Aroon Raman

This novel follows the stock theme of many Indian thrillers - a gruesome murder, an ancient secret, a sinister plot to destroy millions with or without involving Pakistan - though with some nice, interesting characters. The 'ancient secret' part hasn't been given adequate space, making one wonder if it has been inserted just to hook the readers as the plot minus this element is still good enough. The story starts with a lot of promise, but loses steam midway, and ends without much impact. show more There are some vital pieces missing, e.g. what that Big guy was doing Delhi before ending up dead.
The Shadow Throne is a quick, okay-ish read that could have been a lot better. show less

Again a Bollywood type movie book where there is a hero who is a journalist who is well known in journalism then his beau a history teacher then a police inspector who is a dare devil and a friend of hero and a nail in the stack of hay that is a good person within the enemy team, and many other supporting good character and a group of enemy . So this book A shadow Throne dealt with these character namely chandra shekar, meenakshi, inspector hassan, and dinna. These 4 characters try to stop a show more nuclear attack in India. Always the attack happens from Pakistan but in this book author has shown Pakistan in a good side. It's like nuclear attack is planned but not by pakistan but to be blamed on Pakistan. This attack starts by a murder of a asiatic greek foreigner inside the compound of Qutubminar. This asiatic Greek is linked to the kushan empire. So the main characters a typical South Indian journalist chandrashekhar and the inspector Hasaan try to stop the attack. How they stop is the answer in the book. Author has beautifully crafted the story and also liked the uniqueness of not showing pakistan in the enemy lime light but little different. Author also has good command in the script as it does not waver from the storyline. Overall i would say it's a really good goodread... show less

I just referred to the little review I had written of [a:Aroon Raman|6443326|Aroon Raman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1473752178p2/6443326.jpg]'s earlier novel, [b:The Treasure of Kafur|20554274|The Treasure of Kafur|Aroon Raman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389806653s/20554274.jpg|26515644] and found that the same review holds good for [b:Skyfire|32868800|Skyfire|Aroon Raman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478234929s/32868800.jpg|52834852], too! This one too is a fast show more paced novel with a compelling plot, but the execution could have been better. There are certain loose ends which seem to have been edited out and there are some elements that could have been better explained / elaborated. Overall, I would rate this 3.5 stars out of 5 and again hope for better books from this supposedly India's answer to Robert Ludlum. show less

It is a fantasy / adventure with a historic backdrop and quite fast-moving. The writing is good for the most part. However, there are several loose ends and under-developed characters / events. I would rate it 3.5 out of 5.
Looking forward to better works by this promising author...