Time Crawlers: The Book Review
I have been a voracious reader of science fiction but I have hardly come across any Indian English authors who have been able to stupefy ( Rowling effect) the readers to the core. Well, there is Samit Basu with his GameWorld Trilogy, Turbulence, Resistance among others and now Varun Sayal’s Time Crawlers leaves a deep impact with myriad themes and compelling storytelling.
It is a hextuple delight, well six stories in a book, so I took the liberty of using such bizarre word like a hextuple delight. One of the best features of this book is the style of narration. While in one of the stories the author uses the traditional storytelling, shifts to a drama like narration and amuses the readers with the interview technique. Keep it up, Mr Sayal.
Each of the six stories comes up with its unique charm. I am not going to divulge the plotlines, lol.
Almost all the stories have impressed me as a reader and a researcher in science fiction. Keeping apart “Death by Crowd”, I would rate all the other pieces as excellent pieces of science fiction. Again there could be a separate post for this story alone, it raises few disturbing questions.
In order to be a writer, one needs to go through other works in the particular genre. I think ( entirely my point of view), Mr Sayal has been inspired by Issac Asimov, Clive Barkers and Joseph Heller among others. The issues raised and the conflict conjured sums up to a unique reading experience.
Sayal believes in experimenting with narrative techniques and while doing so he never uses complex literary jargons in his narration. The simplicity is truly amazing and in the end, he creates a hullabaloo in the mind of the readers about the conflicts in the stories i.e. he raises some hard hitting questions. Well done, Mr Sayal.
Verdict : You need to buy this one. 4.5/5
Pros
The readers get to enjoy varieties of themes like mythology, time travelling, dark web, cosmic entities, artificial intelligence and parallel worlds among others in a single paperback.
The compelling storytelling by the author.
Impressive plot build up.
Gripping cover design, well covers are one of the most intriguing factors of a book’s selling point.
I enjoyed the nomenclature of a few characters like Trikalacharya, Jokie among others.
Cons
Death By Crowd could have been the best of the lot but it fades away in the end
The stories could have been a bit longer.
I have received a copy from the author in exchange of an honest review. Thank God, I accepted this one. I loved it.
One of my friends is working on Hindi & Urdu Music and thus post will be a part of the bibliography of the research work. I’m here to churn out a list of my favourite sad songs, because they stay forever.
Abhas Kumar Ganguly (apna Kishore re) is still regarded as one of the most talented singers of our nation. Mohd Rafi is a singing genius, Manna Dey is the badshah of classical and semi-classical gharana. But, Kishore Kumar belongs to the aam admi and it is important to respect the taste of the mass. Kishore Kumar is known for churning outs romantic tracks , peppy numbers, heart-wrenching songs among others. But this blog post focuses upon those songs which are aimed at life in general . So no Jhumroo, Raat Kali Ek Khwab Mein Ayee Hum to Mohabbat karega over here. Some songs are contextual while some are for life. After all nothing is more important than life itself. Check this out.
