Usha Narayanan

Book Title: Kartikeya and His Battle with the Soul Stealer
Author: Usha Narayanan
Format: Paperback
Genre: Mythology Fiction

Book Title:
The title of the book is ' Kartikeya and His Battle with the Soul Stealer ' that clearly explains to the readers the book is all about Kartikeya and his life.

Book Cover:
The book cover is a beautiful digital art of a young Karthikeya and his mount Peacock and the art looks very beautiful in soothing colors and intrinsic details.

About the book:
This book in detail and with beautiful narration talks about the history of Lord Kartikeya.

Every chapter in detail gives the readers a satisfying feeling of understanding the history of Kartikeya that also includes the events before his birth, during his birth, and after his birth. The book is categorized into different chapters and each chapter creates an interest to read. Be it the story of Diti or Tarakasur or Parvati, all are been explained very logically and appealing to the new generation people.

The language used is very much simple and easily understandable. People of any age can read the book.
Narration:
A very good narration of all the main and sub-events is observed.

Language & Grammar:
Easy and simple language is used.

My Final Verdict:
A very good read to understand why was Kartikeya born?

Book Title: 4/5
Book Cover: 4/5
About the book: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Narration: 4/5
Language & Grammar: 4/5
Final Rating: 4/5

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The story itself starts with a very nail biting incident. College ragging at its brutal worst! How can young minds be so cruel? This is one question that has always troubled me. So, you can very well understand when it started with this incident, I was caught up in this book totally. Kudos to Usha Narayanan for writing such action packed novel. She is no shrinking violet when it comes using words to create a college ragging scene. I felt angry and anxious at the same time. But then enters our hero and heroine. And I breathe in relief.
Kat and Vir. Lively pair and adventure certainly follows them where ever they go. When Kat protested against the college ragging, she too was dragged inside it. But the timely intervention of Vir not only saved her but all the other students too. Soon Kat and her friends Minx, Lolita, Moti and Deepika found themselves in huge problems. The college nasties were making their lives miserable with cyber bullying and eve teasing and also politically backed A-holes were were making their lives a hell. [Sorry for that, but this is one thing that annoys me, especially in a country which prides itself in its democracy). To top it all they fell the radar of a serial killer. After that, I do not envy the girls one bit, for their lives became a roller coaster ride of lust, betrayal, greed and untimely death.
The story is gripping. It had its nail biting moments and though I guessed who the killer was after the first clue was given, but it has nothing to do with Usha’s way of writing a mystery. I am just too good :P. Though I am itching to say something about the killer but it will be taken as a spoiler, won’t it? Let's just say you will love him when you meet him and hate him when he leaves you … dead :O
I have to mention something about the writing style of the author. She has created a wonderful college scene. The student lives with all its ups and downs, the raggings, the weeds, the hidden drug sellers and the chaiwalas (tea sellers ) all combine to create the ambiance of a college life. Moreover, her words etches the scenes beautifully. The gory details of the murder, The Hatchet office has been beautifully described as has been the fetishness of the serial killer. She is a gripping story teller no doubt.

Read the full review at
http://rubinaramesh.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-of-madras-mangler-by-usha.html… (more)