Varun Sayal’s Time Crawlers: Hextuple Delight

Blurb

Alien Invasion, Dark Artificial Intelligence, Time-Travel, High-Tech Mythology, Djinn Folklore, Telekinetics and life-consuming Cosmic Entities are some major themes in my book “Time Crawlers” which has 6 tightly-knit, fast-paced Sci-Fi stories. A quick look at the stories:

** Nark-astra, The Hell Weapon: **

The weapons he possesses make him the destroyer of worlds, and he burns for revenge. A high-tech take on ancient Indian mythology.

** Death by Crowd: **

The dark desires of the masses; darknet websites fueled by a crypto-currency. What lurks in the background – an advanced artificial intelligence?

** Genie: **

He rubbed a lamp alright, but what he got was the shock of his life. An entirely sci-fi take on the djinn myth.

** Time Crawlers: **

There are individuals who existing in multiple time periods at once, and there are those who know about them….

** Eclipse: **

No attacks, no blood-shed, yet there was an invasion and a conquest. Who are these shapeshifter aliens being hounded by an eclipse?

** The Cave: **

The fate of an advanced imperial race hangs in balance as a dark celestial entity meets a legendary protector.

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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.

 

Author Bio:

VARUN SAYAL is an engineer and MBA from I.I.T. and I.S.B. (top schools in India), who has been involved in theatre as a playwright, actor, and director, and has also been an independent movie-maker. His genre of writing is predominantly science fiction blended with mythology and a sprinkle of the gruesome actualities of life. In his own words:

“I think of each story as a surreal, fast-paced narrative that pulls in the reader right from the beginning, takes them through a voyage into an alternate dystopian realm, bequeathing to them images etched permanently on their minds. I live by the quote, ‘a true art calms a disturbed mind and disturbs a calm mind.’”

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Website and Social Media Links: 

• Website: http://varunsayal.in/

• Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18131196.Varun_Sayal/blog

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/varun.sayal

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/vsa2

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varunsayal/

• Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.in/Varun-Sayal/e/B07F37Z7LX

• Goodreads Book Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40540847-time-crawlers

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18131196.Varun_Sayal

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Buy Links

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DRPPGK6

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DRPPGK6

India: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07DRPPGK6

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07DRPPGK6

Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07DRPPGK6

Spain: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07DRPPGK6

Italy: https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07DRPPGK6

Images from the internet.