Book Review : 'Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch' by Anuja Chandramouli

Anuja Chandramouli’s ‘Yama’s Lieutenant and the Stone Witch’ talks of Yama’s most trustworthy Lieutenant, Agni Prakash back to work, again. This time, he has been told to get rid of the Stone Witch, Nayima. Now, Nayima wants to create a whole new world, all for herself. The idea behind it is that she would use the demons, spirits and even humans to achieve her true purpose. 

It is now, Agni’s job to find these brutish creatures, and destroy them. These sets of demonic beings have been ordered to destroy the worlds. Meanwhile, everything is uneasy and disturbed, as inmates and the poor are being killed and children are disappearing, all the time. In all this, Agni ends up being the one, who has to end up paying a lot for it.

Instructed to look for the Samayakalas, who are the keepers of time, he sets off in search for them. But they are not at all easy to find. Samayakalas are given the job of resetting the clock before anything else gets worse, than it already is. No one really knows them or how they function, since it is a strict job for mortals to stay away from them, and even immortals are kept away from them. He must find them and prevent any chance of traces of life being ruined.

During this time, Varu’s diary continues to tell the story of Yama’s thousand hells. Everything keeps on happening, as she had written it in her book. It lands on Agni Prakash’s lap to make it all work. He must find a way, when he uses his best bets, Dharami who was earth’s spirit, Minothi and Kritya. The first two find themselves, being taken away by Nayima.

Will he find all the three of his friends? Will he manage to stop the destruction of the worlds? Will he manage to stop Nayima’s spirits, demons and even humans to stop from turning into creatures ready to terminate the world? Will he find the keepers  of time? Will he survive the travel through time to save the world? Will he ultimately manage to be the true lieutenant of Yama?

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Book Review : 'The Undersea Island (The Lygons of Fraith Book 2)' by Arlo Mercia

Myrra, the Honour Royale who was required to step down, in the previous book, is now on her way back to Lygon Island. Myrra and her Councillors had gone there to seek help of Royalette Elissa, of the Mountain Pride. She apparently, had excellent skills in fighting and was also, extremely strong.

They had come here with the suggestion that Elissa return with them to Lygon Island. Much destruction had been done by Myrra’s nephew, the Royal Aidon, and Myrra hoped that the remarkably talented Royalette Elissa would become the Aidon’s consort and help Myrra, repair the island.

Myrra is upset to find the salt-plain disturbed and her eggs, missing. Evidence implicates Elissa, and Myrra must discover the reason and the whereabouts of her eggs. Also, was Aidon using Kebreana to keep away Elissa?

 

The geflars are horrified by the arrival of Mithia, the mysterious dragon. They are sure that other dragons will follow, and they will be destroyed. It is a little late for them to hide, as they cannot desert the people who rely on them now.

Meanwhile, Mithia discovers alarming shaleworms that are invading the undersea. No one knows where they have come from, or how to stop them. Mithia must deal with the infiltration, but he has never encountered creatures like this before.

Mithia has lost her eggs, and let us not forget the Captain and his history with the lygons. Fraith seems to be dying, the island's heart must be healed and for the lygons, all this might be a little too much?

 You can Buy the Book, right here.

Book Review : 'In the Name of God' by Ravi Subramanian

Ravi Subramanian’s ‘In the Name of God’ starts off with a story around the Anantha Padmanabha Swamy temple in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. The possessions that the temple holds in its vaults, and finally, the series of controversies, which follow, when the Supreme Court asked a committee to open the walls are all a part of this story.

 

A dead body is discovered in a pond there, and the story starts. It is not the end, as it sets off a series of events. A series of murders follow the opening of the vault, which most people believe to be God’s ire. (These were supposedly, happening due to the rage of the lord himself, considering that he actually owns the treasure.) 

The temple’s custodian, Aswathi Thirunal Dharmaraja Varma, the titular king of Travancore finds himself, suddenly a central part of this affair. Not just this, there is a lot of smuggling of antiques from temples in South India, and also a massive theft at a mall in Dubai. Also, considering the many cultural rituals, which the temple has, the confusion is built up, all the more.

Enter Kabir Khan from the Central Bureau of Investigation. He tries to unfold the many aspects of the investigation, along with the state police team, which is headed by Krishnan. There are interesting parts to the entire suspense drama.

Padmanabha Swamy Temple (Wikipedia)

In Mumbai, we are thrown into a series of bomb blasts, and some of the victims are part of the most wanted diamond industry. Interestingly, a few of these victims are involved with the vault opening at the Padmanabha Swamy temple. So, Kabir finds himself shifting focus from Thiruvananthapuram to Mumbai and back again.

Will the shared connection, between these events be discovered? Will the wrath of the lord be uncovered? There are a couple of love stories too in this puzzle, how will they end?

It all falls upon Kabir to unearth the story behind these actual events. Can he do it? Will he be able to keep pace with the succession of happenings? There are facts and a whole load of stories, so the need for clearing history from faith and its beliefs are all a part of this thriller.

Ravi Subramanian

Subramanian has discovered a whole new zeal to his usual repertoire of books, related to financial/economic issues, whether it was insurance or banking; this one does not deal with either of them. So, probably a hint of space is left behind. But, he does have a hand at dealing with the usual  thrillers…  

Oh and I must mention, a tiny mistake on Page 70. The sentence does not begin with a capital ‘T’; instead, it starts off with ‘the courtroom...’

You can Buy the Book, right here.