Book Review : 'Sky Fall' by MV Kasey

This is the first part of the ‘Cycles of Time’ series, known as ‘Sky Fall’ by MV Kasey. Firstly, I am guessing the book did not begin in India, but it landed up in India? Okay, that bit created confusion, but I went on.

It starts off with four friends, two girls, Dee and Sam and two boys, Yaj and Ray, who end up in the middle of a sea. How they got there is a mystery to them, but they swim across to the shore. As they are thinking back, they talk of a bright light and a loud noise with even an earthquake. But they are not too sure, how or what happened. 

The four of them are part of a group, for whom they begin looking for. They all end up in a small housing colony, and begin to look out for a little food and drink. But, Dee ends up meeting a woman, who seems to be covered in shells, and has a green face resembling seaweed. 

On seeing the woman, Dee tries to make contact with her but gets attacked in the process. She manages to escape but her friends who came back to look for her all just stop and stare at the mystery woman. In the escape, Dee manages to stab the woman and only then do the others wake up.

The four of them get together and start thinking of ways to get out, and start to look for help. After almost a day, and a meal of bananas and water, the four of them venture out again. Though again, they almost get caught by a group of the shell people, which are again defeated by Dee.

The story keeps going back and forth, so we are also told that the group was at Cavern Springs, a newly discovered island, by a few scientists and researchers. It was here, that they were at, when the four of them get lost. But a little history, and we soon discover that Dee is sixteen and at school, with her nerdish friends. Her friend Yaj, who has had a family crisis, likes her, but his problems are too many. They, along with friends and a few other students are flown to Cavern Spings, and it is during that period, that the four of them disappear and find themselves in King Manu’s period.

King Manu is in trouble, and his council members who are the Saptrishis are helping out. They are not surprised when the four appear, as they seem to expecting it. They are told the story, of how people of the place are cursed and have become shell robots. They were cursed by King Shankasura, a demon king, who has the power of dark arts. Holy texts and scriptures were stolen by the demon king.

The four of them are told of this story, and are asked for help, promised help in return. They are promised that once they help out the kingdom, the four would get a chance to go back.

Soon, they are taken to Manu’s citadel. From here, what transpires leads us to a bit of the mystery solving. A mysterious fish, the secret behind all their names, a mystical forest and the water bodies and a bright blue pendant are only a few of the mysteries in this story.

Okay, honestly, I read a lot of mythology and it keeps getting mysterious. This book is meant for kids and they should be able to understand it. Of course, there are a few problems with the grammar, but not really noticeable.

And if you actually read the seventh Manu’s story, then you probably understand it much better, especially the fish. Overall it is a decent effort, and the author does keep me wanting more…