Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

 The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps  By Kai Ashante Wilson [American Author] Published Year: 2015 Page Count: 132 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Science Fiction, Fantasy, Action, Horror, LGBT, 2025-read. Rating: 2/5  Verdict: not very impressed. Just okay read.  This is the debut novel of Kai Ashante Wilson but it feels masterfully crafted. It doesn't read like the work of an amateur. There are places where in my habit of fast reading, I missed to understand what she was implying. And at those times, I had to read the text again for better continuity of the story. I felt some pieces of the puzzle are left open ended. I felt that the sorcerer's full magical powers were not displayed. Instead a lot of time was lost in fighting off infiltrators or insurgents from outside .. this didn't allow for the fuller, healthy development of the character of Demane,the sorcerer. We know next to nothing about the main characters. The character development should have bee...

 Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth  (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4) By Rick Riordan  Published Year: 2008 Page Count: 341 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre : Action, Adventure, Fantasy. , Science Fiction, Greek Mythology, Ancient Greece,2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 😋😋😋😋😋 This book is so very good. After back to back disappointments in books 2 and 3, this is a refreshing hit, for me.  It is gripping and immersive. It left me feeling good, satisfied and yearning for more. The character and world development is simply superb. I need not add any more accolades to the brilliant, master story teller Rick Riordan. He is simply awesome.  The Labyrinth - which was created by Daedalus and maneuvered by Theseus with the help of Ariadne's string is at the center of the plot here. Daedalus is still alive .. escaping death and cheating the Hades for the past two millenia. He has been hopping his soul from one automated body to another and l...

 Rock Paper Scissors  By Alice Feeney  Published Year: 2021  Page Count: 294 pages Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Contemporary Fiction, Psychological Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Prosopognosia, Face Blindness, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 😀🥰🤩😋😍 I found this book very engaging. Its an ingenious work. The present day experiences of Adam and Amelia are alternated with the letters Adam's wife writes him - one for each year for the ten years of their marriage, each written on their anniversary. She doesn't send him the letters .. keeps them in her bossom and only for her perusal.  I found something not connecting with this whole one letter a year business - the time line didn't match. Like the wife writes each letter from 2008 and they were married for like 10 years .. so that should mean the current year should be 2018 .. but in fact it is 2020 .. I was racking my brain about where the two years went.. when the surprise twist is revealed! I was expecting...

 Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse  (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) By Rick Riordan  Published Year: 2007 Page Count: 295 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre : Mythology, Greek Gods, Action, Adventure, 2025-read.  Rating : 3/5  Somehow, i feel discontented and unfulfilled. I think the series is not getting better but rather stale and insipid as it progresses. I didn't like this one as much as the first/second book in the series. I think the author tried to add some elements of surprise and revealed them towards the end but by that time, I fully lost interest and curiosity to unravel any mystery. There are some loose ends and silly,illogical liberties he took with the narrative. Like how did the skeleton-soldiers appear out of nowhere in the Half Blood Camp in the end? What the hell happened to Bianca/Nico and why/who put them in the casino of Lotus seventy years ago?  I feel that the Trials of Apollo series is much better written than thi...

 Conclave  By Robert Harris  (Now a Major Motion Picture based on this book)  Published Year: 2016 Page Count: 285 pages  Medium Used: Paperback (HardCover) Genre : Theological Fiction, Christianity, Selection of Pope, Thriller, Political Intrigues, 2025-read.  Rating : 4/5  Holy moly!! The ending is so so so unexpected. It is a gut punch, for sure. But I also finish this book with a sense of calm and an understanding, ascertaining that God's will prevails, in all matters! The first hundred or so pages, i was fully leaning towards DNFing this book. There were so many words and references to scriptures that I didn't understand and had to frantically Google. But as the story progressed, I saw how beautifully narrated it all was! The second half of the book is unputdownable. It was a slow burn. A late bloomer of a book but a very essential book for everyone and anyone looking to find faith in the events of this chaotic world. Mr.Harris doesn't cast a doub...

 The Boleyn Inheritance  (The Tudor Court #4)  By Philippa Gregory  Published Year: 2006 Page Count: 518 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Historical Fiction, Court Intrigues, Royalty, Tyranny, 2025-read.  Rating: 4.5/5 One of the best character assassinations ever read. One of the best character portrayals ever. One of the most engaging reads ever! I so, so, so loved reading this book. 😍😍😍 Just wrapped this and my heart is thudding. I am refraining myself from giving out any spoilers. I want everyone to enjoy this book the same way I did. Its a real slow burn. This book covers King Henry viii's  marriages to Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. While the former was too stern and rigid in her sexuality, the latter is too forthcoming  and kind of slutty. Both get a taste of what it means to be married to a mad man, a tyrant and a whimsical king. They should be envied because they have loads of wealth at their command but I hardly think ...

 The Housemaid's Secret  (The Housemaid  #2) By Freida McFadden  Published Year: 2023 Page Count: 261 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre : Contemporary Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Murder, 2025-read.  Rating : 3/5 This is a quick read. Millie is back again. She is involved in another husband-abused-wife-rescue operation that lands her right in the middle of a police investigation. She is a serious suspect. They find her finger prints on the murder weapon. They find gun residue on her clothing in laundry. The timing of her presence in the murder location is precise. Every evidence marks her the prime suspect and the noose is tightening around her neck. Someone wants her to take the fall desperately. She imagines she is helping this someone but doesn't know that her vulnerabilities are amped up and playing against her.  I didn't see the twist coming. The plot is unraveling at its own slow and steady pace and then bam! There is a surprise! Millie i...

 Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters  (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) By Rick Riordan  Published Year: 2006 Page Count: 265 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre : Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Magic, Ancient Greece, Mythology, 2025-read.  Rating : 3.5/5  The ending .. more precisely, the ending line .. had me in knots. Left me thirsting for more dosage of the Percy Jackson universe. Somehow this book didn't satisfy me enough. It is not magical enough, not like the first book in the series. But, I am still amazed at the skill and knack of Mr. Riordan in bringing together the modern world with creatures and beings from ancient lore.  Percy is having dreams of his friend Grover, the satyr, who has gone on a quest for Pan. He sees the satyr imprisoned by a giant, near blind Cyclopes and the friend is calling him for help. As coincidence or fate would have it, the camp half blood is also losing its protective capability. Something, someone has don...

 Lost Souls  By Poppy Z Brite  Published Year: 1992 Page Count: 335 pages  Medium Used : Kindle PW  Genre : Horror,fantasy, Vampires, Good Prose, Macabre, Murders, 2025-read. Rating : 5/5 😃 This is a tale of vampires and love and revenge and pain and loss. So achingly beautiful!! What moving and immersive prose! Has a swaying, persuasive, utterly compelling logic to things that are fantastical! Vampires and humans co-exist in this dangerous world imagined and brought to life by Poppy Z Brite.  At start and till the story catches some momentum, I was bemused and cringed at the rotten world she shows .. a world filled with youth lost in drugs, pleasures of the flesh and completely devoid of a purpose in life. In short, most of them are lost souls who are searching for or probably don't even know that they are searching for some meaning in their lives. The Vampires in this story are also devoid of sentiments, human values and don't think twice before cheating...

 Vengeful  (Villains #2) By V.E.Schwab Published Year: 2018 Page Count: 575 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre:  Supernatural, Villains, Action, Adventure, 2025-read.  Rating: 5/5  I searched for avenues and reasons to cut off some points from the book rating but the story is so compelling, the writing so refreshing and plot so gripping that I succumbed and eventually gave it a 5 pointer. This book is a great improvement over the first book in the series, Vicious. I simply couldn't wait to get to the end. I wanted to know what is the fate of the two villain-heroes Eli Cardale and Victor Vale. I wanted to know how the author has written off this book  .. since this is the second book of the series. And now that I know, I must say I can breathe easy and my pulse returned to normal rate. Or maybe this is me just being over the top, dramatic queen and all. :)  Victor Vale is brought back to life by Sydney Clarke but he is glitched. He suffers m...

 The Calculating Stars  (Lady Astronaut Universe #1) By Mary Robinette Kowal  Winner of Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards for 2019. Published Year: 2018 (Tor Books) Page Count: 385 pages  Medium Used : Kindle PW  Genre : Historical Fiction, Alternate History, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Rocket Science, 2025-read.  Rating : 4/5  This book had my heart racing from the beginning till the end - albeit for different reasons. A meteorite strikes earth and makes it impossible for life on earth to sustain after a few years. So humanity swiftly embarks on the only alternative path they have - explore and colonize outer space. They start with the nearest planetary body, the Moon. In the process of getting started with rocket tests to the point of having astronauts step on the Moon, the team at International Aerospace Coalition (IAC) face many challenges. As they address and breathe relief after successfully handling each issue, the story progresses. The author def...

 The Templar Legacy  (Cotton Malone #1) by Steve Berry  Published Year: 2006 Page Count: 486 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW Genre: Christianity, Historical Fiction, Faith, Knights Templar, Theosophical, Jesus Christ, Action, Adventure, Secret Societies,2025-read.   Rating: 3.8/5 Coming on the heels of the The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown(released in 2003) , three years after the book's release and dealing in a similar topic of hunt for the documents and treasure secreted away by the ancient Knights Templar and debating on the  exposure of that uncovered information to the world, it is impossible not to draw parallels between the two books. No doubt, this book is very well researched. I get a feeling that I have become an overnight expert on the religion of Christ and his life .. although I know what I know is only the tip of an ice berg!  In the DaVinci Code, we see Jesus was believed to have been married to Mary Magdalene and their royal blood line still...