Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

The Gone World  By Tom Sweterlitsch (2018) 365 pages (kindle digital edition)  Genres : Science Fiction,Thriller, Time Travel, Dystopian Fiction  Rating : 4/5 😍😋 Edit : Writing this review I understood how incredibly complex this story is .. to be explained in a few short sentences .. making for an abridged version of the plot. This is a mixture of both science fiction (involving time travel, space travel) and crime thriller.  Not a typical crime detective story or science fiction, this story has got a 'feel' to it .. that felt very much like a "soul". The character development is good - especially the main character. We get to see how immensely stubborn and iron willed the main character Shannon can be in the face of repeated crisis not leaving the consequences to chance.  Its an amazing portrayal of an alternative reality where time and space travel is authorized for agents of military who leverage it for solving criminal cases. Shannon Moss is an agent of t...

Gravity  by Tess Gerritsen #books #reviews #suspense #scifi #thriller My Rating : 5/5 😃🥰 Awesome! Loved it! At times felt the handicap of not being familiar with all the medical and technical jargon being thrown around but otherwise a very perfect fit into the kind of books that click with me. :D Space exploration .. add to it a tinge of selfless love and also throw into the mix  pathological viruses with a 100 percent mortality rate .. it makes for a sleep foregoing, eye riveting thriller that kept me awake all night last night.  Getting into the plot line, a space mission aboard International space station goes awry when one by one all the scientists onboard start dying due to a virus that absorbs the DNA of its host into its own genome and propagates, thrives, profligates. Where did this virus come from? How to fight it into remission? How does a physician Jack save his wife Emma who is infected with the virus and is fighting it as a sole survivor on the space statio...

Dasara (2023)  Telugu on Netflix  Rating 8/10 😇😁 This is a story that shows God helps those who help themselves. Its a story where  action takes victory over crippling sense of fear and propels even the weaker ones against overpowering odds to win.  This movie can be impeding to some people due to much of gore and violence - for which it has an A rating - which made it all the more   realistic and raw. Loved Nani and Keerthy Suresh in every frame they appeared in. Some actors chase after commercial and glamorous roles .. but these two have chosen this film to push themselves and give themselves the test of passionate acting. They will go far and hope they both bag many many awards for this movie.  Coming to the story .. The movie is shot in the singareni coal mines of Telangana. Vennela(Keerthy Suresh) and Suri(Deekshith Shetty) love each other from their childhood. They get married and Suri gets killed on the night of their wedding. This is a ploy b...

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau  By Silvia Moreno Garcia  Rating 4/5  Genres : Fiction, Mexico, Fantasy  I liked the premise for the book more than the actual story itself. A doctor isolates himself on a Mexican island and conducts experiments of creating hybrid creatures..sometimes mingling animal with animal and other times human with animal.. his daughter Carlota being one of them. His employer not getting enough return on his investment plans to cease funding and at the same time the employer's son falls in love with Carlota .. but he is not a good fella .. the doctor wants the marriage and funding.. others in the sanatorium don't want anything to do with their alliance ..  All things break down at the end. The daughter of doctor moreau sets up her own place and practice with her surname wiped clean.. its an interesting read. Unlike other works where mention of hybrids made me cringe.. this one is very moderate and gave those animals a real human l...

Hidden Pictures (2022) By Jason Reklulak  Rating : 5/5  Genres : horror, suspense,twist, fiction  284 pages (Kindle Digital Edition)  A fantastic story with a terrific twist and a terrific ending! Loved this and couldn't put it down at all. I picked this after the goodreads choice awards are announced and this book won the award for horror genre. Finished it in a day and half .. the story is shrouded in mystery and suspense right from the start and I didn't see the twist coming..  A girl who is a drug addict but has been sober for over 20 months is hired as a nanny for the summer by a rich family. She has to look after their five year old kid Teddy and is given a cottage to live in. As the story unfolds, she learns that there is a spirit following Teddy and is trying to tell a story through his paintings/pictures. There is also a psychic woman Mitzi living as their neighbor who helps spin up a ouja board for communicating with the spirit. So who...

Therese Raquin  By Emilie Zola  Genres : Fiction, classics, Temperament  Rating 5/5  I am an ardent fan of the works of Emilie Zola. Like his precious books I have read and enjoyed, he didn't disappoint with this one either. Liked this one immensely!!   Its an ongoing and nonstop feature of anxieties and fears between a husband and wife who had murdered an innocent man to get together. Therese and Camille have been brought up together by Camille's doting and caring mother. They were married to each other but Therese had little affection to this sickly man and indulges in a debauched relationship with his friend Laurent. Laurent wants a lazy life where someone takes care of him and his needs. He sees opportunity for realizing his goal with Therese and both of them together murder/drown Camille on a trip. After that they have not a minute's peace and try to find ways to escape each other and also the ghastly act they have committed. The end comes ...

The Glass Hotel (2020)  By Emily St. JOHN Mandel  Rating 5/5  Genres : Fantasy, Contemporary,  Fiction  276 pages ( Kindle digital edition )  Funny in a non funny sort of a way. A close knit of people dragged into a case of ponzi scheme that crashed with the 2008 financial market..Johnathan at the helm of it and all his associates .. how it unraveled and what happened to the involved people after he got convicted. Some commit suicide,  some end up in jail like him,  some walk out without a penny in their pockets. The style of writing is very prosaic and moving.. there is hilarity even in places where it is not to be expected.  Liked the book very much!