Review: The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hooter: An interplay between thereotical physics and its application in the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Liu takes in a very imaginative approach of juxtaposing Chinese Cultural Revolution, thereotical physics and its application into a science fiction potboiler that transcends multiple planes. After the witch-hunt of the educated and scientifically accomplished, Ye Wenjie has a scarred past. She grabs the opportunity to work in a secretive army installation even if it means never stepping back to the regular world. Solving for solar flare ups impacting transmissions seems to be her regular pre-occupation.

As the author puts the pieces together of a game called the three body problem that seems to be getting all the intellectuals hooked into this immersive experience, the secretive Chinese Government opening up to international support on a common case and all of this playing into science that has an explaination. Leaving all the spoilers out in this review, the science behind this science fiction plays a prominent role and makes for interesting reading as it tries to extrapolate that into the real world and all the mysticism ties back to the same. A mix of historical and science fiction makes for an interesting read as one delves into more philosophical questions about us as a race and the role we play.

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Review: War of Lanka

War of Lanka by Amish Tripathi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: The epic battle of Ramayana in Amish Tripathi's style

Amish Tripathi was a phenomenon when he first released his Shiva trilogy - a unique perspective into mythology, making the Gods more real as he tried researching into these and adding a prism of logic whilst making the stories more relatable for the newer generations. Now that formula is been made common place through all his series including this one. The War of Lanka is the focal point of the previous three parallel stories in the Ram Chandra series - all coming together.

He does the same as he introduces the various characters and stories that lead to the run up to the battle and the final victory - no surprises there as he retells this epic in his inimitable style. The writing gets repetitive, he tiptoes around character depth of all the main protagonists not wanting to antagonise the wider readership I guess leaving all the main characters in 2D whilst he takes liberties with the others where probability of controversy would be less.

If I had to summarise the book, I'd use Amish's favourite phrase in the book - "O Lord Rudra! Have Mercy!" Have lost count the number of times that phrase is uttered. If this is your first tryst with Amish's style, you'll love it but if you have been following his series, there isnt anything to new to expect and there is now a sense of comfort and familiarity with what to expect. That said I love how his research continues to make mythologies more real and relatable. For example, the attempt that explaining how to build the bridge between Lanka and the mainland using local corals and wooden palisades and similarly a lot more epic incidents including the Pushpak viman. Though the colloq. use of bro and dudes amongst the Gods seemed a bit too out of place.

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Review: In Their Shoes

In Their Shoes by Sandip Khade
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hooter: A thriller with a twist - an interweb of where reality starts and fiction ends.

A single tragic incident plays a focal point of introducing every character and how they are related to atleast one other character in that tragic incident. With that as the singularity, we slowly peel back to the stories of each character and their sordid backgrounds. There is darkness in everyone's lives, just different degrees of black as they deal with moving on or not. The book is a Virar fast as you zoom through each chapter (POV) in literally a couple of pages before you switch over making it an overall breezy read but can get complicated as you jump all over trying to recollect why does X know Y and did Z know X till it all conveniently fits in towards the end.

I didn't need a back panel bio to figure the author has an engineering mindset (also a degree) for the logical precision with which he builds this interconnected web of stories and jumps around like a russian roulette game to each character's POV.

The mechanics of this storyline are efficient but that is also the concern for it. I remain a viewer on this fast paced drama with swinging POVs rather than rooting for any of the characters - except maybe Niyati for she barely gets a chance to speak except through her diary. Everyone else is black and white but I know the author could have explored the greys in them further to help the audience emotionally relate with one of the many characters dotted in this. Whilst I as a reader wanted a slowly cooked noodles potboiler, I guess there are others who love instant gratification in the form of Nestle's Maggi and they'd be satisfied with this one.

Disclaimer: Received this book in exchange for a honest review from the author.

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