Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

 The Angel's Game ( The Cemetery of Forgotten Books #2 ) By Carlos Ruiz Zafon  Published Year: 2008 Page Count: 504 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre : Thriller, Occult, Drama, Detective, Mystery, Lucifer, 2024-read.  Rating : 5/5 😀😀😀🥰🥳 This book will keep me up at night, thinking and trying to piece together all the bits and pieces revealed in the plot. If there is a flaw in the story whole, it is that it hasn't clearly stated how so many characters like Diego Marlasca, the witch of Sorrento etc. have managed to stay alive past their prime, in pristine condition. There is only a mention of the occult sacrifice and nothing else. Is there a hand of the devil in this whole bargain? If so, why? Unclear.  The main character, David Martin, writes novels and stories for news papers. He once gets a deal to write a book on Theology (creating a new religion from a book lol) from an Italian publisher Andreas Corelli. He gets an insane amount of money deposite...

The Drawing of the Three  ( The Dark Tower #2 ) By Stephen King  Published Year: 1987 Page Count: 463 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Adventure, Fantasy, Action, Suspense, Multiverse,2024-read.  Rating : 5/5  Loved this one.  Detta Walker is one of my crazy favorite characters in fiction. I expected there to be three people along with Roland because there are three doors to get one from each .. but what Stephen King did with the last one .. didn't see it coming! At the same time, I am a bit confused. Roland wants to get to the Dark Tower real bad. He doesn't care whom he has to sacrifice on the way as he gets there. It feels like we are walking along with him. And he is just as clueless as us about how to get there,what to do to get there. If so, my question is, how did he just do what he did with the Jack Mort character? What if he will be needed on the journey? I just didn't get it.  The journey of Roland continues to the dark tower. As h...

 The Dark Prophecy  ( The Trials of Apollo #2 ) By Rick Riordan  Published Year: 2017 Page Count: 400 pages  Medium Used : Paperback  Genre : Mythology, History,Adventure, Action, Greek Mythology, Apollo God, 2024-read.  Rating : 4/5 🌟 😎 😀 🤣  Hilarious! The God of Music, Healing and Prophesy, Sun God Apollo's trials on earth as mortal Lester Popadopolous continue. This is a continuation to the book 1 (whose review is here : Review of The Hidden Oracle ). I thought in this book, Apollo didn't get to use his godly powers at times of peril. He was saved by the fortuitous rescue operations staged by other demigods or special creatures in the story. I would have liked it better if he got to use his own powers. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable journey.   In the previous book, we see Lester/Apollo teaming with Goddess Demeter's demigod daughter Meg McCaffrey, using his varied skills and powers diligently at the appropriate instances, to releas...

 Child of the Morning  By Pauline Gedge  Published Year : 1976 Page Count  : 505 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Ancient Egypt, Hatshepsut, Pharoahs, Speculative Fiction, 2024-read.  Rating : 4/5  I am sure a large part of this story is conjecture and based on contemplated fiction than facts. Nevertheless, I could find no loopholes or plot blunders here. The atmosphere didn't feel transportive to the Ancient Egyptian era under discussion and that is felt a major flaw for me. Somehow, the magic of Ancient Egypt is not there. It felt like I was reading any story of intrigue involving politics and passion.  This book covers the story of life of queen Hatshepsut who named herself Pharoah despite being a woman. Since her birth, she has been ambitious and her father, Tuthmoses i, stoked her flame. He made her his crown prince despite having a son from a second wife. Upon her father's death, she marries her step brother,Tuthmoses ii, and beco...

 Yugandhar (Epoch Maker, Lord Sri Krishna)  By Shivaji Sawant  Translated from Marathi to English by Kadambini Dharap and Madhura Phadke  Published Year: 2000 in Marathi, 2017 in English.  Page Count: 568 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre : Spirituality, Hinduism, Mahabharata, Biography, Mythology, Lord Krishna, Krishna's life story, 2024-read. Rating : 5/5  If I am gonna always have one book in my library.. this one is it! The story of the life - mostly, his adult life and the events leading to and following the great, 18 day Kurukshetra War - are told from multiple points of view. Narrators are his sakhas and sakhi - krishna himself, his main wife Rukmini, his charioteer Daruka, his minister and friend Satyaki, his best female friend and sister Draupadi, then his paramsakha and cousin Uddhava.  I felt rejoiced to read many of the already well known details from Krishna's escapades but I,  invariably felt a dearth about two aspects. ...

 The Ten Thousand Doors of January  By Alex E. Harrow  Hugo Award Nominated book, Debut Novel   Published Year: 2019 Page Count: 347 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Multiverse, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Fiction, 2024-read.  Rating : 4.5/5 😀😀😀😀 This is a well written story. It is filled with endless adventures and lots of surprises. The main character is a young girl, January, who has lost her mother in an escapade when she was a child. She doesn't know, until much later, what has happened to her. Her father is a never present entity that works for a rich man as a rare artifact finder. She is raised, isolated and alone with her books and pet dog, Sindbad, in the house of her father's employer. This is what looks on the surface. But underneath, her father has unsuccessfully been searching, for seventeen years, for 'Doors' which would trace his path back to her mother.  There are Ten Thousand  Doors in this world where the reso...

 My Name is Red  By Orhan Pamuk ( Winner of Nobel Prize for Literature) Published Year: 2001 Page Count: 415 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre : Orhan Pamuk, Istanbul, Paintings, Ottoman Empire, 16th Century, Drama, Murder Mystery, Romance, 2024-read.  Rating : 5/5 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 Something made me take reading this book way longer than my usual time. Its been over 10 days. But I have no regrets. I have savored every drop of this gorgeous nectar. The writing is simply superb. The prose is mesmerizing. This story comprises of a love story and a murder mystery. The writing transported me back to the time of ruling ottoman empire in Turkey. The story is narrated in first person point of view of various characters .. some of them living, some dead and some non living objects even.  Orhan pamuk is the second author from Turkey I have encountered in my reading.. the first being Elif Shafak whom I have come to adore. This writing is much superior and consists of tho...