Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

 The Warded Man  (The Demon Cycle #1) By Peter V Brett Published Year: 2008 Page Count : 416 pages  Medium Used : Kindle Scribe  Genre : High Fantasy, Magic, Sorcery, Action, Adventure, Demons, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5  This book is so so good. I was riveted to the plot and style of writing from the start. I have come to like a few characters and hate a few other .. all because the character development and world building are so fantastic. It is hard for me to believe that this is a debut novel by the author! Even now, as I write this review, some of the horror lingers with me. The three main characters are little older than teenagers and they are all as naive as they as brave, as wise as they are gullible and as loving as they are demon hating.  Enjoyed reading this book very much. I liked how the three characters are brought together and they unite against a band of these demons. I liked how the warded man evolves into his state of being and convinci...

 The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon #6) By Dan Brown  Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 677 pages Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre: Science Fiction, Consciousness, Thriller, Mystery, Prague, Intelligence Agencies, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 🥰 Brilliantly written. Until the end, I didn't see the twist coming. There is one suspense after another that kept me hooked. Until the very end, I felt like there are loose ends to be tied. And two major questions remain in mind : how did Pavel make it to the underground laboratory of Gessner without her keycard and access codes? How did The Golem survive the explosion without anything happening to his physical body? The rest all seems to fall in place seamlessly. Two scholars .. Robert Langdon and Katherine Solomon are on a visit through Prague where Katherine was invited to give a lecture on her newly written(but not yet published) book about non local human Consciousness. At this point, i thought this book is riveted on the ...

 The Last Devil to Die  (Thursday Murder Club #4) By Richard Osman Published Year: 2023 Page Count: 417 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Mystery, Murders, Suspense, Heroin smuggling, Cozy Mystery, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 😇 Well, let's see. This book felt different. This is my first book with the author and the series. I remember starting book 1 in the series but not finishing it - due to some time constraints. Now that I have read this one and enjoyed it, I might give the full series a retry. There are many scenes where I would go over the sentence and come back to it in a blink like what the hell has just happened? There are multiple murders in the plot and some of them are revealed in regular chats and conversations.. like totally taking me by surprise. There are cops in the story but they are sidelined by NCA (National Crime Agency) looking into the murders and so these cops tag along with the members of a Thursday Murder Club. The Murder Club con...

 The City and its Uncertain Walls  By Haruki Murakami  Published Year: 2024 (English Translation) Page Count: 672 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Magical Realism, Alternate Worlds, Young Adult, 2025-read.  Rating : 4/5 This book has 70 chapters and until I reached 67, I was fully inclined to give it a 5 star rating. To say that Mr.Murakami botched the ending would be an understatement. He left many loose ends untied and unanswered. Some aspects of the novel left me totally combobulated and asking myself, what the hell is this logic? Where is this driving the narrative? I am fully sure that the author didn't come up with the plot framed fully in his mind before he started writing but went on building it up as his work progressed. Unlike his other books where I gave a similar low rating, it is not because of some cringy sex scenes or overwhelming smut that I am removing points here. I must be either stupid to look for logic in a magical realism sto...

 This Immortal  By Roger Zelazny  Winner of Hugo Award 1966 Published Year: 1965 October  Page Count: 175 pages  Medium Used: Kindle Scribe  Genre : Science Fiction, Fantasy, Vampires, Aliens, 2025-read.  Rating : 5/5 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗 Loved reading this. I picked this book with my eyes closed because the author is Roger Zelazny. I had read his Chronicles of Amber in the past and was truly inspired, thrilled and amazed. As expected, he didn't disappoint me. The world building and character development are unique. Though it has many Fantasy elements like vampires and other creatures, they are logically explained and couldn't be brushed aside as mere Fiction. This plot reminded me of a telugu movie (Indian Bollywood) Missamma (2003)which starred Bhumika Chawla and Shivaji. It is so near to that I felt removal of a surprise element. Still, this narration is infinitely superior and so giving it a solid 5 pointer! There were a few references to ancient Greece and ...

 Dying of the Light  By George R. R. Martin  Published Year: 1977 Page Count: 300 pages  Medium Used : Kindle Scribe Genre : High Fantasy, Space Opera, Romance, Betrayal, 2025-read.  Rating :5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 This book is so so good. I have become a fan of Martin's writing with the Game of Thrones series and wanted to check out some of his previous works. This was written and published in 1977, way before he became famous. The number of ratings on goodreads (which i use as a benchmark to note a book's success/popularity) showed that it is not that well known/read. Alas,but this one is a true gem!! Character development is superb. The prose is gorgeous. There is love, betrayal, sorcery, dirges that drive their listeners mad, suicidal and wickedness, brutality in right dosage to keep me immersed, glued throughout. There are scenes where I could feel my breath's sharp intake and my heart skip a few beats. At the end, my feeling is that some of the characters got what ...