Inferno

Name : Inferno

Author: Dan Brown

Genre : Mystery, Detective fiction, Conspiracy fiction, Thriller

Pages : 475+

Language: English

Publication Year: May 14, 2013

Is Review Spoiler: No

Rating: 5/5

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‘Seek and ye shall find.’

Inferno is the fourth book in Robert Langdon series and sixth book by acclaimed writer Dan Brown. Like all other Robert Langdon books, this book also revolves around the life and death situations and saving humanity by cracking the age-old codes hidden inside symbols. In this case the symbols are hidden inside the Dante’s  – Inferno [(Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy.]

The conspiracy theories or secret societies mentioned in this book are not as explosive  as previous three books but still they are shocking and thought-provoking.

If you have read previous three Robert Langdon thrillers, you know that every time Langdon has a brilliant individual as his sidekick  – all those individuals so far are girls, Leonardo Vetra in ‘Angels & Demons’, Sophie Neveu in ‘The Da Vinci Code’, Katherine Solomon in ‘The Lost Symbol’ and in this book ‘Sienna Brooks’.

This book has all the suspense and thrillers which we usually expect from Dan Brown’s novels along with some shocking revelations about over population. Like other books in Robert Langdon series, this book will also grab you by throat like a tiger won’t let you go unless you finish it.

This book if made into a movie will surely be a huge blockbuster, no doubt about that. The book itself reads as movie on the paper. This book is better than The Lost symbol for sure but not as good as ‘The Da Vinci Code’. The characters in this book are very well constructed and it has some great twists and turns which will keep reader engaged till the last page.

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

I highly recommend this book for everyone!

A Storm of Swords

Name : A Storm of Swords

Author: George R. R. Martin

Genre : Fiction

Pages : 973+

Language: English

Publication Year: 2000

Is Review Spoiler: No

Rating: 5/5

TV Series Based On Novel:  Game of Thrones

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“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”

You can find the review of  ’A Game Of Thrones’ here.

A Storm of Swords is the third of seven planned novels in A Song of Ice and Fire, a fantasy series by American author George R. R. Martin.

George R.R. Martin is no doubt the best writer in the fantasy genre and ‘A Storm Of Swords’ continues to uphold the standards he set for himself in ‘A Game Of Thrones’. Certainly, A Storm Of Swords is best in the series of Ice and Fire (so far).

The book is well detailed in terms of characters and the universe in which the story is set. The series of Ice and Fire reflects more or less real life scenarios whether it is politics, love, hatred and lust for power.

The best part of Martin’s writing is the ‘concept of no hero’ in his books, as soon as you start to think that these characters has to be heroes, then surely they will die. He is not afraid to kill the major characters in his books.

It is very hard to express in words how great this book is, you have to read it to believe it. In a times where everyone is writing fantasy novels, only George R.R. Martin is writing it as it should be written. Martin’s world is so realistic that it hurts. The character’s which we thought are villains becomes heroes by doing the things which they are not suppose to do, and heroes becomes villain as story progress in unpredictable way. There is no guarantee that good will always win and bad will always lose in R.R. Martin’s world. Some times good loses whereas some times bad wins.

This book has some brutally unpredictable twists – the characters which you love the most will certainly die, morally ambiguous - no good vs evil. I would recommend this series to everyone – who doesn’t mind explicit violence and  unusual level of sexual content which is direct, forceful, graphic and almost none of it is romantic.

A Storm of Swords picks up the story slightly before the end of its predecessor, A Clash of Kings. The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are still in the grip of the War of the Five Kings, with the remaining kings Robb Stark, Balon Greyjoy, Joffrey Baratheon, and Stannis Baratheon fighting to secure their crowns. Civil war is destroying the common people, the ruling House of Baratheon and the major houses of Westeros: House Arryn of The Eyrie, House Baratheon of Storm’s End, House Greyjoy of Pyke, House Lannister of Casterly Rock, House Martell of Sunspear, House Stark of Winterfell, House Tully of Riverrun, and House Tyrell of Highgarden. Stannis Baratheon’s attempt to take King’s Landing has been defeated by the new alliance between House Lannister (backing Joffrey) and House Tyrell. House Martell has also pledged its support to the Lannisters through the forces of Dorne, while House Arryn of The Vale have yet to take the field or declare their allegiance. Meanwhile, a large host of wildlings are marching toward the Wall under Mance Rayder, the “King Beyond the Wall”, with only the small force of the Night’s Watch in its path; and in the distant east, Daenerys Targaryen is on her way back to Pentos, hoping to raise forces to retake the Iron Throne. – Wikipedia

Best Kept Secret

Name : Best Kept Secret

Author: Jeffrey Archer

Genre : Fiction

Pages : 370+

Language: English

Publication Year: 2013

Is Review Spoiler: No

Rating: 4/5

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You can find “Only Time Will Tell” review – here.

You can find “The Sins Of Father” review – here.

Jeffery Archer is best known as a “master storyteller” and the stories he narrates are so non-put-downable, even though they don’t involve great deal of suspense/thriller/mystery. the character development is as amazing as ‘Only Time Will Tell’ and story is gripping, compelling and great read. Ending is nail-biting and better than ‘The Sins Of Father’. I really can’t wait for fourth book in the chronicles.

‘Best Kept Secret’ – is the third book in “The Clifton Chronicles”; In this book Archer continues the life saga of ‘Harry Clifton’. Like others books in ‘The Clifton Chronicles’ this book to ends with an cliff-hanger in in such way that reader has to wait for next book to be released in the series in order to find out what happened.

Best Kept Secret opens a moment after the end of The Sins of the Father, with the resolution of the trial and the triumphant marriage of Harry Clifton and Elizabeth Barrington, finally uniting their family. Harry, now a bestselling novelist, Emma, their son Sebastian, and orphaned Jessica make a new life for themselves, but all is not as happy and secure as it could be. Emma’s brother, Giles, is engaged to a woman who may be more interested in Barrington’s fortune and title than in a long and happy marriage. And Sebastian, though he is bright, isn’t quite the hard worker that his father was at school, and finds a hard time resisting the temptations that his somewhat unsavory friends provide.

This book is divided into two parts – the first part of the book deals with Harry’s book promotions as a detective novelist and court room trial as to who should inherit the Baringatton title and all that is therein. Second part of the book mainly deals with election campaign of Giles Baringatton, here Archer introduces an old enemy Alex Fisher – who tortured Harry at school and later took credit for Giles’ heroics during the war.

The story continues to next generation of Clifton’s with Sebastian, the son of Harry and Emma, who is not as good as his father at studies and finds a hard time resisting the temptations that his somewhat unsavory friends provide – this leads to another cliff-hanger ending from Jeffrey Archer.

If you are looking for what’s the ‘best kept secret’ is, you won’t find it out until you read half of the book. Believe me title has nothing to do with the actual contents of the book and story.

Jeffrey Archer recently revealed, during his Indian tour from March 10-15, that the Clifton Chronicles might comprise of more books than he had originally planned. Harry Clifton is only 35 at the end of this third book, and Archer suggested that he would have to extend his pentalogy to a hexalogy or even a heptalogy. ["wikipedia"]

If you have read last two book in the chronicles, this is must read for you. For those who haven’t read first two book, I suggest they start with the ‘Only Time Will Tell’.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Name : A Thousand Splendid Suns

 

Author:  Khaled Hosseini

 

Genre : Novel

 

Pages : 384

 

Language: English

 

Publication Year: May 22, 2007

 

Is Review Spoiler: No

 

Rating: 5/5

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What is that a child wants more than anything? Mother,Love,Toys,Friends or Father? Yes, it’s father Mariam wanted more than anything in the world, Mariam – five year old daughter of Jalil. All she wanted is her father, she loved Thursday more than any other day in the week because that’s the day when Jalil will come to meet his bustard daughter. Even though her mother told her multiple times not to trust any man because ‘A man’s accusing finger will always finds a woman,always’. She never believed her mother, never until it was too late until, the storm called reality stuck her so hard that, it was impossible for her to get out of that storm.

There are only few books which are written and explained with such a beauty that it will almost tore your heart apart and that’s exactly what “A Thousand Splendid Suns” did to me.

A Thousand Splendid Suns follows the lives of two Afghani girls, Mariam and Laila as the move from children to adults. This books spans 40 years, covering three decades of war in Afghanistan, starting with Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and closing with the overthrow of the Taliban. Story revolves around, Mariam who is born and bought up in small village with no education and Laila who born and bought up in Kabul with good educational background. Husseini has beautifully described how destiny will bring these two girls from two different parts of country to same place and how the enmity between them is turned into a beautiful friendship. A friendship you will never forget throughout your life.

There are only few writers who can produce back-to-back masterpieces and Husseini is one of those writers.There is lot to learn in this book, Love, Friendship, political turmoil in Afghanistan. The real picture of Afghani people in the midst of  three decades of wars, their struggle for life, their struggle for food, their struggle for sleep and most importantly their struggle for peace . This book also describes the real beauty of Afghanistan.

There are parts in this book, which will make you privately shed tears and there are parts which will make you laugh(like Islamic flamingos).

The books  describes  the struggle of Afghani men/women (specially women) in the midst of political warfare, civil war and under an oppressive regime – you will be thankful to God for the things which he has given you.

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

A stunning accomplishment, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a haunting, heartbreaking, compelling story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship, and an indestructible love.

Overall this is the book which is not be missed, seriously, not be missed. I recommend this book for everyone. Go ahead pick this up and read.