Nagasravika's Book Reviews Blog

 Black House  (The Talisman #2) By Stephen King, Peter Straub  Published Year: 2001 Page Count: 624 pages Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Multiverse, Good vs Evil, Action, Young Adult, Magic, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎😎😎😎😎  I liked this story almost close to the first book in the series, the Talisman. I could venture a guess here that the first and last parts are written by Straub while the middle two by King. I enjoyed King's writing better. I can't explain how he has such a strange hold on the language and the reader. In this book, we don't see so much of the Territories other than for a couple of episodes. The focus is laid on a Black House - both covered in black paint and also feels depressing, bleak inside - which acts like a worm hole between the infinite worlds in existence. In this book, we meet the grown up coppiceman(a cop) Jack Sawyer, twenty years after Talisman adventure has ended. So, he is 32 now.  He has worked...

 Hungerstone  By Kat Dunn  Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 336 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, LibreraX  Genre: Horror, LGbtq, Lesbians, Blood and Gore, Suspense, 2016-read.  Rating : 2/5   I usually give an outline to the story before delving into my thoughts and impressions. But for this novel, my disappointment is so obvious. The loopholes are wide and glaring. I don't understand the numerous rave reviews this has got. First off, the writing felt repetitive, dragging and  boring. I didn't understand the title. Why is this called the Hungerstone? Is this because the main character's emotions have gone so dry and droughty before the end? Or is it because some murder is committed at a hungerstone and if this is the case, why is it so important to become the book title? I don't know the answer.  And then the character of Carmilla. Is she a vampire? Or some other supernatural entity? It isn't clear to me how she has the profound, na...

 Mister Monday  (The Keys to the Kingdom #1) By Garth Nix  Published Year: 2003 Page Count: 200 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW Genre: Adventure, Action, Young Adult, Children's Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, 2026-read. Rating : 4.5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😄  There once was an Architect who created the House and the Secondary realms from Nothing. It is possible to navigate to different realities from the House. After a while, she goes off, leaving behind her Will. The Will document is broken into pieces and one of them is stored away on a distant star. The book starts with this component escaping and continues with a man called Mister Monday and his steward approaching an asthmatic kid, Arthur, who is struggling to catch his breath, alone on his school's playground. This man, Monday, gives him a Minute Key - his property/power -  because he is tricked by something into doing so. After that the adventures of Arthur start. He is a randomly chosen heir to...

 The Book of the Dead  ( Part 3 ) Edited By Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Link to Part 1&2 stories  Part 1 Stories Review Part 2 Stories Review Now Watch Me as you hold your Breath by Sylvia Park  Rating : 4/5 What a crazy story!! This tells the experiences of a girl who has lost her parents and dog in a car accident. She cannot relate to the world and mainly to sex. She has no cravings for it. She has two friends - Aya, whom she once saw having sex with a local band vocalist where she literally snacks on him(creepy and is this the narrator's imagination!!?) , and Rinko who finds happiness only through relationships with older men that inevitably turn sour. I can understand why this story made the cut into this book. I mean there is death in this even though not like in th...

 The Book of the Dead (Part 2) Edited by Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Link to the part 1 stories in the book  Part 1 stories review Link to Part 3 stories in the book Part 3 Stories Review Wait by Cassandra Khaw  Rating : 3.5/5 A woman of forty thinks that the arrival of a certain dog means her death is near. Long time ago, her mother had shot herself, orphaning her and her sister. Her friend requests her to wait before committing suicide herself. Then on the day she decides to drown herself, she meets a stranger. And her plans get foiled. What I liked about this story is the message that no matter how aware people are about the certainty of death, when time approaches, they want to tarry. No one wants to die because there is always something worthwhile to do, to accomplish! ...

 The Book of the Dead  ( Part 1 ) Edited By Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Overall rating for the book : 4/5  Some stories I absolutely adored. Some i didn't enjoy so much. One or two i skipped and skimmed over. But this is a spectacular work of some great minds of our time!!   I really like .. no, am drawn like an addict to .. dark fiction. There can't be anything more violent or dark than stories covering death. Not one or two but all of them. Death, murder, slaughter in one way or the other. My mindspace of paradise! These tales recount the numerous interpretations of what happens to a spirit post death.  Passengers By Indrapramit Das  Rating : 5/5 This is the story of a young boy who loves a girl dearly enough that he covers up a murder she commits. He doesn'...

 All of us Villains  (All of Us Villans #1) By Amanda Foody, C.L.Herman  Published Year: 2021 Page Count: 384 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Magic, Games, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Betrayals and Alliances, Young Adult, Horror, 2026-read.  Rating : 4/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  First of all, the world and character building are good. All though all the characters stick to their true selves, the problem is none of them are likeable/good. Like the title reads, they are all villains in some form. There are seven main contestants to the game of Blood Veil and each has been groomed since birth for the prize. Participating in the game is generational for the seven families. Grieve family has never won - not even once in the last eight centuries with the game played every twenty years. Lowe family has won the most and has been possessor of the high magick which becomes theirs as the winner's family. The stakes for the participants - who are mere kids - is so high. Only...

 My Husband's Wife  By Alice Feeney  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 314 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Thriller, Psychological, Suspense, Twists, Mystery, Detective and Police, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎😄🆒👍👍  I am usually not that impressed with thriller books though I read them whenever I come across a well acclaimed novel. This is my second book (Rock paper scissors being first) by the author and I feel this is a much superior work than that first one. It has solid world building and a satisfying, well formed story line from all character povs. I don't know how many re-reads, corrections it takes for the author and her editors to reach this stage but I am happy with the final outcome! 🏵️🏵️ The first two chapters, I was wondering if I have accidentally (but fortuitously because I love these) stumbled upon a book dealing in alternate realities, multiple universes and time travel. It was so eerie and had that vibe of a teas...

 Mestra  By Madeline Miller  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 68 pages Medium Used : Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Mythology, Ancient Greece, Cannibalism, Horror, Suspense, Shape Shifter, 2026-read. Rating : 4/5 😎 😎 😎 😎  Only 60 odd pages. I wonder why this book isn't longer. The material for the story is solid and could have been extended. There is an eerie and ominous sense of impending doom in the pages drawing to the end of the story. The consequences/fate met by the king of Thessaly, the protagonist's father, are not novel - I just came across something similar in a short story by Stephen King, published in his anthology, Skeleton Crew. Someone resorting to cannibalism and that too an extreme version of it! I just felt that the loyalty and obedience Mestra had for her father was one way and purely from her side! I was just hoping that she would learn of it before it's too late.  Mestra is raped by Poseidon and later gifted with shape shifti...