Nagasravika's Book Reviews Blog

 We Used to Live Here  By Marcus Kleiwer  Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 270 pages  Medium Used; Kindle Scribe  Genre: Dark, Lesbians, Horror, Alternate Realities, Ghosts, Murder, Suspense. Thriller, 2026-read.  Rating: 4.5/5 😀😀😀😀🤞 Eve and Charlie are a couple who purchase, renovate and sell houses for profit. They have bought a mansion 3709, situated on a 5 acre plot, surrounded by mountains, forests and ponds, on Heritage Lane. It is a secluded spot, located far from nearby establishments. For example, It would take over 2 hours to get help in case of medical emergencies or police assistance. But still, they love the house and buy it. The interior is cluttered with relics, old furniture covered in dust and they project an year for clearing it up. They plan on demolishing the house and building new from scratch.  One day, a family of five arrive on their footstep with a strange request. Charlie is out of the house and Eve receives them. The Fau...

 Private Rites  By Julia Armfield  Finalist for Arthur C Clarke Award 2025 Published Year: 2024  Page Count: 235 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre: Dystopian, Horror, Drama,Dysfunctional Families, Science Fiction, Coming of Age, LGBTQ,2026-read.  Rating: 3/5 😀😀😇 I came across this book while browsing the shelves of Arthur Clarke Award nominees for 2025. Immediately taken in by the idea of a story loosely based on King Lear and his three daughters, I picked it, setting aside three other books I was reading at that point. The dominant thought running in my mind all the time I was reading was, where is this story going? I also remember thinking, at multiple points, that the author is not a sensational storyteller. But I was resolute to not give in to the voice in my head prompting me to DnF and see the book through to the end. Having finished, I have ambivalent feelings for this. I liked the character development and appreciate the fact that there a...

 Sea of Tranquility  By Emily St. John Mandel  Published Year: 2022 Page Count: 166 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Colonization of Space, Mystery, Suspense, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 ❤❤❤❤❤ In the year 1912, on a Caiette island, off the shore of British Columbia, a young man experiences a time space anomaly. He stands under a maple tree and in a flash of darkness, hears violin playing, airship taking off before he is brought back to reality. He becomes aware of the presence of a priest nearby whom he hasn't seen before and soon after, the priest vanishes. The young man - a Edwin St. John - brushes away the experience as one where he is hallucinating and probably experienced some derangement of the brain. Similar experience is recorded towards the end of 20th century when a music composer Paul Smith, while playing his orchestra, shows a video footage where the glitch is obvious. Then, in a separate incident in the 22nd centu...

 The Widow  by John Grisham   Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 416 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe Genre: Court Room Drama, Suspense, Crime Thriller, Murder Mystery, Contemporary Fiction, 2026-read. Rating: 3.25/5 I guess I cannot write a review, driving my points across, without introducing all the main players in the story. Simon Latch is an estate lawyer - attorney and counselor at law - dealing in wills and bankruptcy cases from a small town of Braxton, Virginia. He has been at his gig for over eighteen years and is working his routine cases without much enthusiasm. He has a strained relationship with his wife, Paula and he seems to care enough for their kids to not miss any of the major events in their lives. He hasn't got divorced with his wife because they simply haven't got the money to go through with the proceedings. He regularly plays video poker and gambles small amounts at a joint run by a bookie Chub. His secretary Matilda has been working for him fo...

  The Little Stranger   By Sarah Waters   Published Year: 2009 Page Count: 512 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Historical Fiction, Supernatural, Horror, Ghost Stories, Haunted Houses , 2026-read.  Rating: 4/5  Hundreds Hall is a two century old mansion, flanked by farm lands and gardens, invariably on a spiral of decline, neglect and ruin. The inhabitants of this house are old Mrs. Ayers, her children Roderick and Caroline, a couple of housemaids Betty and Mrs. Belazely. The narrator, Dr. Faraday, is called up to the house for consultation of a sick Betty. This visit stirs up his memories of association with the house where his mother once worked as a maid. He laments at the ruin the house has fallen into and the near poverty the family has sunk into. After that he makes himself a frequent visitor at the house, first as a physician to help with Roderick's ruined leg and later turning himself into their family doctor. This story is narrated ...

 You Like It Darker  By Stephen King  Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 500 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre: Horror, Anthology, Short Stories, Supernatural, Mystery, Dark Fiction, 2026-read.  Rating : 5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 I should say a very easy, breezy 5 pointer this one gets! I bow down before the creative genius of Stephen King. I salute his knack for writing and keeping the reader hooked no matter what subject he is talking about. Because he is very versatile and very prolific in his writing. Each of these short stories carries its own weight. Each one leaves its mark in a different but sure way. There are short stories and there are longer ones .. but all contain some amount of darkness, death, mystery in them. I especially enjoyed the ones which had supernatural elements added and those with cops and detectives. The old aged male characters, I felt, spoke the language of Mr.King - exactly the way he speaks. Their thoughts and behaviors reflected hi...

 Blindsight  By Peter Watts  Hugo Award Finalist Published Year: 2006 ( Tor Books ) Page Count: 390 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre: Aliens, Science Fiction, Horror, First Contact, Space Opera, Philosophy, 2026-read.  Rating: 3.5/5 The narrative didn't make sense all the time. Its not like the author went rambling or anything, its just his sentences failed to drive his point. For the most part though, it felt very engaging and gripping. I had some issues with the overall logic and didn't understand why an evolved species like humans or an intelligent species like the aliens/scramblers do what they do. I have enumerated some of these questions I had while reading down below. The horror angle to the plot .. I felt it initially when humans encounter the ship Rorschach and have an formal dialog with the aliens but later the author has made it mostly about explaining away his theories on consciousness and the nature of these aliens. More than horror, this f...

 The Descent  (The Descent #1) By Jeff Long  Published Year: 1999 Page Count: 575 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Satan, Underworld, Gore and Macabre, Expedition into the Unknown, 2026-read.  Rating : 5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 A deeply disturbing book(but my sweet sweet cup of tea!!!). This is not for the weak minded or the sensitive souls out there. I felt like every possible from of death through murder/torture is recounted here. After reading this and taking into account all the events of face off between the underground "savage" creatures labeled Hadals and the so called "civilized" humans, I am at a loss to decide who is more brutal and animalistic. My involvement with the story got too intense and I had to force myself off for a bit. As the story progressed, it only became more often. I had to turn myself away from this darkness so that I wouldn't get consumed by it. The author has come across as someone who has done a lot of resea...

 So Let Them Burn  (Divine Traitors #1) by Kamilah Cole Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 334 pages Medium Used: Kindle Paperwhite  Genre: Dragons, Gods, Magic, Young Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Sister Bond, Political Intrigue, 2026-read. Rating: 4.85/5 When I started to think about the apt rating for this book, I was conflicted between bestowing it a 5 pointer or a lower 4.5. I finally settled with a 4.85 because while it wasn't a story that was blowing me away, it was logically sound and highlighted the moral ambiguities, natural flaws in human nature impressively. There were a couple of places where I had to back up a bit and rewind to understand the author's sound and clever conclusion! There are quite a few things that impressed me and educated me in this book. First off, the writing is great. It is very riveting and gave off a refreshing vibe. Even when good and evil are fighting off each other, the vibe is not one of  despondency. I liked how dragons -  ...