Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

 DHOOTHA (Season 1) Cast : Naga Chaitanya, Parvati Thiruvothu, Prachi Desai.  Genre : Supernatural,Horror, Suspense, Thriller, Macabre, 2024-watched.  Director and Writer : Vikram K Kumar  Watched Medium : Amazon Prime Video  My Rating : 9.5/10 😀😀😀😀😀 Crime gets reported to the relevant parties before it actually takes place and the future is something that cannot be altered because it is written by a ghost!! One of the best I have ever watched. Kept me hooked from the start till the end!  Very thought provoking and nerve wracking experience. Makes us wonder at what point the real infiltration of lies and politics started happening into journalism in our country. Journalism is supposed to be a field filled with people who uphold the values of integrity and truth but for quite a while, spreading fake news has become the norm, for the benefits of certain corporate parties. This web series shines a light on the devastation that could result from the work of a few corrupt journalists.

 I Fell In Love with Hope  By Lancali  Published Year : 2022 Page count: 420 pages  Genre : Contemporary Fiction, Hospital, Death, 2024-read.  Rating : 2.5/5  Verdict : Boring. More than boring, its depressing.  Not only does the narrator kill off a couple of her "true" loves, she does away with all the other kids too - making this way too depressing to stomach.  This is just an awful book which is drawling, constructed on a weak plot - but the author shows promise. She has potential. She can write. I would be checking out her future works for sure despite this massive debacle of a work. I think this book could have been salvaged if it wasn't so long. Under 200 pages and it would have been fantastic! But now, with over 400 pages, its a nightmare read. Most of the time, we either spend reading about their adventures in and out of the hospital or how they fall sick and spend time in surgery / treatment.  Probably my review is going to be harsher than my usual reviews. But I

 At Night All Blood Is Black  By David Diop  ( Winner of International Booker Prize 2021 ) Published Year: 2018 , English Translation : 2020  Page count: 145 pages  Medium used : Paperback  Genre : War, WW1, Mental Illness, Psychological Fiction, Brutal, 2024-read.  Rating : 5/5 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 The last two pages offering a conclusion to this powerful story on the brutality of war, functioning of a human mind and soul have knocked the breath out of me. They made me think - and think deep I did. I read and reread some passages to understand how strange and misguiding the narration has been to my understanding! While I have been assuming it to imply a certain thing, all the while it was telling a different and hidden story. The small tale, coming at the end, about a fickle princess(Fary Thiam) who falls for a lion sorcerer(Alfa Ndaiye) is the key to untangling this mystery. It adds a lot of gravitas in making an interpretation of the narrative. My understanding could be wrong but it looks lik

Tales from the Cafe  Series : (Before the coffee gets cold #2)  By Toshikazhu Kawaguchi  Published year : 2017 Page count : 150 pages  Medium Used : Kindle Paperwhite  Genre : Time Travel, Fiction, Magical Realism, Contemporary, Emotional Drama, 2024-read.  Rating : 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I have not read the part 1 in this series and so I am not aware what the foundation is laid for this book. There are some unmistakable references to the first book here and I can understand that all the rules are explained in this book as well,  creating a rich tapestry of background information. This is not a hardcore science fiction novel. This book focuses on a message that helps people deal with loss, failure and death in a novel way. When someone dies and leaves a beloved person behind, the person left should try to move on and be happy instead of being moored to a lost past because that's what the dead person would want them to do. Their happiness is a gift from the happy and joyous past they shared.  The

A Pair of Blue Eyes  By Thomas Hardy  Published Year : 1878  Page Count : 435 pages  Medium Used : Paperback  Genre : Classics, Drama, Romance, Fiction, Timeless, 2024-read.  Rating : 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Thomas Hardy has been one of my all time favorite authors. Though this book is not as famous as some of his others, it didn't disappoint. With a thumping heart, I neared the conclusion to this tale. So much - well being of hearts and souls of multiple characters - is at stake. The last pages, I had to fight my impulse to jump to the last page and see the end. This was the third book by Hardy and was written in the late 19th century. But I think a lot of its nuances apply even to the current day. He  teaches an important lesson to young people who idealize love and their partner without knowing this thing in advance : that we don't know whom fate puts in our path before we meet them. If we knew that our Mr.Perfect or Miss Perfect is going to show up in our lives at this time and this

 The Fury  By Alex Michaelides  Published Year : 2024  Page Count : 289 pages  Medium Used : iPad Pro Genre : Mystery, Murder, Suspense, Whodunit, Fiction, 2024-read.  Rating : 4/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟 I liked this story. I liked the narrative style. I liked the way it triggered the juices of my own inner detective. Everything happens but it is not really happening. What seems on the surface is not what is on the inside. Good people turn bad, bad people become good. What we see is not what we get. Its a convoluted and garbled nonsense that makes absolute sense once everything is said and done. Highly recommend!  Just when we are settling down for there being no murder, a murder happens and someone gets locked up for life for it. This is a story of recounting a crime of passion and betrayal, getting rid of the one person who was loved like means everything!  Getting into the story a bit, an ex-actress invites her friends and family to a getaway on an island in Greece. She plots with her best friend

 No Longer Human  By Osamu Dazai  Published Year : 1948 Page Count : 177 pages  Medium Used : Paperback  Genre : Speculative Fiction, Good Prose, Lyrical prose, 2024-read Rating : 5/5 🌟 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ For such a short book, the story carries immense weight on the mind of an impressionable reader like me. This book speaks to readers of all ages, genders and is as pertinent to the current times as it was when it was first published!  A lot of people go through what the narrator had fought to escape all his life - a sense of purposelessness and an abyss of inner void where he can't form any sort of meaningful connections with people around him. It gets to the point that he starts referring to everyone else as human beings as if he isn't one too! And for him, these comparisons and observations which marginalized him started very early on in his life. He is too bashful and shy with everyone that he deeply fears them and prevaricates. He compensates this lack of real connection through mocker

 The Bear and the Nightingale  By Katherine Arden  Published Year : 2017 Page Count : 410 pages Medium Used : Paperback  Genre : Historical, Mythological Fiction, Russian Folklore, 2024-read . Rating : 4/5 😃 😎 😀 🤣 This is such a befitting story to get initiated into the fairy tales and folklore of Russia! I felt transported into an alternate universe( a small part of Russia is an entire universe unto itself )  inhabited by small Gods ( living in stables, horses, ovens, forests, water streams and bushes) and demons(Death and his twin brother, One eyed stormbringer). This is the story of demons being mischievous, cunning and immoral in their fight to power which is guarded by ancient Gods/Chyteri that are gradually weakening due to human indifference and advent of new Gods. These chyteri have a friend in a beautiful, wild spirited girl Vasilisa/Vasya who,unknown to herself, also happens to be a witch. Its a beautifully narrated story although I felt here and there, the writing could

  Dream Snake by Vonda N. McIntyre Winner of Nebula and Hugo Awards Published Year: 1978 Page Count: 318 pages Medium Used: Kindle Paperwhite Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fantasy, 2024-read. Rating: 3.25/5 Plot and Story Overview Snake is a healer from a society of people who immerse themselves in training and genetic manipulation experiments to assist people with healing skills. Apparently, this story is taking place at a time in future after nuclear war has ravaged and destroyed many parts of Earth. She uses her three snakes - Mist, Sand and Grass (the DreamSnake) to heal and cure infections and other diseases for people scattered across the desert and mountainside. On one expedition, she accidentally loses her dreamsnake and that becomes a set back to her profession. She feels immense guilty to go back to her camp and ask for a new one because of the unavailability of these dreamsnakes with/to her people. Mist and Sand are genetically modified and when drugged, they produce anti

 If he had been with me  By Laura Nowlin Published Year: 2013  Page Count : 385 pages  Medium used : Paperback  Genre : Romance, Young Adult, Teenage Love, 2024-read.  Rating : 4.5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐🌠 This is a well written, cute, little love story. I felt very warm and fuzzy reading it .. until realization dawned on me on how it is going to end. It is definitely a sad ending but also holds some hope and promise for the future. The writing is utterly captivating. I congratulate the author on her amazing writing skills that brought this story to life!  To get to the rest of my review, click the link to wordpress.com below.  Read My Full Review Wordpress  Or Find the same review on Wix.com below Read Full Review on Wix

 The Serpent and the Wings of the Night  By Carissa Broadbent  Series : Crowns of Nyaxia #1  Published Year : 2022 Page Count : 450 pages Medium used : Paperback Genre : Fiction, Fantasy, Vampires, Romance, Young Adult, Adventure, 2024-read.  Rating : 3.75/5 ⭐⭐⭐💫 💫 Its an okayish read for me. At times I found myself wondering if this story is for real. A human girl fights and wins against hard-core vampires through sheer brute force and some magical abilities that she doesn't really know how to wield. She summons them in case of need but that doesn’t work always. I read the whole book and I am just as clueless, about why she is called a serpent, at the end as I was at the start. She is clearly raised with messages of wanting and needing self protection and self denial from associating with vampires in her father's(the Vampire King) court because she is a human. Why is she called a snake/serpent? Is there some part of her history that is not disclosed at this point? On the who

 The Marriage Portrait  By Maggie O'Farrell  Published Year : 2022  Page count : 376 Pages  Medium used : Kindle PW  Genre : Historical Fiction, Italy, Uxoricide, Suspense, Psychological Fiction, 2024-read.  Rating : 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I was wavering between a 4 and 4.5 rating while reading the book. But the last few pages solidified my decision into a firm 5 point category. The prose is so delicious and refreshing. The suspense is both chilling and thrilling to unravel. The plot is riveting. Lucrezia de Medici, the duchess of Ferrara and daughter of Duke of Tuscany, one year into her marriage, senses that her husband is set to kill her. The book opens on a note of his being coy and nice to her, where she is not fooled for a second. This sense of danger with no hope for escape is shocking and revelatory of the times the narrative takes place in. There is also a sense of adventure, in planning for escape from her enslaved, dreary existence juxtaposed with the danger, that is totally alluring

 Where are the Children?  By Mary Higgins Clarke  Published : 1975 Page count : 166 pages  Medium Used : Kindle PW  Genre : Suspense, Mystery, Murder, Fiction, 2024-read  Rating : 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A couple of kids, Michael and Missy, go missing. Either they are kidnapped by someone or are killed .. by their own mother who had a history of killing her kids. Yes, some six years ago, she stood and got off from the trial of accused for murdering her children - Peter and Lisa. She got off that trial without conviction because the key witness bolted and disappeared. Things don't look very bright for her this time since everyone is looking directly at her and not at other options. A man from her past, reappears and actually takes the children hostage. He has diabolical and creepy plans in mind. He almost makes them happen. Different folks come together to form a team unraveling the mystery. Who was the man from her past? What has he got on her that he wants to keep hurting her ?  I sat on edge t

 Ramses : The Son of Light (Ramśes #1) By Christian Jacq  Published year : 1995 Page Count: 315 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Fiction, Historical fiction, Ancient Egypt, Pharoahs, Spiritual Fiction, 2024-read.  Rating : 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Truly amazed by the skill of Christian Jacq in creating such powerful and authentic characters. I feel he has done absolute justice -  through his depictions of Seti(the Pharoah) and Ramses(his son and prince regent) - in framing the idealistic personalities and god-like incarnations of Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt. He transported me into a world of magic, mysticism and psychic spirituality.  I have really felt like .. how a true citizen of Egypt must have felt under the rule of Seti - hope, faith and trust in the divine prowess of the king and his superhuman abilities to overcome all sorts of dangers inundating Egypt and threatening their peaceful existence in this world. I felt despair when it is revealed that he is secretly ailing and might not have lo