Book Review : Vicious by V.E.Schwab

So unfair to be literature snob when we know how many male authors have enjoyed decades of fame by writing about troubled women - fictional and nonfictional, both.  It's been years since I picked up any YA novel solely because I wanted more than just a tight plot, unbearable slang and lack of emotions.

I'm probably vastly generalizing here.

I knew of Vicious by VE Schwab years ago. Back in 2014, book bloggers and Booktubers raved about its awesomeness and I snootily dismissed it as another YA amidst millions of YA novel etc.

Well, Victoria Schwab is total game changer and I'm here for it (late, but here for it nonetheless)

The storytelling layout in the book is fantastic, to begin with. Open the book and we have one of our main characters Victor, who had just escaped prison with his cellmate, digging in a graveyard with his young accomplice. Schwab sets the mysterious atmosphere right away and the reader is hooked from page 1.

The next chapter goes back to ten years ago where we are introduced to Eli, Victor's former best friend, and present-day archnemesis. From the way, we are introduced to present-day and decade ago college-going Eli and Victor, the reader quickly begins to formulate opinions on who is good or who is bad. You begin to see what might have caused friction between the two, how their friendship begins to strain under their obsession of being ExtraOrdinary or EOs and what has ensued in all that time that has passed to make them such deadly foes.

Believe me, when I say this, you will spend several hours pondering over who is good and who is bad. Since all characters are EOs possessing exceptional abilities, it all boils down to one who uses it for good and the other who considers himself superior to others. We have siblings, Sydney and Serena, both of whom possessive incredibly powerful abilities but are split to be on either sides of our antagonists - Eli and Victor.

There are some graphic segments in the book that I thought was awesome since most YA authors shy away from including such elements. The language is perfect with no slang whatsoever (the primary reason as to why I stopped reading YA). The pacing is spot on, the anticipatory build-up to the final showdown is perfect, the bone-chilling end;  I loved it all!

The problem though.......

I did not feel the incident that made Eli and Victor such big enemies was strong enough or valid enough. Right from when we are introduced to young Eli in the book, you can kind of, sort of, tell that he has an evil streak in him somewhere deep inside, but not near close to provoking Victor to have this bloodthirst that they had going on.

That's all I can complain about. If you think you're a nerd who would appreciate an anti-hero novel with lots of crazy super abilities, mystery and ALSO want to support a badass female author then Vicious is the book for you.

Final Rating: 4/5

خُدا حافِظ

Book Review : Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

I have taken pride in saying that all my book reviews, for the most part, have been spoiler free. And today I am preparing to violate that.

It genuinely serves twice as hard to review a book like Forbidden when the reader feels a multitude of emotions on a particularly taboo subject. I scoured Goodreads reviews, blog reviews, Booktube reviews and debated whether writing about this book would make me seem like a lunatic to my readers or would they be intrigued.

All I can say at this point is to proceed with caution and with a good measure of open-mindedness.

This book is about incest. Well, not really but it is about an incestuous relationship between 17-year-old Lochan and his sister, 16-year-old Maya. Tabitha Suzuma is brave to take on such a taboo subject and pushes the reader to challenge their morals on this truly 'Forbidden' case.

Our young characters are placed in a tumultuous family setting - their parents' marriage has fallen apart, causing their father to completely abandon them with no support or communication, we learn that he has re-married and moved to Australia with his new family; their mother is an obvious alcohol, absent from their lives while she spends all her time (and money) with her new boyfriend, as the book progresses, her appearances are scarce. So Lochan and Maya assume parental roles for their 13-year-old angsty brother Kit and the little siblings Tiffin and Willa. (ALL the characters in the book could do with better names, let's not fool around and admit this fact already.)

So you can kind of see how psychologically this proves to be a dangerous environment for all five of the kids - Lochan, with his deep and extreme anxiety leaving Maya as his only friend and confidant and Maya, who has to mature rather quickly in order to handle everyone's issues including Lochan's.

Now we know incest is bad. It's very bad, it's illegal and it's not normal. But as you begin to read this book, you just never see them as siblings at all, compared to the creepiness i.e Flowers in the Attic. The incestuous part only kicks in well into the second half of the book, both Lochan and Maya are tormented because they know its wrong, it's not normal and if anyone found out anything they would be at the risk of being separated by the state, serve jail time etc. The book by no means propagates the idea of incest but you also feel like you don't want to use the word incest for what Maya and Lochan have.

The interesting observation here is that while society accepts abusive relationships, broken homes, and abandoned families etc; is incest really the worst of the lot? (I swear I am NOT crazy). Like I mentioned, when you do read the book you also desperately want them to find a way to be together, also knowing the fact that it could never happen and its plain absurd. I just love it when books have that kind of power over the reader.

*The Spoilers*

It was not very long before trouble finds them and the consequences are grave. At this point I had semi-predicted the outcome, however, I was not prepared to read a complete, play by play suicide in the first person. And that is quite traumatic. Lochan gives up his life and takes the reader with him on how ends it all. This will physically shake you. It almost feels like all the happiness is sucked out of you.

You could see why he took this route as the only option to keep the family together but at the same time, you feel angry at him for leaving the family behind, for Maya to deal with this pain and for Kit to deal with the unbearable guilt. That would start a whole new argument about suicides and I'm not going to get into that.

A multitude of emotions, right there.

The problems: 

Overall I felt character development was poor. We know a lot about Lochan, what he feels and how he thinks but none for Maya and Kit. We don't know what Maya is like, what she thinks or feels, how she behaves etc. Same goes with Kit. We only see him as a sort of troublemaker and that's it; which I felt was not fair since being the middle child in a broken family is difficult.

The pacing is off for me. We have no idea what Lochan's and Maya's childhood was like, what kind of dynamic they had growing up, so it does seem very sudden that these feelings for each other erupt.

Since Lochan is 17, his development in terms of attraction to women seems late. Was there no other girl he ever got close to in his early teens? Same goes with Maya, surely there had to be some flirtatious encounter with boys her age other than the two set-up dates.

Regardless of all the flaws, I will still applaud Tabitha Suzuma for taking on her chances and writing this book.

Final Rating: 3/5

خُدا حافِظ

Book Review : Raj Quartet I, The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott

Let's just begin by saying that your new yardstick for excellent writing has to be Paul Scott and it's a sentiment well echoed by various reviewers on Goodreads.

Pushing aside all the Rudyard Kipling novels, Jim Corbet, Salman Rushdie etc,  Colonial India couldn't be more descriptive than Paul Scott's Raj Quartet and none other (I will fight you on this).

It's not an exaggeration. Scott's impressive knowledge of India is multifaceted, inter-sectional and dives vertically. I am amazed at the mammoth and detailed understanding of caste, religion, communities, landscape, politics; all craftily woven into a magnificent quartet.

At the heart of the story, we have Hari Kumar or Harry Coomer, alien to India and Daphne Manners, who desperately tries to make India her home. Both of our protagonists pursue a  frowned-upon friendship that quickly turns problematic during the dying days of the British rule. Daphne Manners is violated by a gang of hooligans and the suspicion falls on Hari Kumar.

Through their forbidden romance and  cruel love triangle, we come face to face with the riot-ravaged India. Get ready to let your heart bleed for Daphne Manners and the forged criminality of Hari Kumar.  The plot then takes an ugly turn with Daphne Manners was soon shamed by people of her own color and ranks. Scott's deft writing builds the tension yet manages to retain sensitivity of this cursed affair.

My attempt at reviewing this book in relation to its towering magnificence is feeble. There are delicate subtleties in Scott's allegory and the reader is swift ushered into darker days, lighter times, is familirised to the smells and sounds of the country, riots, war, love, and friendship.

the indigo dreams of flowers fallen asleep

It's a tragic oxymoron to have a story so searingly painful to be laced with poetic delight.

For a humble reader, The Jewel in the Crown would stand as a challenge. The timelines of incidents bounce back and forth, we are introduced to characters one after the other only for their relations to be revealed much later on, it could prove quite complicated to find the association of all the individuals mentions. I did catch myself skimmy through the politics to get to the more paced bits and this is the only reason I would cut points for.

I was introduced to this poignant Quartet when my father was watching the televised series, complete with a commentary on Paul Scott's life and work. It's a pity recognition wasn't rendered any sooner.
Both books and series are highly recommended for their skillful depictions and varied sentiments of the imperialist rule, the tragedies amidst and the ultimate demise.

For a literature lover, the Raj Quarter is a wonderful treat. Like the sweet sorrow of a lullaby.

Final Rating : 4/5

خُدا حافِظ