Books I read in August ...

 

1. Divine by Blood (Partholon 3) by P C Cast

  

The third in the series of Partholon. The earlier two were much better. The 3rd one has not motivated me enough to actually begin the 4th one. The first 2 books are a conflict between 2 characters as well as the characters themselves discovering themselves. This one is more about a single one. Confusing at times and the story stagnates. Does not really move. It comes to an end very suddenly (like all pieces of a jigsaw being tossed and all fall in place automatically). 

 

2. DORK - The Increadible Adventures of Robin Einstein Varghese by Sidin Vadukut

 

An incredible book. Loved it. Being an Engineer-MBA-Consultant myself, it was absolutely fun to read this laughter roller coaster where the Engineer-MBA-Consultant protagonist keeps messing up things in complete oblivion of the trail of disaster he leaves behind. And it all ends well with some sort of an incident which seems kind of inspired by Jerry Maguire beginning where he vents out his feelings and they turn around his life.

 

The use of the so-called Consultant jargon which we Consultants ourselves joke about is hilarious. The cover says it is the first of a trilogy. I am eagerly waiting for the sequels to pop up at the bookstores. I hope I don't get disappointed by the sequels. The first of the trilogy has definitely set the humour quotient standards high.

 

3. Alexander Cipher by Will Adams

 

Did not have another action-thriller by Mathew Reilly in hand and wasn't in a mood to begin an emotional roller coaster by Cecelia; so began this one which seemed interesting going by the title and the cover  

 

It did turn out to be an interesting but not something that would inspire me to pick up something else by the same author. It was nice to read but not thrilling enough or adventurous enough. As my best friend says; Matthew Reilly has really spoiled the genre. His absolutely lightning paced adventure thrillers make the others books seem like adventurous books written in slow motion. In short, MR has rendered the other books of his genre … 'boring. 

 

4. The Genesis Code by Tom Knox

 

This turned out to be yet another dud after Alexander Cipher. The book again had a very interesting name and cover so I picked it up.

 

It begins with the 'Da Vinci Code' formula. An old man killed, lying naked in a pool of blood with inscription carved on his chest. An unsuspecting guy (in this case a reporter/journalist instead of the symbologist Langdon) gets involved and goes deep into it along with a female lead directly connected to the centre of the mystery. Of course, archeology and ancient history of the world serves as a backdrop. The premise of the book and questions raised were pretty interesting; but it fell apart in building the story and creating the sense of 'edge of the seat' thriller. It actually turned boring and predictable soon enough and I had to push myself hard to read through till the end rather than discard it mid-way and start reading my next one.

 

The book answered the questions it raised but the mystery was not interesting enough. The end of the story was not convincing enough nor the kind of end; one would expect or want. There was a distinct feeling of disappointment when the book got completed. And a relief too, that finally it got completed. I really hate to leave books incomplete.

 

This book did not complete in August entirely … but overflowed into the first 2 days of September. Just saying.