Book Review- Rafflesia: The Banished Princess by Gautam

Book Details:-
Book Name- Rafflesia: The Banished Princess
Author- Gautam
Genre- Fiction
Publisher- Leadstart Publications
Pages- 400
Price- ₹395

Blurb- RAFFLESIA The Banished Princess The curtains draw up. Lights are dimmed. The musical is about to begin. As the beautiful princess descends on stage, the mythical creatures from her kingdom come alive. Flickers of brilliant colours blaze across as mesmerizing music pulsates from one corner of the theatre to the other. A fairy tale is about to unfold… As young children, we often come across things that stay in our hearts forever. For Appu, it is a fairy tale about a beautiful princess.He lives with her in a world filled with the magical creatures from her kingdom until the real world beckons. A reluctant Appu steps into it as a striking young man and struggles to find his place. What follows is an evocative tale of love and loss, friendship and betrayal, as the story travels through the snow-peaked mountains of Arunachal to the golden deserts of Jaisalmer, the tulip gardens of Holland to the lush greens of Kerala. Does Appu find what he had set out for? The answer lies in Rafflesia – The Banished Princess because in her story, lay his.

Review- Review- There are books you start with different expectations and that turns out to be the most different one. Rafflesia is one such book and it turned out pretty interesting book.

I received the free copy of this book from Kalamos Literary Services in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Book Cover and Title- From the cover, book seems to be historical Fiction or fantasy but this is purely modern age book. Book is beautiful and it creates curiosity about the book. Title is appropriate.

Language and Narration- Language of the book is lucid and easy to comprehend. Writing style of author is simple and easy to follow.  Book is given in third person narrative.
Though there are few grammatical errors but except that, book is well edited.

Characterization- As the story takes place in different places, there are many characters which support the main story. The one thing I liked about this book is  all the characters are justified properly with their own story and set of emotions.

Storyline and Plot- Story revolves around Appu, our main protagonist and his journey from childhood to Adulthood. Author has beautifully placed scenes in various places to bind characters with main story.

Likes- 1.Appu and Rahul's Bond
2. Appu's love for Books.
3. The way Sujata adores Appu

Dislikes- 1. Story is slow paced.
2. Few grammatical errors

Rating-
Book Cover and Title- 3.5/5
Language and Narration- 3.5/5
Characterization- 4/5
Storyline and Plot- 3.5/5

Final Rating- 3.5/5

All in all, Rafflesia: The Banished Princess delivers us contemporary, relatable, fresh  yet equally interesting storyline which will surely entertain you.

Book Review- Vividity by Neelam Mishra

Book Details-
Book Name- Vividity- not your usual short stories collection
Author- Neelam Mishra
Genre- Anthology/ Short Stories
Publisher- Rigi Publications
Pages- 100
Price- ₹160

Blurb- It is a collection of short stories which indicate different layers of human nature. Many a times a normal looking situation becomes an unusual experience for us which is the result of our own actions. We reap the yield of our own deeds. We the humans, are neither completely inclined toward positive nor negative and we cannot be described as completely black or completely white. Being a human is about being grey.......

Review- Vividity is Anthology fiction authored by Neelam Mishra and it contains 6 different short stories showing different colours and elements with suspense twists and different emotions. It was light, interesting read and I completed the book in one go.

Book Title and Cover- Book Title " Vividity- not your usual short stories collection" is intriguing and hints us about the content. Cover is beautiful and comprises of different colours which shows us different stories and emotions. All in all, First Impression of book catches attention of readers.

Language and Narration- Language of the book is simple and easy to comprehend. Narration is decent and hooks readers with the book.

There are many grammatical mistakes in the book. Often words are misplaced and simple writing mistakes like "Your Welcome" instead of "You're* Welcome" (page no. 75)

There are punctuation errors which makes it difficult to read.

Content- Book contains 6 different short stories. All the stories are written well and each of the story has suspense, different twists and elements which justify the book cover and title.

Neelam has power of binding her readers with the book with simple language yet interesting stories. I completed the whole book in one sitting.

At the end, I would like to suggest that author should go for proof reading and proper editing before printing second edition of the book.

Rating-
Book Cover and Title- 3.5/5
Language and Narration- 1.5/5
Content- 3/5

Final Rating- 2.5/5