Wednesday, July 10, 2013

The Clifton Chronicles- Jeffrey Archer

I started reading this particular bestseller series this vacation and liked it a lot. Jeffrey Archer is a well known story teller and can keep his readers gripped into his story. Three of the five-novel series have been released as of 2013 and I have read all 3..! :)

The series tells the story of one family across generations,across oceans, from heartbreaks to triumphs.

The 1st volume- Only Time Will Tell (released in 2011)

The Tale of Harry Clifton's life begins in 1920 with the words “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from
his uncle, who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then an unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same again.

The 2nd volume- The Sins of The Father (released in 2012)

Only days before Britain declares war on Germany, Harry Clifton, hoping to escape the consequences of long-buried family secrets, and forced to accept that his desire to marry Emma Barrington will never be fulfilled, has joined the Merchant Navy.  But his ship is sunk in the Atlantic by a German U-boat, drowning almost the entire crew.  An American cruise liner, the SS Kansas Star, rescues a handful of sailors, among them Harry and the third officer, an American named Tom Bradshaw.  When Bradshaw dies in the night, Harry seizes on the chance to escape his tangled past and assumes Tom's identity only to end up with problems which could be far worse than the ones he hoped to escape.

The 3rd volume- Best Kept Secret (released in 2013)

1945, London. The vote in the House of Lords as to who should inherit the Barrington family fortune has ended in a tie. The Lord Chancellor's deciding vote will cast a long shadow on the lives of Harry Clifton and Giles Barrington. 
From this Volume the story of Harry Clifton's son Sebastian Clifton begins and he faces new challenges and problems from different enemies (or is the enemy same? )




I loved the first two volume but the 3rd volume did not much match up to my expectations...maybe because i do not like politics. But whatever may be my reason it is rated as an International Bestseller and you can decide whether you want to read the whole story or just stop in the middle...Well , I want to know the entire story.. :) 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Shiva trilogy

Many young Indian authors have penned down their mind and heart through English novels.One such very talented new Indian author is Amish Tripathi. He is a fresh new voice who seeped into Indian Myth and history and thrilled the readers with his compelling narrative style. Though the story of the Shiva trilogy is fictional, the characters and the historical depictions are factual.

The three books in this series are:
1) The Immortals of Meluha
2)The Secret of the Nagas
3)The Oath of the Vayuputras


The story focuses on Shiva, a twenty-one year old warrior who is living with his tribesmen in what is currently Tibet. He comes across a group of Meluhans (Meluha is what is now Western India & Pakistan) who are searching for something or someone.
Shiva’s tribe is called the Gunas and another tribe called the Pakratis is hunting them.
Shiva detests the needless violence and decides to follow the Meluhan party back to their land. Things seem troublesome in Meluha wherein the Suryavanshi kings (Descendants of the Sun) are the rulers and the people live by Suryavanshi standards. They are facing friction from their eastern neighbors, the land of Swadeep ruled by Chandravanshis (Descendants of the moon) as both sides are clueless in regards to the drying up of the Saraswati River and hence blame each other for their differences.
Thus begins the first part of the Shiva trilogy.

Amish Tripathi describes the adventures of Shiva- from being a common man to being the Neelkanth (Lord).


I enjoyed the books as there is furious action in every page.


Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Host - Stephenie Meyer



After the Twilight series novels, Stephenie Meye managed to break the usual genre conventions - this time writing a science fiction novel for people who don’t like sci-fi.
The Host by Stephenie Meyer Cover Picture
Unlike the most popular alien invasion movies and science fiction TV shows, In The Host humanity is lost,vastly outnumbered and stealthily overwhelmed by superior technology.  There are tiny pockets of resistance left, just a handful of humans who haven’t yet been captured, but they don’t spend their days plotting to retake the planet from the aliens – just surviving consumes all their time.
Indeed, The Host isn’t really about saving the planet from alien invaders; it is a story about what it is to be human, about identity and about individualism. 
 Most of all The Host is a story about the nature of love Romantic love, love of family, love of friends - all of these emotions are explored by Wanderer as she first succumbs to Melanie’s emotional memories then succumbs to the emotions for herself. 
There is more than just memories left of Melanie though; she is trapped inside her own head unable to take control of her own body, forced to be an unwilling host to the alien Wanderer.  Which makes things very interesting when Wanderer and Melanie eventually meet up with Melanie’s loved ones…
The largest similarity between The Host and the author’s Twilight series novels is the character of Wanderer She has something of a Bella vibe going on - it is the way that they are both enormously self sacrificing. 
All in all The Host makes for compelling reading.  Avoiding the obvious sci-fi clichés it concentrates on humanity and the human emotions experienced by an alien invader who really wants to be human. 
  A great read - even if it doesn’t have any vampires in it… :)