Sunday, May 3, 2015

Rise of the Grey Prince - Book Review


Rise of the Grey Prince
By Arka Chakrabarti
Review By Ila Garg

Rise of the Grey Prince by Arka Chakrabarti is published by Srishti Publishers. The book’s cover is dark and mysterious and gives a look of a thriller. The sword shining bright and the man lingering in darkness intrigued me in an instant and I could not wait to sneak inside.

The author is a twenty seven year old tax consultant and a content writer who resorted to writing to escape the mundane life. The success of his debut novel The Secrets of the Dark, along with the articles that he continues to write for esteemed magazines like Tehelka and the world of professional photography, have paved the way for the second part of the series ‘The Saga of Agni’.

The blurb reads as, That cursed night at Nisarga had revealed the true reason behind his father’s sacrifice and his own dark past. Each revelation now draws Agni into the sublime world of secrets. With Vrish and Guru Sidak by his side, fighting the daggers from the past and winning over the opponents of the present, somewhere deep down, he knows that his journey has just begun.

The other scarred prince walks the ashes of his reality. Haunted by the glimpses of truth the same night, Yani had but one choice – to survive. His unknowing steps, trapped in cruel games of ancient powers had led him to a truth, a truth which shall mould a good man in the clay of misfortune, hate and lust.

Such is the world of Gaya, and thus shall be the Rise of the Grey Prince – the one torn between the darkness of evil and a lone ray of hope.

This book is the second part of series - ‘The Saga of Agni’. The story of the series revolves around Agni. Now, I haven’t read the first one in the series so I thought I might not be able to bridge the connection. Though much to my relief, the book has a recap ‘The Story So Far’ and thus, one can read it even if they haven’t read the first one.

The book is set in a fictional land called Gaya, which is further divided into two continents - The Land of The Rising Sun, and The Land of The Setting Sun. The story centers on the main protagonist - Prince Agni, his guru Sidak, his friend Vrish and Prince Yani, whose father took care of Agni during his initial years of childhood.

The story will appeal to all those readers who want to read something different from the mainstream drama. The way this narrative is written compels the readers to read on and get involved with this fantastic tale. The author has managed to keep the story tight knit. The only flaw that I felt could have been worked on is the complexity of the plot. It tends to make the reading experience a little confusing as so many alien names come up and sometimes it gets difficult to establish a proper connection. Also, the initial chapters are a little drab and only a reader who keenly wants to reach climax will have the patience to read through the details. It also gets challenging to read this book in one go as the readers will find it difficult to keep themselves stimulated.

There is a list of characters at the end but it only has the characters introduced in the second part, the earlier characters aren't listed there. The language is easy to comprehend but there are too many details to keep a tab of. So many characters add to the confusion, though the readers of the first part of the series may enjoy it.

The 214 page book manages to be a nice read, though it could easily be more interesting if the characters were kept numbered and given proper space to develop. The plot and thrill kept me glued to this book, although the grammatical errors kept irking the flow.

‘Yay’ Factors: The concept.

‘Nay’ Factors: The too many characters and details. Also, the book could have been edited with a little more precision.

My Verdict: All in all, the concept is well thought of but the execution lacks in a big way. There are too many things happening in this book and the readers might just lose the patience to keep reading. I have high expectations from the next part in the series. I really hope the author will work on the feedback that he gets for this book so that the corrections can be made in the following book.

Ratings: 3/5

This (Unbiased) book review is a part of “The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program”. To get free books log on to thereaderscosmos.blogspot.com

Buying Links: Amazon | Infibeam | Flipkart | Landmark | uRead | Crossword

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