Cover Illustration: Martina Fačková AUTHOR: Richard Swan PUBLISHED ON: 22 February 2022 GENRE: Fantasy & Mystery RATING: 4/5 BOOK 1 OF EMPIRE OF THE WOLF TRILOGY “Beware the idiot, the zealot and the tyrant; each clothes himself in the armour of ignorance.” SUMMARY The Justice of Kings by Richard Swan is the first book in the Empire of Wolf trilogy. This debut book is a stunning story of a band of 3/4 people. (No, I did read the book. And yes, I know I wrote 3/4. Read it so you understand why). We are travelling the kingdom with Justice Sir Konrad Vonvalt, his taskman, his clerk, a priest ..read more

Fire decided to enter my fate as I tried to look for a new word in this daily journey. And I have an interesting story. It’s an ancient habit that doesn’t necessarily go away. The myths and the stories go on, explaining how Fire is not something to mess with, and how Fire should be feared. And for years that’s what people did. They feared the fire and soon they forgot the fire prayers. And that was until the olden books were rummaged and transcripts were translated. That one lone soul, with green-coloured skin, read the fire prayer after an era. The Gods were angry. Fire had always been the on ..read more

In the cauldron of words, the envelope was the word I was gifted with was an envelope. It’s tricky. And so here we go. They say you’re just a paper, Definitely, without you, no other paper could be delivered. A coffin for lost love letters And a cradle for the love that found its way to each other. An accepting guests to many, And rejecting dreams for some. The news of happiness travelled afar, And the sadness of death wrapped with care. I look around, every time I have to send people a piece of my heart, trying to decide If I should make a new one or just buy one from the market. Long ago, I ..read more

In the word maze, I was given the word Death. And I wanted to change the word as soon as I saw it. Someone very close to me died recently. But I decided to give it another chance. I already wrote a poem about my grief and the person I lost. And so I decided to do something extra. Hopefully, it works. Dear Death, I was always fascinated with you. Not in an obsessive way, wanting you around. But with indifference. I knew you were always around, like a shadow, always with you but only visible in dark. You are that light in the dark, after the passage of life, people receive you. For some it’s a g ..read more

Creation. I contemplated to change the word that the Internet gave me. Purely, because I wrote about creation in detail a while ago. Although, that was not just a mixture of creation and destruction. And I am so proud of that blog. But I thought, let’s do it again. Write something more about creation. Creation. Unlike the last time, I want to talk about creation in the mental capacity. I want to talk about how creativity helps. So, I took the liberty of making it a (C)collage of (C)creation and (C)creativity. I told my student once how learning now after so many years is not just easy but fun ..read more

For the letter B, I didn’t try to find a random word. A part of me knew I wanted to write about Books. I know, it’s a cliche. But as a reader and lover of words, I think we did see it coming. So, here is my letter to Books. Books, I always wonder how little things influence our lives. The side we woke up to, the rain, the crowd at the train, the corner seat for a movie, the last piece of the pastry you wanted, the sweetest of fruits, and so on and on. But today I want to talk about a big influence in my life. Books have been a part of my life for as long as I remember. But the truth is, not a ..read more

I am super late to announce my theme for A- Z Blogging with Blog chatter. I was not even sure if I was going to have a theme. The truth is, I still am not sure. Initially, I thought to talk about my favorite characters in detail. I call it something like Character Dissection. And I was super excited about it. But then, my creative mind wanted to do something original. And so, I am going to randomly pick a work for each letter and write something. It can be something as simple as a small haiku, a story, a poem, prose, a quote. I don’t know. But right now, that’s what I am thinking to do. Will b ..read more

The Descendants AUTHOR: Lakesh Maheshwari & Ashish Kavi PUBLISHED ON: 4 February 2024 GENRE: Science Fiction RATING: 4 Stars BOOK 1 OF THE TRILOGY SUMMARY: The Descendants took me on a splendid journey as we navigated between the past and the present. The journey on such an expedition inevitably begins with finding something that shouldn’t be found. When Jay finds an element, his curiosity gets the better of him, rather than caution. And so he dives deeper into the research of the element. Slowly, he uncovers the hidden history of his family which unknowingly takes him back up to Mahabhar ..read more

Varahas Vengeance AUTHOR: Arun Krishnan PUBLISHED ON: 16 February 2024 GENRE: Historical Fiction RATING: 4 Stars BOOK 2 OF THE BATTLE OF VITHAPI: NANDI’S CHARGE TRILOGY I have been reading too many Epic Fantasies and battles, most of which are written by foreign authors. I am not even complaining. But there are days when the things that I grew up with, the scenes, the words familiar to my Indian-born-raised brain were different. And so, I slowly started to read books by Indian authors. Nandi’s Charge was one of them. I was so impressed by the lyrical prose and familiarity that I couldn’t wait ..read more

The God Spear “It will take a God to waken a God.” If you’ve been following me for a while then you probably know that Sordaneon is one of my all-time favourite books. I think L.L. Stephens is one of the most underrated writers out there. The world of triempery is rich in culture, heritage, life and unpredictability. The characters are so well written, diverse and more importantly real. I have been lucky enough to read the book and be emotionally hit by the emotions the author has smacked me with. The Triempery Revelations series is divided into 6 books. The God Spear is the 4th book in the se ..read more