Nagasravika's Book Reviews Blog

 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...

 Mestra  By Madeline Miller  Published Year: 2026 Page Count: 68 pages Medium Used : Oneplus Nord Ce6, Moon Reader  Genre: Mythology, Ancient Greece, Cannibalism, Horror, Suspense, Shape Shifter, 2026-read. Rating : 4/5 😎 😎 😎 😎  Only 60 odd pages. I wonder why this book isn't longer. The material for the story is solid and could have been extended. There is an eerie and ominous sense of impending doom in the pages drawing to the end of the story. The consequences/fate met by the king of Thessaly, the protagonist's father, are not novel - I just came across something similar in a short story by Stephen King, published in his anthology, Skeleton Crew. Someone resorting to cannibalism and that too an extreme version of it! I just felt that the loyalty and obedience Mestra had for her father was one way and purely from her side! I was just hoping that she would learn of it before it's too late.  Mestra is raped by Poseidon and later gifted with shape shifti...

 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.  Rating : 4.25/5(overall) 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  😎 😄 😄 😀  T...

 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...

 Exit Party  By Emily St John Mandel  Published Year: 2026  Page Count: 320 pages Medium Used: Mobile Phone, Moon Reader  Genre: Science Fiction, Multiverse, Multiple Worlds, Suspense, Detectives, 2026-read. Rating: 5/5 😎 😎 😎 😎 😎  Beautiful narration. Beautiful writing. What a book!! Sensational. It is a complex subject,  describing and habituating two completely opposite parallel worlds but the author has made it so simple and delivered a fulfilling, compelling read! There are a bunch of characters who are present on the both sides of the spectrum but no where do we get confused as to who is doing what, who is experiencing what!  Through an errant physics teleportation experiment, two women get transported from side B to side A. A man from side A is also switched to side B. Because they cannot replicate the experiment, these people are stuck in their alternate universes and have to make do however they can till something happens and they are...

 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...