The Dreaming Reality by Noor Khan and Karan Anand | Review by the Quill Company

Author: Noor Khan and Karan Anand
Publisher: Self Published
Rating: 2/5

Summary:

Ridhima Maniktala is in a relationship with her student, Rihansh Kashyap. She reads about a mysterious, life-threatening disease in which you see your future in your dreams. She also gets lifelike dreams about a woman called Sara and her family of three. In her last dream, Sara receives a phone call saying, “Your husband was killed in a car crash.”

Is Ridhima Sara?
Is Rihansh going to die?
Will Ridhima’s dreams be her future?

Review:

The book was an attempt at penning down an unusual story but as the saying goes, one tends to ruin the effect when trying too hard. The transition of the plot and the narration weren’t up to the mark to actually articulate into a good book.

Though I loved the fact it was a story of two people with an age gap with the female character being older, I was disappointed with the way the characters were built from the beginning. The approach was very sexist in my opinion. Also, a major chunk of the timeline was missing in between, which if explained, would have provided the story with much needed weight.

A few sections seemed irrelevant like explaining the Cullen Syndrome technically. This was explained all throughout the story as well which was unnecessary. There was no consistency in the pace either. At times, the story progressed too slow and at times too fast. Some particular sections should have been elaborated on. There were metaphors which were carelessly used which in turn took a toll on the explanation of the story.

I was in awe of the innocence of the love tale depicted here it was rushed. Though the book is 277 pages long, I felt disconnected and somewhat was filled with questions which I expected to be answered by the end of the story. However, this did not happen. I wish the book would have gone through more extensive editing and proofreading, so a more solid version would have come into existence.

The Dreaming Reality is available for purchase on Amazon.
*** The Quill Company received this copy from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review***

Vanshikha Kanojia

Sinners The Dawn of Kalki by Naveen Durgaraju |Review by The Quill Company

Sinners The Dawn of Kalki

Naveen Durgaraju

Author: Naveen Durgaraju

Publisher: PepperScript Publishers

Rating: 4/5

Summary:

The world has ended.

It is prophesized that when sin reaches its pinnacle in kaliyuga, Kalki, the final avatar of Vishnu will descend upon Earth to cleanse the world. Now, a mind-scrambling psychic wave from a child whom many believe to be Kalki, has caused unprecedented doom, heralding the apocalypse. The tattered ruins of the Indian wastelands are now populated with clueless survivors, dangerous factions and their grim motives.

Heroes rise and fall, men and monsters duel and humanity collapses in this radiation filled land of despair, dread, sharp claws, dull knives and old guns. Amid plots of treachery, betrayal, love, revenge and stark terror, the innocent and the wicked clash with and often among each other for survival.

Will those who survive, overcome these odds and their inner demons? Or will they succumb to the wrath of the wastelands?

Review:

Mythology is not one of my preferred genres and going by the name, this book definitely fell into that category but Sinners The Dawn of Kalki reels you in from the cover itself. The classic black and grey colour scheme adds to the abnormal yet fascinating figure on the cover. It gives off a different vibe when you pick up the book and you know this is not just another mythology and that there’s more to the story. A fan of crime and action thrillers, this book raised a lot of expectations for me with the cover design.

The story is set in the backdrop of the coming of Kalki, the avatar Hindus have been waiting for. Except, this isn’t the world we expected once that happened. A world post the apocalypse with humans being wiped out on the basis of their sins is how the book begins, right in the middle of all the action.

The story combines different POVs, proceeding ahead with every POV. There are numerous characters, the nature of each character dissimilar from the other. The plot unravels with ease through the various individuals and their actions. Every person has their own tale and the author has managed to weave them in a parallel manner which is rarely seen by Indian authors. Though I couldn’t connect to the characters, the sketches grew with the story which is another highlight. The plot is complex and yet flows smoothly.

I did feel that the story was too quick-paced initially with all the action being thrown my way page after page but the story slowed down after the first few pages and ran decently. There were a few grammatical errors but nothing that gets in the way of the experience of reading the book. The description of some scenes in the story did lack detail though which would have added a lot of weight to the overall read. There was a romantic angle to the whole plot which I felt was unnecessary and did nothing to add to the actual story and its presence made no real impact.

The author has a very creative imagination which could be seen in the different creatures introduced in the book. What stood out to me was the fact this was a completely different yarn on mythology, a very contemporary and modern twist. It was refreshing as a reader and I look forward to the next book as this one ends on a cliff hanger.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of sci-fi and mythology. The author, Naveen Durgaraju, has penned another book, Vajra, if you are looking for more by him.

Sinners The Dawn of Kalki is available for purchase on Amazon.

*** The Quill Company received this copy from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review***

 

Neha Kabra

The Quill Company

Drenched Heart by Shweta Kesari |Review by The Quill Company

Drenched Heart

Shweta Kesari

“I’m old enough to marry

This is worth enough worry

People asks me for my age

I say count my wage”

Author: Shweta Kesari

Publisher: Kalamos Literary Services LLP

Rating: 0.5/5

Summary:

Emotions, a gateway to the human heart. Drenched with a variety of emotions, this book is penned for all those who to re-live some emotions. Just like listening to lyrics of a song that reminds you of some memorable moments. Poems in this book hold such memories which can home in your heart.

Review:

Literature is a dying breed. I have said this statement many times, in reviews or otherwise. One of the major factors of this is the decline in the content being published. It seems correct to say that publishing is now solely money based. If you have money, you can print whatever you want. Publishers can only see the moolah being raked in and not the fact that they are turning their backs on the essence of literature.

Drenched Heart is one such book. The entire book, and I mean the ENTIRE BOOK, is made up of grammatical errors only. It seems as if the first draft which was submitted by the author was published directly. No editing was carried out at all. Words that are not related to each other have been just put together to form phrases which again, lend no meaning. Punctuation has gone for a complete toss.

Even if we ignore the grammar, which seems like an impossible task as errors present in every line, the work is neither coherent nor cohesive. Words have been carelessly used and flung about. There is literally no head or tail to what has been printed. The only point of this book seems to have achieved is rhyming as that is all there is. Phrases and words that do not make any sense at all have been used, only because they rhyme.

Furthermore, two words in every line do not constitute any form of poetry. There are several pages that are filled with only a handful of meaningless words strung together.

Overall, this book is a complete disappoint from page 1. A mediocre writing style and lack of any proficiency in English stand out from this book.

Drenched Heart is available for purchase on Amazon.

*** The Quill Company received this copy from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review***

Neha Kabra

The Quill Company

The Right Escape by Hajra A Shakih | Review by The Quill Company

The Right Escape

Hajra A Shaikh

“It was you who taught me

that people could be beautiful and ugly

while wearing the same skin.”

Author: Hajra A Shaikh

Rating: 2.5/5

Summary:

It is a collection of thoughts and words on love, separation and self discovery.

Review:

The Right Escape is a self published collective of thoughts. At first look, it is a simple book with a subtle yet elegant cover design. The book draws you in with its simplicity and unorthodox look. It is a very quick read of 104 pages with easy language.

When I started reading, I started getting a Rupi Kaur vibe from the words. The writing style seems heavily inspired by Kaur with the small couplets and paragraphs of prose. The thoughts seem to be a reflection of a personal journey by the author. There were, however, a few grammatical errors here and there.

Contemporary writing is one of my favourite choices of literature but I felt this work lacked depth. I couldn’t resonate with the writing or the thoughts behind it. There was nothing new that this book had to offer me as a reader. It seemed to be full of the everyday clichés surrounding romance and heartbreak.

Most of the work seemed to me like I have read it somewhere else, just in some other form or play of words. Plagiarism is not involved but the work seemed redundant.

It looks like a good first attempt from the author and I would look forward to reading more from her in the future..

*** The Quill Company received this copy from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review***

Neha Kabra

The Quill Company

The Heaviest Brick by Avinash Dubey |Review by The Quill Company

The Heaviest Brick

Avinash Dubey

Author: Avinash Dubey
Publisher: Write India Publishers
Rating: 2.5/5

Summary:
The Heaviest Brick is one such tale of Abhimanyu Kaul, who wrote his life’s love story in a diary when he was in his teens. His meandering life took a sudden turn leaving its pages blank. The teen turned into a brave soldier as he joined Indian Army and voluntarily chose Ratankot as his preferred posting. The highly sensitive army base was recently declared a red zone owing to incessant terrorist intrusion. While there is the lost love to reconcile, duty summons him too. Will he be able to cope?

Review:
The Heaviest Brick is about Major Abhimanyu Kaul and a flashback into his life before he joined the Indian Army. Most of the story revolves around his life previous to becoming an officer with a few pages in the beginning and the end about dealing with and fighting terrorists in sensitive areas.

The book was an easy read with 140 pages and simple language; nothing too intellectual or heavy. However, the story itself was paced too fast. Many parts of the story lacked adequate details and there were so many sudden jumps that the reader is left to wonder about where the story changed.

Many characters seem extra and none of the characters save the protagonist have been given any background. Their introduction is just as quick as their exit and then they are brought back in some other part of the story.

What really stood out in this book was that though it is a romantic novel, a different theme has been used to portray it. We don’t have too many contemporary, debut, Indian writers using the Army as a background in the story. So even though some part of this seems cliché, it is different in its own way.

The ending was a bit surprising but nothing too shocking though it could have been crafted better. There were a few loose ends in the climax and once again, we are left to wonder what happened as a major chunk of the ending seems missing.

The Heaviest Brick is available for purchase on Amazon.

*** The Quill Company received this copy from the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review***

-Neha Kabra
The Quill Company