Nagasravika's Book Reviews Blog

 The Buried Giant  By Kazuo Ishiguro  Published Year: 2015 Page Count: 362 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Fatasy, Drama, Elderly People, Dragons and Warriors, 2026-read. Rating: 4.5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎  Towards the end of the book, there was a scene where the warrior warns the elderly couple - Axl and Beatrice - that their lands are going to washed with blood of their brothers and families now that the mist is cleared. But what really troubled and scared me more than this horrendous vision is that the couple getting seperated on their journey to the peaceful island. No matter what actually transpired in their past, they are all that's left for each other and that's all they crave. They were thrust into the path of warriors and knights and dragons and murder/slaughter but what did it matter to them, such simple and elderly souls they were? The language used and the treatment people conferred on one another is really lyrical, addictive and kept me going. It ...

 Hex  (Robert Grim #1) By Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Nancy Forest-Filer  Published Year: 2016( English version )  Page Count: 384 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Gothic, Supernatural Horror, Psychological, Thriller, witches, Gore and Macabre, Mob madness, Mystery, Fantasy, 2026-read. Rating: 5/5 😎😎😎😎😎  This is a strong, unwavering 5 pointer for me. I mean, gosh. This has all the elements that always raised my hair on end. I have always feared falling a victim to mass madness, mass hysteria. I have feared coming in touch and falling on the bad side of a supernatural,evil entity. I always feared being made to choose between those of my family. Its like this book is written by taking all my fears into a mortar and beating or churning out a psychological thriller that is not just addictive but unforgettable. This book is very immersive. The writing/translation from dutch is flawless and brilliant. This story places a hook i...

 The Miserable Mill  (A Series of Unfortunate Events #4) By Lemony Snicket  Published Year: 2000 Page Count: 197 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Children's Fiction,Middle Grade, Young Adult, Science fiction, Hypnotism, Horror, Humor, Psychological, Fantasy, Siblings, 2026-read.  Rating : 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Some people have comfort food to go to in case they are feeling unwell or in need of something soothing in their tummy. These books have become my comfort go-to series when I feel low or disconnected while reading something else. Although the overall logic and execution in the book remains the same, there are some interesting twists and addictive surprises added to make the story unmissable. This book has added some very memorable characters other than the main, recurring ones - like Sir the Boss, Charles, Shirley etc. Also the author has flipped the roles of Klaus and Violet - here, Violet reads and Klaus invents! Sunny jo...

The Wide Window  (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3) By Lemony Snicket  Published Year: 2000 Page Count: 220 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6  Genre: Children's Fiction, Science fiction, Fantasy, Siblings, Adventure, Brilliant Prose, Middle Grade, Young Adult, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  This is the third book in the sensational series that hasn't failed me yet. It kept getting better with each sequel. I mean the prose is simply rivetting and great. I like how the author inserts his voice into the narration at times to clarify some situation or add more meaning to it. It feels like the author is narrating the tale to each reader in a very cosy and comforting tone and setting.  This book has two important things going for it. One is the amazing plot and the second is amazing, humorous yet realistic characters. The character of Aunt Josephine is perhaps my favourite one in the series. She is afraid of everything and wants to dig herself i...

 The Reptile Room  (A Series of Unfortunate Events #2) By Lemony Snicket  Published Year: 1999 Page Count: 190 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6 Genre: Children's Fiction, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Snakes, Adventure, Heroes and Villains, 2026-read. Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  These books are turning into an incorrigible addiction for me. I was on four other books when I picked the first book in the series but set them all aside to forge on with these books 1 and 2. I think I am gonna continue this ride with the next books in the series too. The author has not only written these books with his reader - a young child of above 8-9 years - in mind but also blended it with novelty, imagination and great character development. The three children along with other characters Mr.Poe, Count Olaf and the hook handed man are back in the game bearing the hallmarks of their natures but also with subtly different personas - because they are playing at impersonation. There is o...

 Snakes and their numerous Virtues  Compiled By Asutosh Patnaik  (Using ChatGPT and other sources) Snakes are considered wise or intelligent in many cultures, but this is mostly a symbolic association, not because snakes are actually known for unusually high intelligence. A few reasons: 🐍 They are observant and patient. Snakes often remain motionless for long periods, waiting for the right moment to strike. Humans interpreted this patience as deliberation and wisdom. 🐍 They seem mysterious. Their silent movement, ability to disappear into hiding places, and unusual appearance made them seem like creatures possessing secret knowledge. 🐍 They shed their skin. This looks like a form of death and rebirth, so snakes became associated with renewal, transformation, and hidden knowledge. 🐍 They survive in difficult environments. Their ability to adapt and live in deserts, forests, water, underground, etc., contributed to the idea that they possess ancient wisdom. 🐍 They were...

 The Bad Beginning  (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) By Lemony Snicket  Published Year: 1999  Page Count: 151 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6  Genre: Children's Fiction, Horror, Disturbing Fiction, Fantasy, Gothic Fiction, Evil Characters, 2026-read. Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  This is a very small book that felt like it has finished too soon. I was immersed into the tale so much that I failed to note the passing time or the flipping pages. Though this is a children's book,it is written with such a deft hand that it took me back to my own childhood. I started wondering how it would be if I was placed in the stead of those three unfortunate children. Their parents perish in an accidental fire and they are left alone with no friend or guardian. As the story progresses and we are introduced to the characters that want to steal their fortune and leave them penniless or worse, dead, I couldn't help becoming a bit paranoid. I started seeing conspirac...

 A Gathering of Shadows  (Shades Of Magic #2) By V. E. Schwab  Published Year: 2016 Page Count: 512 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6  Genre: High Fantasy, Fantasy, Action, Magic and Sorcery, Multiverse, Romance,Romantasy, LGBTQ, 2026-read.  Rating : 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Absolutely digged this! Schwab is a gifted, brilliant writer that her prose and narration kept me hooked through out. In the first book, there was too much happening. We were introduced to this world of magic and sorcery. We saw the main characters - Kell from Red London and Lila from Grey London - overtake evil kings and queens and save a world from consumption by black magic. Then Lila leaves Kell in pursuit of an adventure and thrill. She doesn't want to be bound to anyone or anything and wants instead to have some risk in her life. Doesn't want to be saddled to a boring and secure life. She is a different creature as everyone agrees. A girl cast from a different mold. At the end ...

 The School for Good and Evil  (The School for Good and Evil #1) By Soman Chainani  Published Year: 2013 Page Count: 488 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Fairy Tales,Middle Grade, Children's Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Academia, Young Adult, Humor, Action, Adventure, 2026-read. Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Just wrapped this. What a wild ride! Where do I start?! There is so much happening in every chapter it is very tough to keep track of it all. So I stopped trying after a while and just sat back and enjoyed. On the whole, this is a book with a message. With multiple messages actually. 1. Looks and beauty can betray the actual nature of a person. Sweet and beautiful looking Sophie is vile and cruel at heart and ghoulish, raven looking Agatha is the best of persons there ever would be. 2. A person need not be completely good or evil - there can exist a balance or mixture of both traits. Cruel Sophie too wanted joy, happy ever after, prince charming and all th...

 The Eyes of the Dragon  By Stephen King  Published Year: 1984 Page Count: 430 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6  Genre : Horror, Fantasy, Thriller, Action, Demons, Dragons, Suspense, Young Adult, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  This book is just so amazing and gripping that I couldn't put it down. Its fast paced. The character development is just amazing. Only thing is I felt the author has made even 16 - 17 year old teenagers sound like children. He is very good .. no absolutely phenomenal .. in writing young kids going on adventures and if we choose to overlook the ages and such  details, we can enjoy the story thoroughly. Reading from the title, I assumed this story is gonna be surrounding or involving dragons. I postponed picking the book on this account. But now having finished it, I know the title is very misleading. The only dragon in the story is the head of a killed dragon mounted on a hook in the king's private room. The king Rola...

 The Divorce  By Freida Mcfadden  Published Year : 2026 Page Count : 380 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord CE6 phone Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Thriller, Psychological, Twists, Suspense, Mystery, 2026-read. Rating: 3.75/5 😎😎😎😎 The main characters in the story are Naomi Roth the wife, Jeremy Roth the husband, Veronica the mistress and Teddy the child. Right off, I felt Jeremy and Veronica's characterization is not realistic. They seemed forced and melted to fit the mold of the story. While reading the Veronica's version of the tale,I was rushing through it and stifling a yawn. Its hard for me to see her in the light of her projection. The first narrative from Naomi showed her in a negative light so her own ought to show her in an exact opposite and pink light? I would have believed if there was some deception or weakness in her nature but the absence of it made me uneasy. And Jeremy - his story doesn't add up. He married so his kid can have two parents but he had...

 Storm Front  (The Dresden Files #1) By Jim Butcher  Published Year: 2000 Page Count: 370 pages  Medium Used: ipad Air  Genre : Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Magic and Wizards, Action, Detectives, 2026-read.  Rating : 4/5 😀😀😀😀 I really enjoyed this book. I really liked the character of Harry Dresden, a wizard detective that helped the cops on the side. Dresden's character was introduced in this book and I felt that there is so much more to know about him, which was not laid out in this book yet. There were many sequels in the series and I would definitely like to check them out. I thought the pacing is fast and the narrative really hooked me. It was a typical detective story - with magic involved. Someone had been murdering people through black magic - blowing their chest cavities and ripping their hearts out. There was a White Council which oversees the practitioners of magic and ensured that a set of rules be adhered to. The cops with whom ...

 The Book Of Doors  By Gareth Brown  Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 436 pages  Medium Used: ipad Air  Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Magic, Magical Books, Action, Suspense, Thriller, Science Fiction,Time Travel, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 I couldn't put this down. I started it as a means to break my boredom and sleeplessness by reading one or two chapters in a well received work of science and speculative fiction. This book hooked me right away. It kept me up way longer than I expected. The first chapters I read on my phone but then i had to switch to a bigger screen. I couldn't leave out the time I was charging my phone. That good this book was. Definitely try it if you happen to like all the magic books could deliver.  The first thing that came to mind as I kept devouring this book was how thorough the author was while writing it. He was very careful and thoughtful about not having any loopholes, flaws and weaknesses in his plot. Had a qu...

 Twelve  (The Naturals #4.5) By Jennifer Lynn Barnes  Published Year:2017 Page Count: 125 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Mystery, Murder Investigation, Thriller, Psychological Profiling, 2026-read. Rating : 3/5  I would have to say that this book didn't give me the high from reading something novel. Its just that the killer and his motivations, needs for influencing his victims were different. But because this is a novella, I didn't expect much too. Its short and undeviating from the author's style and set up of the previous Naturals novels.  A new girl of twelve with natural talent for identifying and seeing things out of usual perspective got recruited into the Naturals programme at the end of the book. This girl was also the targeted victim for a psychopathic killer. Cassie and her friends saved the girl from literally the brink of death. The girl, Mackenzie McBride, caught the attention of FBI by threatening to jump off a high tower. She had...

 Bad Blood  (The Naturals #4) By Jennifer Lynn Barnes  Published Year: 2016 Page Count: 375 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Cults and Secret Societies, Young Adult, Blood and Gore, 2026-read.  Rating: 4.5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 This series is so much fun to read! Hands down. I had formed various threads in my mind of how this book would unravel and how the ending would play out. There are many twists and surprises in the story but the one that came in lieu of Cassie's mother's dual nature felt redundant. Why can't she justify herself as someone who wanted to survive against all odds because she wasn't someone who would give up easily ? Why introduce this new element into an already twisted and mind bending story? I also felt that the author had not laid enough groundwork for establishing a solid timeline ( because so much was happening all through) to the succession of Masters and their apprentices - like the relation...

 All In  (The Naturals #3) By Jennifer Lynn Barnes  Published Year: 2015 Page Count: 375 pages Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Crime Fiction, Secret Societies, Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Fiction, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 😀😀😀😀😀 What bloody hell! What did I just read? Secret Societies? Ritualistic, fibonacci series based killings? Very well written. Best book in the series as far as I have made it through! Blends all the elements that ticked me off from first book and adds some more spice of its own. This is the book which paves the way for Cassie to become something more than a Natural and embrace the truth of her mother's murder/missing identity. Everything that has happened so far - including the Naturals programme and the associations Cassie made with the other kids in the programme - fades in comparison to the revelation that comes towards the end in this book. It is simply shocking.  Cassie's mother went missing five years ago from a room drenc...

 Killer Instinct  (The Naturals #2) By Jennifer Lynn Barnes  Published Year: 2014 Page Count: 370 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Action, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Profiling, Murder Mystery, Young Adult, Hit Series, FBI, 2026-read.  Rating : 3/5  Not as sensational as the first book in the series. I was totally blown away by book 1. It had a mixture of suspense, psychological profiling, insights into deviant minds bordering on psychopathic tendencies and romantic triangle between the lead characters. In this book, I thought no emphasis was laid on any of the above aspects.  The author had laid exaggerated importance on the character of the villain who seemed to be the kingpin behind the 5 murders in this book. He had minions - referred to as copycats, students, partners or apprentices - who echoed his MO and signature in their crimes. That guru happened to be the father of one of the teenagers in the Naturals programme funded and...

 Divine Rivals  (Letters of Enchantment #1) By Rebecca Ross  Published Year: 2023 Page Count: 360 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Fantasy, Romantasy, Epistolatory, Gods and Magic, Young Adult, Enemies to Lovers, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 😍😍😍😍😍 I didn't feel this story should be encompassed under the umbrella of enemies to lovers. There was definitely some rivalry between the two main characters - Iris Winnow and Ramon Kitt - but it was never devoid of some empathy and mutual attraction. Ramon and Iris are vying for the role of a columnist in the Oath Gazette newspaper organization. For Iris, it is a matter of survival because with her mother enfeebled and muddled in drink, she is the sole bread earner of her family. Her brother is away, fighting a war between the Gods Dacre and Enva. Dacre is the God of the Underworld while Enva is the Skywards. They too had a enemies to lovers and back to enemies history. I liked how their background is uncovered ...

Snow Crash  By Neal Stephenson  Published Year: 1992 Page Count: 574 pages  Medium Used: Kindle PW  Genre: Classics, Science Fiction, Mythology, History, WWII,Fantasy, Hard Science, Mafia, Action, Drugs, Thriller, Metaverse, 2026-read.  Rating: 4.5/5 😃😃😃😃🥳 I enjoyed it very much. Atleast for the major part. But I also felt restless and dissociated when Hiro Protagonist, our main character, is talking to the librarian in the Metaverse about religion and drawing parallels with virus propagation in humans. I didn't know if I had to laugh or take them seriously. How can they compare believers of a certain faith having cult prostitution or breast feeding, spreading viruses through their bodily fluids to those doing it in the computer world? Felt outrageous to me. What is this listening on radio waves from other planets for metavirus and spreading it to the humans over? These weird comparisons and analogies, I just couldn't stomach. The last 50 pages are solid mi...

 Walking to Aldebaran  By Adrian Tchaikovsky  Published Year: 2019  Page Count: 100 pages [ Novella ] Medium Used: Kindle Paperwhite  Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Alien Contact, Horror, Speculative Fiction, Loneliness, 2026-read.  Rating: 4/5  The narrator is an European astronaut, who having aspired to become an Astronaut that gets to navigate space and meet aliens, since childhood has his dream come true. Then what remains for him is nothing but pure regret. Because he gets lost in a maze like Crypt, an alien artefact, separated from his crew members and wandering/walking forever and sustaining/snacking on the meat of bugs and squishy, mushy alien creatures stuck in the labyrinth like him.  The narrative plays in two timelines - one is recounting his experiences with different alien creatures and how indefinite walking in the labyrinthe has altered him psychically and physically. The other tells the series of events that took pl...