towards humanity is no ordinary feat. And Andre Norton shines while describing jaunts and fight scenes which also is not an easy task. Despite being published in the year 1958, some scenes in the book are simply irreplicable and indelible. Like the scene where the main character manufactures an escape strategy to pull himself out from over a burning pyre. It gave me the shivers and proved once again how hostile - even into the past - time travel can be. ...

 Hekate -The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1) By Nikita Gill  Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 384 pages Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Mythology, Gods and Goddesses, Titanomachy, Poetry, Adventure, Greek Gods, 2026-read. Rating: 4.5/5 😎 😎 😄 😄  This is first person account of the coming of age story of a Greek Goddess, Hekate. As a child, she struggles to find the fates of her parents who are defeated gods in the titanomachy, then to learn her skills and talents. Then as a grown up, she puts her powers into action to bring peace to the world and humans,then relieve some burden for her imprisoned father. She defies her relatives and also Gods at every step to seek and get what she aims for. She is guiltless because what she does is listen to the strings of her heart and follow them. I liked the character and there seemed no break between the child and adult - like I could see the bold, inventive adult emerge from the child that she once w...

 The Obsession  By Nora Roberts  Published Year: 2016 Page Count: 453 pages Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Thriller, Romance, Suspense, Murder Mystery, Drama, Crime, Detectives, 2026-read. Rating: 3/5 😎 😎 😎  This is my introductory novel to Nora Roberts and it is very underwhelming. This book started off with a great promise and my interest started flagging off when the author introduced romantic angle and added other layers of yawning, small town drama into the mix. I was able to nail the identity of the serial killer, who is obsessively stalking the main character, about 70% into the story. It was obvious from the information that the author has divulged and kept off from the reader. I kept wondering why she was holding back when it suddenly dawned on me. And it took away all the thrill of revelation and left an unsavory taste, forcing me to rush through the last few pages. The romance between Naomi and Xander felt superficial and forced...

 The Buried Giant  By Kazuo Ishiguro  Published Year: 2015 Page Count: 362 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Fatasy, Drama, Elderly People, Dragons and Warriors, 2026-read. Rating: 4.5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎  Towards the end of the book, there was a scene where the warrior warns the elderly couple - Axl and Beatrice - that their lands are going to washed with blood of their brothers and families now that the mist is cleared. But what really troubled and scared me more than this horrendous vision is that the couple getting seperated on their journey to the peaceful island. No matter what actually transpired in their past, they are all that's left for each other and that's all they crave. They were thrust into the path of warriors and knights and dragons and murder/slaughter but what did it matter to them, such simple and elderly souls they were? The language used and the treatment people conferred on one another is really lyrical, addictive and kept me going. It ...