Nagasravika's Book Reviews Blog

 The Book of the Dead (Part 2) Edited by Jonathan Strahan  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 475 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Suspense, Anthology, Short Stories, Collections, Various Authors, 2026-read. Link to the part 1 stories in the book  Part 1 stories review Link to Part 3 stories in the book Part 3 Stories Review Wait by Cassandra Khaw  Rating : 3.5/5 A woman of forty thinks that the arrival of a certain dog means her death is near. Long time ago, her mother had shot herself, orphaning her and her sister. Her friend requests her to wait before committing suicide herself. Then on the day she decides to drown herself, she meets a stranger. And her plans get foiled. What I liked about this story is the message that no matter how aware people are about the certainty of death, when time approaches, they want to tarry. No one wants to die because there is always something worthwhile to do, to accomplish! ...

 All of us Villains  (All of Us Villans #1) By Amanda Foody, C.L.Herman  Published Year: 2021 Page Count: 384 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Magic, Games, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Betrayals and Alliances, Young Adult, Horror, 2026-read.  Rating : 4/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  First of all, the world and character building are good. All though all the characters stick to their true selves, the problem is none of them are likeable/good. Like the title reads, they are all villains in some form. There are seven main contestants to the game of Blood Veil and each has been groomed since birth for the prize. Participating in the game is generational for the seven families. Grieve family has never won - not even once in the last eight centuries with the game played every twenty years. Lowe family has won the most and has been possessor of the high magick which becomes theirs as the winner's family. The stakes for the participants - who are mere kids - is so high. Only...

 My Husband's Wife  By Alice Feeney  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 314 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Thriller, Psychological, Suspense, Twists, Mystery, Detective and Police, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎😄🆒👍👍  I am usually not that impressed with thriller books though I read them whenever I come across a well acclaimed novel. This is my second book (Rock paper scissors being first) by the author and I feel this is a much superior work than that first one. It has solid world building and a satisfying, well formed story line from all character povs. I don't know how many re-reads, corrections it takes for the author and her editors to reach this stage but I am happy with the final outcome! 🏵️🏵️ The first two chapters, I was wondering if I have accidentally (but fortuitously because I love these) stumbled upon a book dealing in alternate realities, multiple universes and time travel. It was so eerie and had that vibe of a teas...

 Dharmayoddha Kalki : Avatar of Vishnu (Kalki Trilogy #1) By Kevin Missal  Published Year: 2017 Page Count: 440 pages Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Epic Fantasy, Mythology, Hindu Mythology, Indian Authors, Fantasy, Good vs Evil, 2026-read. Rating : 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Highly entertaining. I am damn sure that someone who doesn't have background knowledge of Hindu myths won't be able to make heads or tails of this book. But I am glad that we have some gifted writers like Kevin Missal among us who want to dabble in God stuff, so to speak. Kevin's writing and command over English language felt superior to Amish Tripathi - another Indian taking inspiration from Indian myths to concoct captivating stories. It is impossible to evade comparisons between the two authors I feel. I loved the court intrigues, the politics and even the bloodshed which felt liberating and endearing in this book, for some damn reason I don't know!  This book deals in the shaping out of dharm,...

 The Fires of December  (Hoid's Travails #3) (A Cosmere Universe Novel) By Brandon Sanderson  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 452 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Science fiction, Fantasy, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy, Romance, Demons, Good vs Evil, Alternate Realities, 2026-read. Rating: 4.85/5 😎 😄 😄 😄 😄  This is the third in series but happens to be my first book from the series. It can be read completely 💯 standalone. I didn't feel any lack in my understanding because of not picking this one in the set order. The descriptions of the landscape and layout of the city, with the demon, felt difficult to follow but illustrations presented  alongside the text helped. There seemed to be some incongruencies where December, the main character, was trying to portray herself a mature woman to Flint, her current romantic interest and future husband, but was also flirting using tricks that naive, young girls do. I felt per...

 Skeleton Crew  By Stephen King  Published Year: 1985 Page Count: 762 pages Medium Used: Paperback Genre: Horror, Short Stories, Anthology, Thriller, 2026-read.  The real thrill I felt while reading these stories was knowing that they were from the master storyteller King and also not knowing what was going to be there in a story. Sort of like diving blindfolded yet knowing it will be an enjoyable ride! King knows very well how to play supernatural with horror/suspense like a fiddle. I pick up a story and feel that it's gonna be atleast a 3.5/5 which is encouraging!  I am reviewing bigger stories/ novellas here. There are other shorter stories apart from these which I will give a overall rating at the end to. A couple of really short stories like the milkman fail to impress and stir horror in me. Plus all these these stories are very old - from the late twentieth century. So overall rating for the book is 4.25/5  😎 😄 😄 😀  The Mist (a novella of 19...

 Trad Wife  By Saratoga Schaefer  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 310 pages Medium Used: Mobile Phone, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Demons, Thriller, Supernatural, 2026-read. Rating : 4/5 😎 😄 😀😄  It was a good read. But I had some reservations with the characters and the characterization among other things. First off, this book is very unsimilar to Rosemary's baby. In that book, a woman is tricked into bearing the child of satan and is very quickly parted with her child post birthing. Here, we have a woman who (seemed demonic herself to me) willingly gives birth to a demon's child and then parts with her humanity to become one with the cult. Its a novel idea for sure but somewhere in the last 50-60 pages, I felt certain of the ending and that dampened some of my interest. There was only one way the story could go and that way it went!  The narrator mentions that her husband is domineering and controlling like her father and only wanted her for her submi...

 The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom #1) By Rachel Gillig  Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 385 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Romance, Romantasy, High Fantasy, Gods and Magic Objects, Young Adult, 2026-read.  Rating: 4.5/5 😎 😄😀😏  The writing is compelling. The story has traction and reads solid. One corrupt human turned God. She is not benevolent. She makes five fake gods called Omens and keeps them chained to her gifts of gold and divine offerings for centuries. They have got used to having power that they don't want to relinquish. She takes on young orphan girls and trains them at the arts of divination. They can get signs and portents from these omens and use them to guide/control people and kingdoms. One such diviner is Sybil Delling, also called 'six' because she is the sixth and most noted diviner in her batch. These diviners are on a rotation cycle of ten years - every ten years new ones take the roles of diviners. There are f...

 The Ministry of Time  By Kaliane Bradley  Published Year: 2024 Page Count: 288 pages  Medium Used: Paperback  Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Time Travel, Science Fiction, Debut Novel, 2026-read. Rating : 3/5 😎 😎 😎  Winner of Sci-fi Goodreads Award 2024 .  This is the kind of book you either totally love and vouch for or toss it aside and carry on with next read. I somehow made it till the end because its my motto to not DNf a book unless its so damningly frustrating and hopelessly boring. This is a convoluted story that made me scratch my head quite a bit and then ponder, ponder until I settled on an acceptable narrative. I don't mean to imply that there are more than one possible interpretations but there might be for all I know. The author has mashed together elements of time travel, spy thriller, romance and suspense to churn out this meal that, to to be honest, is not entirely sumptuous. I will explain a bit of the plot and give out my poi...

 Oracle  (Robert Grim #2) By Thomas Olde Heuvelt  Published Year: 2021 Page Count: 460 pages  Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Horror, Thriller, Supernatural, Gods and Sacrifices, Fantasy, Young Adult, 2026-read. Rating : 3.85/5 I very near DnFed this book while reading the last 30 percent. I wish the author has written it a bit differently than the mundane fight between good and evil, played out through a clueless kid and an evil bureaucrat. And once we know what's gonna pan out, he makes it even more boring by dragging it. I wanted to bang my head to the floor to make the pace go fast so I  can wrap the book or get to some better stuff which might be interesting in the later chapters. This book has a great start and good going till the revelation of the mystery behind the events. Then its all predictable.  A small kid becomes the Oracle for an old, crippled, cursed and long forgotten God who is trying to fight another evil God who w...

 One True Loves  By Taylor Jenkins Reid  Published Year: 2016 Page Count; 327 pages  Medium Used: Paperback Genre: Drama, Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Young Adult, Suspense, Coming of Age, 2026-read. Rating : 4.85/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  A woman torn between two true loves. She has to choose whom to spend the rest of her life with. One of the guys was her former husband, her sincere and best friend for over ten years and whom everyone thought perished in a helicopter crash. The other is someone who had crush on her before she met her husband and with whom she rekindles an affair after all this time. I wonder what would have happened and whom she would have chosen and appeased if they both wanted her equally. But as it happens, they are both kind and smart enough to let go when it mattered and hand the choice to her alone. I loved that the most about this book. It is not everyday that a woman gets two incredibly amazing guys, both rooting and wanting her. Her husband, J...

 The Devil Knows Her Name  By C. N. Vair  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 384 pages  Medium Used: OnePlus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre : Horror, Devil, Thriller, Murder Mystery, Gothic, Magic, Young Adult, 2026-read.  Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Wow. What an amazing read. The factor that stands out in favor of this book is how damn good the prose is. It baited me and had me clinging to the hook till the end. The eerie atmosphere is present all through, giving chills down the spine. Very original, freakishly scary. This comprises of all the usual and unique scaring elements like making deals with the devil, eternal youth, mind control magic, binding the devil and his power among other things. There is desperation and violence resulting from that. This is the first person narrative of a woman Tess and she tells her story of how far she went and how many sacrifices she made to save and secure the most important thing to her! A woman - a witch - actually,...

 The Time Traders  (Time Traders/Ross Murdoch #1) By Andre Norton  Published Year: 1958 Page Count: 220 pages  Medium Used : Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Fantasy, Time Travel, Aliens, First Contact, Science fiction, Adventure, Classics, 2026-read.  Rating : 4.5/5 😎 😄 😄 😄  This is my introduction to the author and she simply blew my mind. To club together elements of time travel, scientific war between USA and the soviets(called Reds here) and aliens with unknown, mysterious intentions towards humanity is no ordinary feat. And Andre Norton shines while describing jaunts and fight scenes which also is not an easy task. Despite being published in the year 1958, some scenes in the book are simply irreplicable and indelible. Like the scene where the main character manufactures an escape strategy to pull himself out from over a burning pyre. It gave me the shivers and proved once again how hostile - even into the past - time travel can be. ...

 Hekate -The Witch (Goddesses of the Underworld #1) By Nikita Gill  Published Year: 2025 Page Count: 384 pages Medium Used: Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Mythology, Gods and Goddesses, Titanomachy, Poetry, Adventure, Greek Gods, 2026-read. Rating: 4.5/5 😎 😎 😄 😄  This is first person account of the coming of age story of a Greek Goddess, Hekate. As a child, she struggles to find the fates of her parents who are defeated gods in the titanomachy, then to learn her skills and talents. Then as a grown up, she puts her powers into action to bring peace to the world and humans,then relieve some burden for her imprisoned father. She defies her relatives and also Gods at every step to seek and get what she aims for. She is guiltless because what she does is listen to the strings of her heart and follow them. I liked the character and there seemed no break between the child and adult - like I could see the bold, inventive adult emerge from the child that she once w...

 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...

 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 ...