The Curse of Damini

Author: Debajani Mohanty

Published By: Partridge Publishers

Pages: 180

Price: Rs. 399

ISBN: 978-14-828-5107-6

About The Author:

Winner of "Best Debutante Author of The Year" award by literature festival Sarjanaa, Debajani Mohanty is an engineering graduate and senior I.T. professional with a career of nearly one and half decades. Her interests include music, history, world cuisines and women education & empowerment. The nature of her work as well as passion for different cultures has made her travel half of the living world.

                                                      

“The Curse of Damini” her debut novel though crafted as a thriller is actually a historical fiction that covers seven decades of India's past and portrays many age-old vices against women. She started writing this 3 years back after the barbaric Nirbhaya episode of Delhi and her work is a small effort towards ending the violence and discrimination against women in society.

Book Blurb:

The world seemed not enough for free spirited Renuka, when she married the highly educated Shashank hailing from the mightiest Zamindars of Bengal. However, soon her life turned upside down when a neighbor revealed her of their sinister past.

It's a mysterious supernatural curse cast on their family almost a century back. Generation by generation, Damini's enraged curse had passed on, declining their family clan from hundreds to a handful few. Who would be Damini's next victim? And why innocent lives are at a stake for a crime committed by an ancestor a hundred years back? Renuka would not settle until she finds an answer and in her quest she struggles to eradicate all the evils that come in her way. Would she ever win a battle against an unseen enemy? Would the wrong done to Damini be ever avenged?

Set against the nostalgic era of 1940s, the story narrates the arduous journey of Renuka Pal, the protagonist, from a rash teen age freedom fighter to the seasoned writer of the 21st century India. In this thrilling saga of death, betrayal and power plays the narrative would cover a large chunk of twentieth century history. The passing of time, historical events and the changing country is so well-woven to the story that one would hardly differentiate between fact and fiction."

My Review:

“Sobaimorbe. Ami Sobai ke khete eschi. Amake Rokto chai” (You all will die. I have come to eat you all. All I need is blood). The book begins with these lines. And this is enough to give you goose bumps. I started this book in the wee hours of night and after reading these lines, I thought for a second, should I continue reading it or should I keep it for some other day. I chose the former. Few pages later, everything was normal. The story was everything but spooky.

The story revolves around Renuka, the main protagonist of the story. The Authoress has brilliantly created the character, narrating every details of her life, from the beginning to the very end. While I was reading the book, I very much fell in love with Renuka. Not just the female protagonist, but also the leading male character, Shashank is a guy on whom every girl can cash on. Full credits to the Authoress for building the characters so well, that everything felt quite real.

I’m completely impressed with the storyline of the book. This book has everything; a love story, plight of women in our society, the Zamindari system of 20th century and a curse too.

‘The Curse of Damini’- After reading the title and looking at the cover I thought this book must be spooky and must have some paranormal things but here the ‘Curse’ is referred to… Well, I can’t disclose everything here. You need to read the book to know about the curse. One more thing, you might be curious to know who Damini is? Well, that’s the suspense. Don’t ask who she is, just read the book and discover Damini.

Spoiler: while reading the book, you will keep on wondering what the real curse is, and you will discover it only at the last few pages.

Likings: Easy Read, Easy Language, Strong Characters, Use of Bengali words (with proper English translation)

Disliking: Not many but this book is anything but scary. (Expected more spooky things)

P.S. I'm really thankful to the Author for providing me a physical copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.

My Ratings: 4/5

[Would have given it full points, had it been more scarier]

(Irrespective of my ratings, you should read this book. A must read)

Wana Grab a Copy?

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Yama by Kevin Missal

Author: Kevin Missal 

Published By: Half Baked Beans

Pages: 155

Price: Rs. 175

ISBN: 978-93-843-2509-2

About The Author:

Kevin Solomon Missal is studying History Hon. in St. Stephen's college. He loves to write plays, books, reviews, watch television shows, classic movies and has a knack for thrillers. He has written two books, with the second one, being number one best seller on Amazon Christian Fiction,

Book Blurb:

What will you do if you have 24 hours to save someone? 

A violent saint…

A man who claims he is Yama is punishing sinners by killing them according to the twenty eights hells prescribed in Bhagvat Gita. Who is he? What does he want? Is he a vigilante or a psychopath? 

A delusional hero…

Iravan Rajpoot, an Ex-Black Cat Commando with a dark past is receiving letters with names and time limits. It’s no sooner that he learns these people will die within that time frame. He needs to do everything, risk everyone to save them. 

An ambitious reporter…

Swati Kaushik, a widow and a woman who can do anything for success must team up with Iravan to stop the god of death and justice. 

Will Iravan Rajpoot be able to find Yama while balancing out his personal life? Will Yama be able to fulfill in spreading his twisted message to everyone? 

With twist and turns in every short chapter, Yama grabs the reader and plunges them in the heart of human consciousness.

Author Interview:

I'm really thankful to Mr. Kevin Missal for giving me an opportunity to interview him. We had an online interview and this is what he has to say about him and his book.

Me: Before we start the interview, can you please enlighten us about the Book and the Characters of the story?

Kevin: Yama is a psychological/mythological thriller that deals with a serial killer who considers himself as a saint murdering those who sin in the eyes of Dharma and he needs to be stopped. The characters revolve around an ex-Black Cat commando Iravan Rajpoot, a reporter Swati Kaushik, a techie and wide range of victims who come under Yama’s radar. 

Me: If I’m not wrong this is a fictional book, but ‘Yama’ is mentioned in  Vedas too. So do you believe in Yama? 

Kevin: Yama represents the good and bad. The good will go to heaven which is swarg and the bad will face punishments in hell which is nark. I don’t personally believe in any religion but I do believe in karma and Yama represents that the most. 

Me: How real are the characters? And which one is your favorite?

Kevin: I take traits and characteristics of the people around me and form a character. So yes, they are partially real. My favorite would be Yama as he struggles with psychological trauma and I feel he’s quite multi dimensional. 

Me: This is your first book, so what really inspired you to write the book?

Kevin: Well this isn’t my first book. This is my third book. I began writing at the age of 12 and at fourteen I wrote Damien Black. I was inspired long back when the gang rape incident occurred in Delhi. I wished someone could be out there who could punish these people as the law wasn’t able to. Later, I took some classes by James Patterson (who is the thriller king) and I got to know the nuances of writing suspense, so I penned Yama down. 

Me: How does it feel being an Author? Can you tell us a bit about –pre and –post Author life?

Kevin: There’s nothing biggie. Some people call me “Kevin author” and some people think I have brilliant English but I fail to impress them and some people think how is he able to write books when his English isn’t amazing. 

Me: Sorry for asking this, but have you been rejected for your work (book)?

Kevin: Lots of times. If I count the number of rejections it would be more than 50. 

Me: Can we expect another book from your pen in near future? If yes, anything you want to disclose about it?

Kevin: Mara is going to be released by the end of the year. It’s a mythological thriller revolving around three students of St. Stephen’s College, an exiled Aghori baba and a serial killer who worships a Buddhist demon. 

Me: Tell us something that we don’t know about, Kevin Missal.

Kevin: I was very bad at Maths.

Me: Before ending this, I would request you to give some advice to the aspiring writers who want to be an author...

Kevin: Never begin your book by describing the weather. Never give your characters a big introduction—keep it mysterious. Let the reader visualize and create the character their own way. And most of all, always have a cliffhanger/twist by the end of the chapter. And believe me, you’ll be a bestseller. 

My Review:

Before noting down my opinions for the book, let me enlighten you a bit about ‘Yama’.

Yama or Yamarāja, is the god of death. In the Vedas, Yama is said to have been the first mortal who died. By virtue of precedence, he became the ruler of the departed. 

Naraka (hell) in Hinduism is referred as a place where the soul is purified of sin by its suffering. In Hindu mythology, Naraka holds many hells and Yama directs departed souls to the appropriate one. Although Yama is the lord of Naraka, he may also direct the soul to a Swarg (heaven) or return it to bhoomi (earth). To conclude, it’s Yama who decides where a person should go after life. 

Now the book has a story which revolves mainly around two characters; Iravan Rajpoot (a private detective) and Yama (a person who consider himself as God of death). You can’t judge who the main protagonist of the story is. Yama can be considered as the Antagonist of the story but his killings had reasons, so he can’t be considered purely as the Villain.

Iravan Rajpoot is an ex-army guy who is now a detective. He is a man who believes in forgiving others even if they have committed any serious crime. His only way of punishment is handing over the culprit to the police. The other main character Yama is a person who punishes people who have done wrong. He punishes the wrong ones the same way as described in the 28 hells of Bhagavad Gita. He is physically strong enough to fight with the world of sinners. But why he is in a killing spree? Does he really consider himself as the god of death? Or is he a psychopath? Or may be a serial killer. To know all about him you have to read the story. Writing everything here would be unfair to the author.

Full credit goes to the Author for maintaining the thrill and suspense till the very last page of the book. Somewhere in the middle you might get a hint or two about who Yama really is but don’t be a detective yourself, reading it till the end would definitely be worth your time. With lots of twists and turns in the story, this book is a complete thriller that will entertain you till the last page. 

Likings: Fast paced, short chapters, full on suspense, worth your bucks

Disliking: Between the pages you might relate the book to the movie ‘Aparichit’. 

My Ratings: 4/5

(A must buy if you're new into the Thriller genre. You would love reading this book)

If you want to buy a copy of Yama at an affordable price CLICK HERE

P.S. I'm really thankful to Anuj Kumar and Kalamos Literary Services for providing me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Losing My Religion by Vishwas Mudagal

Author: Vishwas Mudagal

Published By: Fingerprint Publishers

Pages: 350

Price: Rs. 199

ISBN: 978-81-723-4493-1

About The Author:

Vishwas Mudagal is the author of the No.1 best-selling novel Losing My Religion, which was launched in 2014 and went on to become a sensation across India and the world with a huge and devoted following.  His book is now translated into Hindi and Kannada. With the success & popularity of his debut novel, Vishwas has etched his place among the top authors in India.


Although Vishwas is a successful entrepreneur and a CEO, he has embraced storytelling as his parallel career. He considers “storytelling and entrepreneurship” as his two passions, and he cannot choose one over the other.

Book Blurb:

When gamer and entrepreneur Rishi Rai sets out to revolutionize the gaming industry, something somewhere goes terribly wrong and, like dominoes, the blocks of his life fall down one after the other.

An unexpected meeting with Alex, an unpredictable, crazy American hippie, changes his life forever, as he decides to quit everything and join him on an unplanned, uncharted journey across India. 

From getting irrepressibly high in the mysterious Malana Valley in the Himalayas to starting a shack on the bewitching Om Beach on the West Coast, they do it all. But their adrenaline-charged adventure takes a turn when Rishi meets Kyra, a beautiful and enigmatic gamer. As passions surge and sparks fly, Rishi gets drawn to Kyra unaware of who she is and where she comes from.

What follows next is something nobody could have ever dreamed of.

Who is Kyra and why are the paparazzi after her? Can Rishi connect the dots in his life to protect the love of his life? While the world becomes a spectator, can he mastermind the fall of a ruthless giant to become a global icon or will he become the biggest loser?

My Review:

Before I begin my review, let me tell you one thing this book has nothing to do with any Religion. It won’t harm any religion’s sentiments. The title, ‘Losing My Religion’ has a deeper meaning and you can justify it only after reading the book. Trust me, this book is a gem. Not only the book has a love story, but it also explains the political aspects of life and how one can handle his/her life with a never die attitude.

The story begins with a prologue where the male protagonist, Rishi Rai, a failed entrepreneur is placed in the centre of New York City night’s sky. A reality show is awaiting his presence. Very soon he is going to be a part of one of the biggest reality show ever, The Apprenticeship. But things would have been completely different, had he not taken that long night drive from Bangalore and met Alex (a lead character of the story).

Rishi Rai, a gaming developer had seen many ups and downs in his life. Soon after booming in the gaming industry, he failed miserably and had no other option but to shut down his company. He goes bankrupt too. To overcome his failed miserable life, he sells his car and moves out in an unplanned journey with Alex.

Alexander Long, referred as Alex is an American guy who is in search of Nirvana. He loves boozing and smoking weeds. To be precise, he wants to explore every aspects of life. When he meets Rishi, he found a friend who more or less shared the same past experiences. Their pasts and their same opinion on way of living helped them to gel quickly and form an unbreakable bond.

The Author has narrated every detail of their adventure. From getting high in the mystic valley of Malana to buying a stack at Om beach of Gokarna was all part of their expedition. 

Oh Sorry, I forgot to introduce you all with the female protagonist of the story, Kyra Blake. An American girl, who isn’t just beautiful but much more than that. The way Author has described Kyra, I bet you will definitely fall for her. In short she is an epitome of beauty. Anyways, Kyra is the girl whom Rishi falls for. But who is Kyra? Is she just an American girl or has she some secrets to share? Well I can’t tell you everything here. You have to read the book to unveil the story. 

Likings: Author’s way of narration, Gripping Story, Page Turner, The Characters, Last but not the least, the ending. (Well the ending was expected but the turns and twists were something unexpected).

Disliking: -None-

My Ratings: 4.5/5
(What are you waiting for? Go and buy the book right now)

Note:

I got this book as a part of Flipkart Bloggers Program and I was completely unbiased while reviewing the book.