The Last of the Firedrakes - Farah Oomerbhoy

Rating:  +

*Note: A copy of this book was provided to me for an UNBIASED review and the views expressed below are solely mine.

Princess Diaries meets Harry Potter in this AMAZING TRILOGY! 

My copies of the book

This MAGNUM OPUS is about a common (but not-so-common) 16 YO girl, Aurora Darlington, who lives with the horrible Darlingtons after her birth parents had "abandoned" her and her adoptive parents died in a car accident. Her life seemed sadly lonely and brutal until she discovers that she was from a whole another world called Avalonia, where she reaches after being kidnapped and dragged through a magical portal. This is where she gets to know about her past and her reality.

The book is *sighs* pure brilliance in around 416 pages filled with magic, both: character-wise and writing-wise. The book has been written so divinely that it adds to the spectacular-ity of this book... Much to any reader's surprise: this is Farah's debut book! This book is undoubtedly what was missing in the legacy of Indian writers and especially in the case of Fantasy writing.  

Every character, fortunately, enhances the story and curbs the possibility of the readers to put the book down for a while and resume reading in different sittings. The only way to describe the greatness of this book is to say that it surely is the aid for someone suffering from a Harry Potter hangover and anyone who CAN read a book. Not to forget - I read the book in two sittings because of the unfortunate thing called sleep. I started reading this book in the evening and read it until 4 am until I inevitably fell asleep after which I continued reading it as soon as I woke up. Anyways, I have a fantasy hangover from this book right now. Even for a person who has never read Fantasy before, this book is the PERFECT beginning. Well, for anyone perhaps.

The author surely deserves much more recognition and worldwide fandom for this book more in addition to the great success it has achieved since its global release. I obviously am congratulating the author right now on proving, to readers  and publishers worldwide, the potential within debut writers and the stories they want to share. Last of the Firedrakes is truly the epitome of brilliant writing and is the book the world was missing after the end of the Harry Potter series.

 I REALLY REALLY (infinity times) that this book is made into a movie, ASAP, by any of the TOP Bollywood production houses... 

CONCLUSION: As I said earlier, if you know how to read, please get this book and read it. This will definitely keep your mind occupied for days, after finishing it.

This Review is a part of the Blogger Outreach Program by Read Out Loud in association with b00k r3vi3w Tours

More Happy Than Not - Adam Silvera - Book Review

Rating:
 + lots of tears...

Note: I received this book from Penguin Random House for an UNBIASED review. Receiving this book doesn't change my true opinion of the book whatsoever. 

"Memories: some can be sucker punching, others carry you forward; some stay with you forever, others you forget on your own. You can’t really know which ones you’ll survive if you don’t stay on the battlefield, bad times shooting at you like bullets. But if you’re lucky, you’ll have plenty of good times to shield you."

My copies of the book

 This book/masterpiece is about a boy named Aaron Soto who lives in Bronx, in a one-room apartment where his father killed himself in the bathtub. Aaron finds it tough to live further with the bad stuff going on in his life so he attempts suicide too. But fortunately, he survives and continues to recover with the help of his patient girlfriend Genevieve.

Then, there is a new boy in the story - Thomas. He's sweet and doesn't mind talking about Aaron's past, on his rooftop where he sets up his projector to watch movies. On the basis of the three weeks Aaron spends with Thomas ,when his Genevieve goes for an art camp, he's confirmed that he has fallen for Thomas in a way he feels is not right.
This when Aaron decides to turn to Leteo Institute's memory-alteration procedure to turn-off these new-found feelings and forget that he's gay.

This is the [UNBELIEVABLE] DEBUT of Adam Silvera written extremely flawlessly while looking effortless. The characters are very powerful and have been written in a way that add to the perfection of this book. Aaron narrates the story such that any one who starts reading would be easily sucked in until the end where you just want to put down the book in front of you, kneel in front of it and clap while wiping off the tears it leaves you with. There is not even a single place in the book where you can say - this part could've been written better - which makes me give it all-aces.

I'm so glad that the author cared enough to write this story and share it with us. Truly. It made me cry more than what I cried after watching 'The Notebook'. What embroiders the perfection of this book is its format - the way it has been written in parts and the smileys... When I received this book I really praised the reviews and appreciation it received as a debut. Now, that I have finished it, I am one of the people in the crowd. Whenever I'll look at this book in my library, I'll be forced to look at it with my nostalgia of Aaron and his life, with teary-eyed smile.

CONCLUSION: Indeed, it is the perfection of a book about a boy and his tale of realization and heartbreak, which needs to be read by every single person in the world as a necessity. Okay?

Upcoming Event Info - Live Twitter Chat with Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island

Hello there, readers!

I want to inform you all about an upcoming live chat session with Shawna Yang Ryan: it will take place on Twitter and it is open for everyone ALL AROUND THE WORLD! This will take place on Sunday, 28th February 2016 (GMT: 9 AM). So, set a reminder in your phones NOW!!!

Blurb:

A stunning story of love, betrayal, and family, set against the backdrop of a changing Taiwan over the course of the twentieth century.

February 28, 1947: Trapped inside the family home amid an uprising that has rocked Taipei, Dr. Tsai delivers his youngest daughter, the unnamed narrator of Green Island, just after midnight as the city is plunged into martial law. In the following weeks, as the Chinese Nationalists act to crush the opposition, Dr. Tsai becomes one of the many thousands of people dragged away from their families and thrown into prison. His return, after more than a decade, is marked by alienation from his loved ones and paranoia among his community—conflicts that loom over the growing bond he forms with his youngest daughter. Years later, this troubled past follows her to the United States, where, as a mother and a wife, she too is forced to decide between what is right and what might save her family—the same choice she witnessed her father make many years before.

As the novel sweeps across six decades and two continents, the life of the narrator shadows the course of Taiwan’s history from the end of Japanese colonial rule to the decades under martial law and, finally, to Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy. But, above all, Green Island is a lush and lyrical story of a family and a nation grappling with the nuances of complicity and survival, raising the question: how far would you be willing to go for the ones you love?

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