Book Review: God is a Gamer by Ravi Subramanian


 

 



Book: God is a Gamer

Author: Ravi Subramanian

No. of Pages: 314

Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Suspense

Publisher: Penguin Books India

 

BlogAdda does it again; sends me an author-signed copy of a novel that was a delight to read. It is always a delight to receive an author-signed copies and I can imagine the joy-ful pain the wrist the authors might be undergoing to actually sign a large number of books. Just yesterday, I saw an FB post by an author who signed a 1000 copies of his latest book.

I have read several of Ravi's novels and I have always found them enjoyable. He has his style of writing. Short chapter, events spread across seemingly unconnected characters (and you, as a reader, keep searching the connections, with enough amount of suspense built into the writing … all coming together to make the novel a nice racy and pacy read.

I have written about an earlier novel of his … that it could be made into a Bollywood movie. I would say that again for God is a Gamer … maybe I could even stretch it a bit and say that it could even serve as a plot for a Hollywood movie. Pretty awesome I would say !!

There are times when you find it difficult to hold all the different threads of the story in your head. But eventually Ravi ties them all together (a few were tied in unconvincingly though) and alls well that ends well. The clincher is the climax where you are not only surprised but shocked!!

The multiple threads are pretty interesting ... Bitcoins, drug trade, ATM heist, money laundering, politics, banking, gaming world and Facebook integration/partnership, various relationships and characters .... it does get complex at times. But you just to be patient and try and hold all the threads in your head … as they converge in the end.

While the situations and plot lines are complex, even the characters in Ravi's story are complex individuals who are not easy to read and form opinion about or make judgment. They have their demons and their complex personalities along with their own motivations and hidden agenda. They are driven by greed, revenge, desire … making them do things with far-reaching consequences.    

Ravi's style of writing in short chapters and leaving some-parts explicitly hidden ... like a conversation or referring to something as an 'object' or talking about a person without revealing his/her name in the chapter. its an interesting instrument to use ... often irritating but nevertheless I enjoyed it ....

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

 

Ratings on Book Review Parameters:

Cover Design: 3.5 / 5

Writing Style: 4.0 / 5

Characters:     4.0 / 5

Story / Plot:     4.0 / 5

Climax:            4.5 / 5

Overall:           4.0 / 5   

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